department of health and human services announces new draft standards for data collection

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced new draft standards for collecting and reporting data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, disability status and on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations: Affordable Care Act to Improve Data Collection, Reduce Health Disparities.

The goal is to help researchers, policy makers, health providers and advocates to identify and address health disparities afflicting these communities -- including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders: HHS New Draft Standards for Data Collection and Reporting Will Improve Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health.

The new draft standards for collecting and reporting on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status will add seven Asian subgroups (Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian) and four Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander subgroups (Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan and other Pacific Islander). The addition of these ethnic subgroups will reflect what is already being used in the American Community Survey (ACS) and in the 2000 and 2010 Decennial Census.

This is good news, and something that should have been implemented a long time ago. Our community, in all its diversity, is too complex to approach and address health disparities in any one way. Read the full press release from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum here.