RWJF produces ADVANCES®, a quarterly newsletter reporting on the Foundation’s programs, priorities and people. To subscribe to ADVANCES, or to register to receive RWJF publications or e-mail alerts, visit www.rwjf.org/services.

Each year the Foundation and our grantees produce materials that reflect our philanthropic investments. Below is a sampling—books, book chapters, journal articles, reports, audiovisuals and newsletters—produced in 2004. Copies may not be available throughthe Foundation.

America’s Health Insurance Plans. Collection of Racial and Ethnic Data by Health Plans to Address Disparities Final Summary Report. Washington: America’s Health Insurance Plans, 2004. Available at: www.rwjf.org/research/researchdetail.jsp?id=1373&id=133.

According to this study of health insurance companies by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and America’s Health Insurance Plans, half of responding health plans now collect data on the race and ethnicity of their members.

Baicker K, Chandra A, et al. “Who You Are and Where You Live: How Race and Geography Affect the Treatment of Medicare Beneficiaries.” Health Affairs (Web Exclusive), 2004.

The existence of overall racial and ethnic disparities in health care is well documented, but this average effect masks variation across regions and types of care. Regions with large racial disparities in one procedure are not more likely to show large racial disparities in other procedures. The authors conclude that policies should focus on getting the rates of care right for all patients, rather than solely on racial differences.

Freeman VL, Durazo-Arvizu R, et al. “Racial Differences in Survival Among Men with Prostate Cancer and Comorbidity at Time of Diagnosis.” American Journal of Public Health, 94(5): 803–808, 2004.

This research, supported by RWJF’s Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program shows that black men with prostate cancer in the United States have poorer disease-specific and overall survival rates than their white counterparts.

Long JA, Chang VW, et al. “Update on the Health Disparities Literature.” Annals of Internal Medicine, 141(10): 805–812, 2004.

This review of studies that document and explain disparities at the patient, physician and system level found no high-quality, reportable studies of interventions to reduce disparities.

Wilson MJ and Nguyen K. Bursting at the Seams: Improving Patient Flow to Help America’s Emergency Departments. Washington: George Washington University Medical Center, 2004. Available at: www.rwjf.org/research/researchdetail.jsp?id=1427&ia=142.

This report documents the work of the hospitals funded through RWJF’s national program Urgent Matters in quality improvement efforts to reduce crowding in emergency departments.