In the first phase of Aligning Forces for Quality, participating communities began efforts to improve health care for patients with chronic illness in outpatient settings. In Maine, for example, employers, unions, state agencies and others worked together to create hospital and primary care provider report cards that were disseminated publicly by the Maine Health Management Coalition and the Maine Health Quality Forum, according to Chris McCarthy, manager of integrated health services at Bath Iron Works.

“I’m hopeful the grant will enable us to better understand the scope of health care disparities in our community and how to address them,” said McCarthy, who is a member of the Aligning Forces for Quality steering committee.

“Across America, there are serious gaps between the health care that people should receive and the care they actually receive,” said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Washington-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in a statement.

The Dartmouth Atlas Project at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Hanover, New Hampshire, conducted the research for Aligning Forces for Quality.

Researchers tracking the experience of Medicare beneficiaries found significant differences by race in patient treatment.

For example, researchers found that black Medicare beneficiaries with peripheral vascular disease and diabetes were five times more likely to lose their legs to amputations than white Medicare beneficiaries with the conditions.

In addition, 64 percent of white female Medicare beneficiaries underwent recommended mammograms, compared with just 57 percent of black female patients. And while 85 percent of white patients with diabetes had blood sugar control tests, just 79 percent of black Medicare beneficiaries underwent such screenings.

To view the report, visit www.rwjf.org/qualityequality.