Improving Data on Race and Ethnicity: A Roadmap to Measure and Advance Health Equity

This Roadmap builds on an earlier report, Federal Action Is Needed to Improve Race and Ethnicity
Data in Health Programs, in three critical respects. First, it expands on that report’s summary of
the current state of race and ethnicity data in health care programs, offering more detail about
whether and how race and ethnicity data are collected across a range of insurance programs,
federally administered health systems and public health databases. Second, it summarizes a
range of barriers to improving collection and use of race and ethnicity data, and identifies
general principles for improving the data. Finally, it expands the range of recommendations for
improving the data, considering not only actions the federal government could take, but also
identifying actions for states and the private sector.