Pilot practices for the Health Disparities Initiative have been selected.  These practices will be working for the next two years to increase their clinics’ compliance with the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards guidelines and to develop relationships with other local organizations representing minority populations.

Kevin Sitko and Joshua Evans, second year medical students at the UNC School of Medicine, are both working in two of these practices for six weeks during the summer.  They will be evaluating how well the clinics’ meet the CLAS standards guidelines and then developing a plan for the clinic to implement to fill in the gaps where standards are not met.  They will also be creating an outreach plan for each clinic to impact a disparate population of their choosing.  In June 2009, two new medical students will return to these four clinics and reassess the clinics’ compliance and document their progress.

Jenni Fisher, project coordinator, recently met with all of the precepting physicians and the medical students.  The students have begun their assessments and will complete their work in the clinics by mid-July.  If you have any questions or would like information about the Health Disparities Initiative, please contact Jenni Fisher at 919-833-2110 or jfisher@ncafp.com.