Health Promotion Programs and Ethnic Profiling.

In many segments of society, we  hear about racial and ethnic profiling in negative ways. But what about when it comes to health promotion programs?

When used for the specific purpose of beginning â.” or investigating  â.” a wellness or disease management program, profiling isn’t just legal. It’s also encouraged.

Affects health risks

Different ethnic and racial groups tend to be more at risk â.” for genetic and/or cultural reasons â.” of certain medical problems. Examples -

o  African-American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders are  at higher risk of diabetes than Caucasian employees

o  Chinese women are statistically twice as likely to get cervical cancer

o  Caucasians have disproportionately high rates of obesity and high blood pressure, and

o  Latinos have higher rates of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than other groups.  The HIV/AIDS population is also disproportionately Hispanic.

Bottom line -  By assessing  the ethnic breakdown of your worker population, you can set disease management program priorities with greater confidence and accuracy.

Health Care quality an issue

Several studies also show there’s an unfortunate relationship between ethnicity and quality of healthcare. A lot of times, minority workforce receive inferior treatment and health education at the same facilities where others receive top-notch care.

This typically happens for innocent reasons. A common scenario -  a lack  of Spanish-speaking physicians in the network for your Latino employees. But the result is typically higher healthcare costs for you and, often,  greater reluctance among minority employees to seek needed treatments.

By profiling workers against the doctors in the network, you ultimately help workers get the care they need and the organization to better control long-term costs.