Clinton Foundation Launching Calif. Health Disparities Project
On Tuesday, President Clinton announced an initiative through the William J. Clinton Foundation to reduce health disparities in California's Coachella Valley, Reuters reports.
According to Reuters, Coachella Valley has some of the highest health disparities in the U.S.
Initiative Details
The Clinton Health Matters Initiative will seek to reduce health disparities resulting from:
- Education;
- Income levels; and
- Race.
In addition, it will aim to reduce preventable diseases.
The initiative also will be launched in Little Rock, Ark.
Initiative Partners
Clinton has enlisted several corporate partners for the initiative, including:
- General Electric;
- Tenet Healthcare; and
- Verizon.
The companies will launch or extend wellness-related programs, such as:
- Farmers' markets;
- No-cost exercise classes;
- Smoking cessation programs; and
- Walking groups.
In addition, Peter Tippett -- chief medical officer of Verizon's health information technology practice -- said the company is launching technological initiatives that allow:
- Medical devices to automatically alert physicians when patients with chronic illnesses become sicker;
- Patients to take their own blood pressure and other readings and send the data to their physician; and
- Rural physicians to send X-ray images and EKG readings to hospitals for analysis (Begley, Reuters, 11/13).