The Henry Ford Health System is applying for designation as a Developmental MEDTEP Research Center on Minority Populations. The focus of the center will be on the clinical outcomes of Black Americans. The HFHS is a vertically integrated health system supplying care to one half million people in Southeast Michigan. Our system includes 5 hospitals, our own health maintenance organization, a 900 person medical group practice, and an extensive network of 30 ambulatory care centers. Our patient population is representative of the general population of Southeast Michigan, with 28% of all patients being Black and a much larger percentage 80% within the City of Detroit service area. For its research activities, the HFHS has the organizational resources, the computer data systems and the scientific personnel and experience to contribute to the understanding of differences in health outcomes of Black Americans. Our training activities will expand on our substantial commitments to Black physicians within HFHS as well as provide a range of opportunities for researchers outside of HFHS to learn and perform research on clinical outcomes. We will provide technical support in the areas of research design and analysis as well as support for outcomes methodology, data base analysis and grant writing. Our dissemination efforts will build on our record of national conferences on urban health issues and of outcomes management. Finally, through collaboration with the Agency for Health Carte Policy and Research and our own efforts we will become a full center by the end of the three years of our developmental phase.
