Office of Minority Health

Grantee Information

Organization: Utah Department of Health (UDOH), Office of Health Disparities (OHD)

Phone Number: 801-273-4139

Fax Number: 801-536-0956

Organization website URL (if any): http://www.health.utah.gov/disparities/

Brief Description of the Organization: Established by the Utah Legislature in 2005, OHD is part of the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) and is supported by state and federal funding, having received its first State Partnership Grant to Improve Minority Health in 2005. OHD maintains accountability and responsiveness to the federal Office of Minority Health (OMH), the UDOH, the Utah Legislature, and community stakeholders with timely interactions, updates and reporting. OHD has served as the state of Utah’s principal resource hub and data center solely dedicated to addressing health disparities among minority communities. OHD operates with an expanded mission to serve all underserved and underrepresented populations and has become recognized for its innovative, evidence-based approaches and unique community-based participatory research.

Grant Project Information

Title of Grant Project: Utah State Partnership Grant to Improve Minority Health

Amount of OMH Award: $175,000

Name of Project Director: Dulce Diez

Phone Number of Project Director: 801-273-4139

E-mail Address of Project Director:ddiez@utah.gov

Abstract

The Office of Health Disparities (OHD) will address the problem of inadequate access to primary health care and oral health services among racial/ethnic minorities and other underserved populations in the Glendale suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah and the City of South Salt Lake (South SL), Utah. Both geographic areas are located within the boundaries of Salt Lake County and have the highest percentage of minorities living in poverty in the state of Utah. These diverse, underrepresented populations face significant barriers and challenges to obtaining health and dental care, such as limited English proficiency/language assistance needs, low health literacy levels, and limited familiarity with clinical guidelines and local health systems. In addition, these areas have limited numbers of primary care and dental providers. The long term objectives of this project will be focused on increasing the percentage of persons with a usual primary care provider and the percentage of children, adolescents, and adults who visited the dentist within the past year.

OHD will utilize the following strategies and interventions to carry out their project:

• Innovative Methodology for Surveillance Data by Race/Ethnicity and Zip Code – During the first year of the grant period, UT OHD will design a new, innovative approach to sampling that will allow for the collection of accurate data when disaggregated by both race/ethnicity and zip code. The grantee will write a manuscript that summarizes the results of this new methodology for oversampling small zip code areas by race and ethnicity.
• Health Disparities Profiles – OHD will develop a total of four Health Disparities Profiles. Two of these reports will be developed pre-intervention during the first year (one per zip code) and two will be produced during the fifth and final year of the grant period.
• Local Health Coalitions – OHD will support and work to increase the diversity of local health coalitions in each of the two zip codes. This will include creating a Healthy Glendale Coalition, as well as participating on Promise South Salt Lake Coalition’s established Healthcare Access Committee. In later years of the project, the grantee will coordinate retreats for each coalition that will allow each coalition to develop and submit a white paper—targeted at local government—with recommendations to reduce health disparities in their areas.
• Community Partner Outreach – OHD will enter contractual partnerships with community-based organizations who are leaders in addressing access to health care, outreach and awareness of medical and oral health care services and case management for racial and ethnic minorities, refugee populations and underinsured/uninsured residents of Glendale and South Salt Lake areas. Contracted partners will provide outreach services promoting access to medical and oral health care services, will recruit and assist identified eligible Glendale and South Salt Lake residents with access to screening events, medical and dental clinic services in targeted areas, case management, education and awareness and other duties related to these activities. The grantee will coordinate with community partners to conduct five health/dental screening events during the first year and ten screening events in years 2, 3, and 4.
• Medical & Dental Outreach Teams – OHD will hire five medical and five dental outreach interns. Once trained by the program, these interns provide screenings and services at public venues such as community clinics, churches, schools, Neighborhood Centers in South SL, and the Sorenson Unity Center in Glendale. The Outreach Team will also refer eligible participants to the appropriate sub-grantee community partner for follow-up and case management regarding their health needs and other services as required.
• Health Access Project Case Management – OHD will enter into a contractual partnership with Health Access Project to provide case management for racial and ethnic minorities, refugee populations and underinsured and uninsured residents of Glendale and South SL areas. Health Access Project will provide at least 150 individuals living in targeted areas with culturally and linguistically appropriate case management.
• Mobile Application Development – In year two of the project, OHD will partner with the University of Utah, Computer Science Department to develop a free, culturally appropriate user-friendly application to disseminate information to local residents about medical and dental services in the area.
• Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Assessments – During year two of the project, ten medical and/or dental clinics in the target areas will be chosen to receive site visits and host focus groups with staff and administrators with the intent of assessing the effectiveness and extent to which CLAS standards are being implemented. OHD will subsequently work with clinic administration and staff to introduce at least five new CLAS-related policies and/or improve existing CLAS policies. OHD will provide technical assistance and resources including a CLAS implementation toolkit and regular follow-up to ensure that policies are implemented and internally assessed.

Through these efforts, OHD expects that, by 2020, they will achieve at least a 10% increase in the number of Glendale and South Salt Lake minority residents with a usual primary care provider and achieve at least a 10% increase in the number of Glendale and South Salt Lake minority residents (children, adolescents, and adults) who visited the dentist in the past year.

During the period of this grant, OHD will conduct a process, impact and outcome evaluation. The process evaluation will be conducted during year three and will measure the activities of the program, program quality, and the population reached by the program. The results will strengthen OHD’s ability to improve future activities. The impact evaluation will be conducted during the first part of year four and will measure the immediate effects of program objectives; it will try to quantify the difference between what happened with the UT OHD program, and what would have happened without the UT OHD program, for underserved racial/ethnic minorities of Glendale and South SL. The impact evaluation will include analysis of feedback forms completed during screening events and annual Outreach Intern proficiency and effectiveness evaluations. The outcome evaluation will be conducted during year five, and will measure whether the program’s long term goals have been achieved. The outcome evaluation will utilize a mixed-methods approach that includes a comparative analysis of baseline and post-intervention data using the statistical analysis software Stata 13 as well as a survey of community members and stakeholders in Glendale and South Salt Lake. The major outcome measures for the grantee’s project include:

• Proportion of persons with a usual primary care provider; and
• Proportion of children, adolescents, and adults who used the oral health care system in the past year.

NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR ACTION TO END HEALTH DISPARITIES GOALS

Awareness : Increase awareness of the significance of health disparities, their impact on the nation, and the actions necessary to improve health outcomes for racial, ethnic, and undeserved populations.

Leadership: Strengthen and broaden leadership for addressing health disparities at all levels.

Health System and Life Experience : Improve health and healthcare outcomes for racial, ethnic, and underserved populations.

Cultural and Linguistic Competency : Improve cultural and linguistic competency and the diversity of the health-related workforce.

Data Research and Evaluation: Improve data availability and coordination, utilization, and diffusion of research and evaluation outcomes.

RELATED HEALTHY PEOPLE 2020 OBJECTIVES & SUBOBJECTIVES

• AHS-3: Increase the proportion of persons with a usual primary care provider
• OH-7: Increase the proportion of children, adolescents, and adults who used the oral health care system in the past year