Taking on racial and ethnic disparities in health care: The experience at Aetna - A major health insurer takes the lead in collecting race/ethnicity data - and learns some lessons along the way.

Among the nation's health plans, Aetna is considered the industry leader in efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care. This Perspective describes the work of a task force led by Aetna's chairman and CEO, charged with a number of strategic activities including cultural competency training and the identification of disparities occurring within the Aetna membership population. The cornerstone of this quality-of-care initiative is a successful and ongoing data collection enterprise. Aetna is putting the data to work in its chronic disease management, breast health, and African American Preterm Labor Prevention and Breastfeeding programs.