The HPRC, as a NIMHD-funded project, will establish TCCs that draw upon regional coalitions of academic institutions, community organizations, providers, and government to focus on policy research.
The NIH defines health disparities as the “differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the U.S.”
The purpose of the TCC is to close the gap in health care across social, ethnic, and racial groups in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Its focus is to assess how health policies influence the access of ethnic and racial minorities to adequate and affordable health care. Our mandate is to help establish and shape health policy that is transformative, catalytic, cross-cutting, and unique and will aid us in moving towards health equity.
The role of the TCC is to act as an advocate to amplify and implement good science to promote better health care for all. The current health care system is primarily reactive and therefore must be transformed into a system that is driven by policies, programs and practices that foster early detection and prevention.
The TCC will engage local politicians, community leaders, Prince George’s County (PG County), MD council members, and community organizations to assess current health care conditions in an effort to sustain and improve health care policy through town hall meetings, virtual meetings, public hearings, along with focus group meetings conducted via forums and blogs. The TCC will initially focus on PG County, which is part of the DMV Tri-State area – DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia) in Region III (DC, MD, VA, DE, WV, and PA). Our methodology and approach could be easily transported to similar counties and regions across the nation. The successful outcomes could have national applicability for higher returns.
The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), NIH awarded Grant Number U54MD008608 to CTIS, Inc., a health informatics company who has worked with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the past 25 years. This grant is awarded over a period of five years to build a Transdisciplinary Coordination Center (TCC) as defined by The Health Policy Research Consortium (HPRC) Program.