Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

Health and Healthcare Disparities Data

• SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
  This report presents the first information from the 2010 NSDUH, an annual survey which serves as the primary source of information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older.
• CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report (CHDIR)
  The CDC Health Disparities & Inequalities Report - United States, 2011, is the first in a series of periodic, consolidated assessments that highlight health disparities by sex, race, and ethnicity, income, education, disability status and other social characteristics in the U.S.
• AHRQ National Health Quality and Disparities Reports (2010)
  These reports measure trends in effectiveness of care, patient safety, timeliness of care, patient centeredness, and efficiency of care.

Health Literacy and Cultural Competency

• National Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS)
  The CLAS standards are Federal standards directed for health care organizations to ensure that services are more culturally and linguistically accessible for diverse populations and are also encouraged for providers to use.
• HRSA Culture, Language and Health Literacy
  This HRSA webpage provides information about culturally and linguistically appropriate health communication tools.

Health Reform

• Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act
  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published final standards for data collection on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status for all national population health surveys, as required by Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act.
• SAMHSA Understanding Health Reform: Why is the Affordable Care Act important for those with health disparities? (PDF - 490kb)
  This SAMHSA fact sheet summarizes key changes in the 2010 Affordable Care Act and how it may improve health disparities.
• Kaiser Family Foundation How the Law Affects Medicaid (PDF - 248kb)
  The following summary examines the provisions related to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) included in the new health reform law.
• Office of Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation Issue Brief: New Report Shows Affordable Care Act Has Expanded Insurance Coverage Among Young Adults of All Races and Ethnicities
  Data released by Health and Human Services shows that the Affordable Care Act has extended health insurance to a substantial number of racial and ethnic minorities nationwide.

Healthy People 2020

Healthy People 2020 provides a comprehensive set of 10-year, national goals and objectives for improving the health of all Americans, with 2 of the 12 leading health topics being Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

• Mental Health
• Substance Abuse

Last Updated: 04/02/2012