Pima County Public Health Director to help address disparities in healthcare

Apr 10, 2013 | Read More News

High quality, accessible healthcare and positive health outcomes should be available to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, income and geography.

With that goal not yet realized, Pima County Public Health Director Francisco García will serve on a national roundtable later this month designed to address persistent disparities in U.S. healthcare.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has invited experts in health and social sciences to discuss how to best deliver on the promise of the Affordable Care Act to make health equity a reality for diverse patients, and particularly for racial and ethnic minorities.

“There are many complexities involved in addressing these historic gaps, but the implementation of the new health care law really provides a critical opportunity to do things differently,” Dr. García said. “As the health insurance marketplace is transformed in the coming years, and as we place an increasing focus on population-based preventive care and chronic disease management, we really have to redouble our efforts to eliminate these inequities. I look forward to the dialogue.”

Participants, who will gather in Connecticut for the intensive session, will focus on the development of programs and strategies to reduce disparities, including consumerengagement, public/private partnerships and the expansion of coverage.

Dr. Garcia’s clinical, research and policy expertise was cited as one of the reasons he was asked to sit on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force earlier this year, which is an independent panel composed largely of primary care providers with expertise in prevention, evidence-based medicine and primary care.

Dr. García specializes in women’s reproductive health and practices at the University of Arizona Medical Center – South Campus, and holds a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Garcia recently sat down with Arizona Public Media to talk about health priorities. Please visit https://media.azpm.org/master/video/2013/4/9/qrhd/040913_public_health_director.mp4.