Race and Ethnicity Data

Henry Ford Health System patient demographics

The Henry Ford Health System serves a diverse patient population. Clinic and hospital sites provide health care opportunities in four major southwestern Michigan Counties (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw Counties). In addition to the Henry Ford Hospital, clinic sites located throughout Metro Detroit area provide primary and specialty care to our patient population.

Our diverse patient population uniquely positions Henry Ford Health System as a national leader in the study of racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. Here we highlight the diversity of the Henry Ford Health System patient population by presenting patient characteristics from five of the many sites throughout Metro Detroit (Comprehensive Health and Social Services (CHASS) Clinic, Dearborn Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), Sterling Heights, Hamtramck and Henry Ford Main Hospital) providing primary and specialty care.

Task force for the collection of patient race, ethnicity and primary language

Collecting race, ethnicity and primary language information from patients is a critical part of reducing health care disparities. Reasons for collecting this information include: the increasing diversity of the United States and the Henry Ford Health System patient population, the alarming disparities evident in health status of United States citizens, and the need to monitor and track our progress. In 2008, Henry Ford Health System established a Task Force for the Collection of Patient Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language Data. The goals of the Task Force are to assess and enhance the collection of this data at Henry Ford Health System. Task Force activities are informed by the 2009 IOM (now called National Academy of Medicine) recommendations for standardized collection of race-ethnicity data by health care systems, and the Health Education & Research Trust toolkit for collection of patient race and ethnicity.

Members of the task force include:

• Christine LM Joseph, Ph.D., Director, Health Disparities Research Collaborative,
• Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D., Vice-President of Community, Health, Education and Wellness
• Denise White-Perkins, M.D., Director, Institute on Multicultural Health
• Nancy Sammons, R.N., Director, Clinical Care Design, Office of Clinical Quality & Safety.