Racial Health Disparities: A Closer Look at Benefit Design

Now more than ever, there is an increased focus on health disparities that occur across a multitude of factors, including socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race. These health disparities result in avoidable readmissions, reduced quality of care, higher costs, and lower member satisfaction rates. Health care providers, insurers, and managed care pharmacy stakeholders need to identify organizational and system-based solutions to address systemic racial health disparities, including educating Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) committees on racial health equity, gaining a better understanding of best practices that can decrease racial health disparities related to benefit design, and disseminating these best practices.  

This forum helped identify potential structural issues within the current formulary and benefit design processes that may have led to racial health disparities or inequality. In addition this forum helped identify viable solutions to reduce racial health disparities in the use of drugs and related therapies.

Additional Materials:

• Forum Program [PDF]
• Press Release 
• Executive Summary [PDF]
• Forum Proceedings 
• Forum Webinar