MINNEAPOLIS, January 3, 2008—Minnesota is one of a handful of states cited in a Washington Times story whose health departments have been rethinking the way they assess disease, away slightly from scientific data and taking a more intense look at "social determinants" that often undermine public health such as poverty and discrimination.

According to the Times story, physicians have long suggested that socioeconomic factors such as a lack of transportation to physician appointments have a negative effect  on the health of minority groups. Officials in Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia are all looking at ways to include these social factors in the way they think about disease.

The Times article reported that Minnesota health officials have spent years examining how these factors influenced health disparities — including statistics that showed in the mid '90s infant mortality rates among American Indians were three times that of whites in the state.

Lawmakers later used the results of this research to shape legislation aimed at cutting disparities in infant mortality in half by 2010, the article said. The Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative paired officials with community members to identify root causes of health disparities.

"We let the community groups design the interventions they thought would work," former Minnesota health commissioner Jan Malcolm told the Times. "It was not the usual top-down or outside-in approach ... where the experts declare the problem and design the solutions."

Complete Washington Times story