Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Health Disparities Collaboratives (HDC)

An integrated and collaborative national effort to eliminate disparities and improve delivery systems of healthcare to all individuals living in the United States under the care of HRSA-supported Health Centers.

Strategic Goals of the HDC program include:

1. Introduce and assist in the implementation of the Care Model and the Model for Improvement in as many Health Centers as possible that have appropriately filed an application to join the HDC.


2. Improve the systematic tracking and reporting of the improvements made by the HDC at all appropriate levels: Health Centers, State (Cluster) and National; as well as by the HDC Program itself through improved quality management and reporting systems.


3. Develop improved community organizational resources and alignment of community activities of relevance to the Health Centers at the local, state, and national levels, via an evolution of the competencies appropriate to better understand at all levels the Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) approach; and the relevance to each of the improvements for all components of the Care Model, in order to improve the care delivered to all active patients of the Health Centers.


4. Implement a matrix of measures for primary health care that appropriately address all HDC activities to encompass the practice of integrated improved primary health care, in the context of Healthy People 2010 goals and HRSA Strategic Goals for 2005-2010.


5. Help Health Centers prepare better for the evolving Health Information Technology market and the increasing data driven environment of pay-for-performance and other related activities for both individual patient care and population-based care

HRSA Collaborative Process:

Participation in a HRSA Health Disparities Collaborative introduces Health Centers to three models: The Care Model, The Model for Improvement, and The Learning Model. (See HDC Models)

HRSA currently provides support to approximately 800 Health Centers that are working to implement these models in their own organizations.

HRSA support includes:

1. Programmatic support to a regional infrastructure, national knowledge management and reporting websites, and ability to participate in regionally managed Learning Sessions. 
2. National faculty support to guide implementation of the improvement and performance changes and sustaining and spreading these improvements to all systems of patient care.
3. A virtual Help Desk to improve management of technical assistance provided to Health Centers and their community partners in the HDC.  Health Centers are enabled better communication and improved timeliness of response on clinical, financial, and operational areas of patient care.

Collectively these systems facilitate communication, coaching and infrastructure support so that learning can be shared and improvements accelerated.

Health Centers participating in HRSA Health Disparities Collaboratives agree to adopt shared national measures, as well as local measures based on proven guidelines. Measures are aligned with expert guidelines, external reporting requirements such as HEDIS, or other community standards of care. One important shared national measure of every HRSA Health Disparities Collaborative is “patient self-management”, since supporting self-care is an integral part of the Care Model, crossing all conditions as well as prevention and cancer screening.

Organizations will typically spend about 12 – 13 months learning and applying the models to improve their healthcare delivery systems by adapting the general principles to their unique environments and communities. Resource expenditures vary greatly, but include staff participation in learning sessions and conference calls, and the staff time to learn, design and monitor changes.

As the Health Centers embed their work into their organizational frameworks and continue improvements, they are supported by continued coaching and feedback.

Collaborative participants will tell you that change is difficult and that hard work is required. But most will also say that they never want to go back. Supported by the objective data that includes improved patient outcomes and higher provider and patient satisfaction, we are encouraged to continue this work to provide the best patient care possible.