Community health centers and racial/ethnic disparities in healthy life

This study examined disparities in health status among individuals of diffe rent racial and ethnic groups cared for by the nation's community health ce nters (CHCs) and compared these results with the findings for individuals u sing non-CHC sites as their usual source of care. The sample consisted of C HC users from the 1994 CHC User Survey and non-CHC users from the 1994 Nati onal Health Interview Survey. Bivariate comparisons were made between indiv iduals' race/ethnicity and their experience of healthy life, an integrated measure that incorporates both activity limitation and self-perceived healt h status. Multiple regressions were followed to examine the independent ass ociation of race/ethnicity with healthy life experience for both CHC and no n-CHC users while controlling for sociodemographic correlates of health. Am ong CHC users, racial and ethnic minorities did not have worse health than whites, but among non-CHC users there were significant racial and ethnic di sparities: whites experienced significantly healthier life than both blacks and non-white Hispanics. These findings persisted after controlling for so ciodemographic correlates of health. The results indicate that while racial /ethnic disparities in health persist nationally, these disparities do not exist within CHCs, safety-net providers with an explicit mission to serve v ulnerable populations.