This report, which may be downloaded from the Minnesota Department of Health’s Web site, is a multi-disciplinary, inter-sector Call to Action produced by the Social Conditions and Health Action Team of the Minnesota Health Improvement Partnership (MHIP).

This brief summary of the Institute of Medicine Unequal Treatment report describes how racial and ethnic disparities may emerge and summarizes relevant findings and recommendations to help health care managers and professionals provide high quality care for all patients.

In 1988, the Institute of Medicine published its landmark report, “The Future of Public Health.” The report defined public health as what society does collectively to assure the conditions for people to be healthy and presented strong evidence to indicate that the public health system — the organizational mechanism for achieving the best population health — was in disarray.

In the March 2006 issue of Minnesota Journal, published by the Citizens League, author Jan Malcolm discusses the implications of health spending on individual medical care versus spending on social determinants of health in communities.