Who We Are
Gary A. Puckrein, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Minority Quality Forum (formerly the National Minority Health Month Foundation), founded the organization in 1998 to address the critical need for strengthening national and local efforts to use evidence-based, data-driven initiatives to guide programs to eliminate the disproportionate burden of premature death and preventable illness for racial and ethnic minorities and other special populations.
Mission. The Forum is a research and educational organization dedicated to ensuring that high-risk racial and ethnic populations and communities receive optimal health care. This nonprofit, nonpartisan organization integrates data and expertise in support of initiatives to eliminate health disparities.
Vision. The Forum strives to prepare the health system in the United States to provide optimal health care for a diverse society.
Primary goal. The Forum aims to assist health-care providers, professionals, administrators, researchers, policy makers, and community and faith-based organizations in delivering appropriate health care to minority communities. This assistance must be based on science, research, and analysis that lead to the effective organization and management of system resources to improve the quality and safety of health care for the entire U.S. population, including minorities.
Activities (see also capabilities):
- Conducts research and analysis of evidence, guidelines, and measures relating to health and medical-care delivery systems and the management of resources that address U.S. minority-health-care concerns.
- Assists and collaborates with public- and private-sector leaders, providers and other health professionals, physicians, consumers, administrators, community and faith-based organizations, and policy makers at all levels.
- Creates minority-led public/private partnerships to foster cultural competency among health-care providers, to support health education and professional training, and to expand the use of state-of-the-art treatments and technology for minorities.
- Manages projects based on zip-code-level analysis, working with a comprehensive relational data platform for identifying health status and disparity prevalence. The Forum houses data on vital statistics and on demographics, environmental information, medical claims, prescription-drug use, clinical laboratory values, health-care access points, and other data elements in one centralized data warehouse. The Forum measures and forecasts health status in small geographic areas, evaluates the impact of specific interventions, monitors changes in health outcomes, and serves as a valuable resource.
National Minority Health Month. In April 2001, the National Minority Health Month Foundation launched the first National Minority Health Month, in response to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 initiative—a national health-promotion and disease-prevention program. At least 24 states conduct activities each year in conjunction with National Minority Health Month.
Annual Leadership Summit. Since 2004, the Forum has hosted the Annual Leadership Summit in April, focusing on disparities and improving quality of care for minorities. This event and National Minority Health Month bring together congressional leaders, federal executives, physician leaders, managed-care and other industry representatives, community leaders, and other critical stakeholders to support the implementation of integrated solutions to the problem of minority-population health disparities and improving quality of care.
The Forum is supported by health-institution stakeholders (including health plans, federal agencies, academic medical-research centers, foundations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and state and local agencies) and other private organizations..