Closing the Gap on Health Care Disparities

From 2008 through 2011, the Foundation supported 11 community-based coalitions across Massachusetts through its Closing the Gap on Health Care Disparities Initiative. This report, prepared by Mary Coonan and Terry Saunders Lane of The Center for Social Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston, explores areas of coalition development, system change, and public awareness. It articulates strategies that worked well, challenges that emerged, and factors that explain variation to inform foundations, community organizations, and health care institutions working to address disparities in health care and outcomes.