Wray L A
Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90089-0191.
West J Med. 1992 Sep;157(3):357-61.
The rapid growth and diversity of the older population have long-term implications for health care policies in the United States. Current policies designed for a homogeneous population are increasingly obsolete. To ameliorate obstacles that handicap many ethnic minority elders and to provide equal access to adequate and acceptable health care, several factors need to be considered. Enhanced data collection and analytic techniques are needed. The effects of race or ethnicity must be separated from other biologic, environmental, socioeconomic, cultural, and temporal factors on health status and behavior. Health care professionals and organizations serving minority elders must continue to expand their advocacy efforts to articulate the findings and their concerns to policymakers. Policymakers must understand and acknowledge the implications of an increasingly diverse society and determine what will constitute adequate, accessible, and acceptable health care within continuing fiscal constrains. Program planning, implementation, and evaluation methods must be revised to meet future health care needs effectively and efficiently.
老年人口的快速增长和多样性对美国的医疗保健政策具有长期影响。目前为同质化人口设计的政策越来越过时。为了改善阻碍许多少数族裔老年人的障碍，并提供获得充分和可接受医疗保健的平等机会，需要考虑几个因素。需要加强数据收集和分析技术。必须将种族或族裔的影响与其他生物、环境、社会经济、文化和时间因素对健康状况和行为的影响区分开来。为少数族裔老年人服务的医疗保健专业人员和组织必须继续扩大其宣传努力，向政策制定者阐明研究结果及其关切。政策制定者必须理解并承认日益多样化的社会所带来的影响，并在持续的财政限制内确定什么将构成充分、可及和可接受的医疗保健。必须修订项目规划、实施和评估方法，以有效和高效地满足未来的医疗保健需求。
