Advancing Collaborative Research with 2-1-1 to Reduce Health Disparities: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations

• Published in: American journal of preventive medicine Vol. 43; no. 6; pp. S518 - S528
• Main Authors: Hall, Kara L., Stipelman, Brooke A., Eddens, Katherine S., Kreuter, Matthew W., Bame, Sherry I., Meissner, Helen I., Yabroff, K. Robin, Purnell, Jason Q., Ferrer, Rebecca, Ribisl, Kurt M., Glasgow, Russell, Linnan, Laura A., Taplin, Stephen, Fernández, Maria E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.12.2012
• Subjects: Cooperative Behavior; Evidence based medicine; Health inequalities; Health services; Health Services Needs and Demand; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Information Services - organization & administration; Partnerships; Referral and Consultation - organization & administration; Referrals; Research - organization & administration; Social services; Telephone; United States; United States
• ISSN: 0749-3797; 1873-2607
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.09.026

The 2-1-1 system is a Federal Communications Commission nationally designated 3-digit telephone information and referral (I&R) system that connects callers with basic needs to health and social services in their community. Although the 2-1-1 system has a number of limitations - uneven geographic coverage within states, diverse data collection and storage systems, and scarce resources - it also offers an unprecedented opportunity to reduce health disparities by providing an infrastructure with near national reach that can enable partnerships between researchers and 2-1-1 systems to monitor health inequalities; track utilization of health services; and provide evidence-based information, referral, and behavioral interventions to vulnerable segments of the population. [Copyright American Journal of Preventive Medicine; published by Elsevier Inc.]