While the debates continue as to whether or not the Affordable Care Act (ACA) should be implemented, a key component of health reform that is often overlooked includes health equity and the elimination of disparities in health status and healthcare among vulnerable populations.

In the wake of health care reform, one of the key health equity issues that needs to be fully addressed is the collection and reporting of data on demographic variables for electronic health records (EHR), particularly for racial and ethnic minority groups. This is a critical issue because without comprehensive data, we are unable to accurately identify and track the disparities in health status and care among vulnerable populations.

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released a national roadmap to address and reduce disparities in health status and health care among racial and ethnic minorities. It also released a national strategy for engaging communities across the country to harness the collective power of collaboration in order to tackle these serious issues.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once observed, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” This statement rings especially true for vulnerable populations in the United States—who, as a group, have long suffered from severe and pervasive disparities in health status and outcomes and faced barriers to quality health care.