Founded as a non-profit organization in 1998, the
National Minority Health Month Foundation, Inc. (NMHMF)
was established to strengthen national and local efforts
to eliminate the disproportionate burden of premature
death and preventable illness in racial and ethnic
minorities and other special populations through the use
of evidence-based, data-driven initiatives. The
Foundation, formed by Dr. Gary Puckrein, recognizes the
need for a credible, objective and reliable source of
integrated data and expertise to eliminate health
disparities among all minority populations by building
public/private partnerships, fostering cultural
competency among health care providers, encouraging
health education and training and expanding the use of
state-of-the-art technology. The primary goal of NMHMF
is to assist healthcare providers, administrators,
policymakers and community and faith-based organizations
deliver precise health care services to high-risk
communities by analysis of current information,
organization of health care networks and management of
minority health care resources.
In April 2001, the Foundation launched 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. Each year, NMHMF hosts a leadership summit and
an awards dinner during the month of April that brings
together congressional leaders, federal executives,
physician leaders, managed care and pharmaceutical
industry representatives, as well as other critical
stakeholders, to support the implementation of
integrated solutions to the problem of minority
population health disparities.
The Foundation has received support from a wide variety
of organizations, including federal agencies,
pharmaceutical companies, purchasers and payors. With
support from the Department of Health and Human Services
and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Foundation
has developed a comprehensive relational data platform
for identifying the prevalence of health status and
health care disparities at the ZIP code level – allowing
the organization to house vital statistics, demographic,
environmental, claims, prescription drug, clinical
laboratory values, health care access points and other
data elements into one centralized data warehouse. As a
result, the Foundation is able to measure and forecast
health status in small geographic areas, evaluate the
impact of specific interventions, monitor changes in
health outcomes and serve as a valuable resource for the
health disparities movement.
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