NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2 Needs Analysis for Change

Needs Analysis for Change

Student Name

Capella University

NHS-FPX 6008

Professor Name

Submission Date

The quality of health care issue has still been a problem in the African American communities because of a combination of economic barriers, low supply, and institutional inequities, which have resulted in poor health outcomes. The underprivileged neighborhoods, inadequate income, and poor insurance coverage tend to retard the preventive and primary services, which increases the risk of chronic diseases and preventable hospitalization (Albert et al., 2024).

To combat such a problem, there is a need to have strategies that can be adopted in an effort to combat economic and structural challenges in the effort to enhance equity in care. This assessment is intended to comment on these barriers and provide evidence-based recommendations on how these barriers can be eradicated, and access improved, disparities reduced, and better health outcomes achieved among African Americans.

Lack of access to health care among the African American communities is a significant economic and community health concern that has trickle-down effects on the patients, health care providers, and the community at large. In addition to the financial barrier, low household income, absence or extremely low health insurance, and medically underserved areas are also factors that prevent many people from accessing timely preventive and primary medical services (Collins et al., 2025). The result of this will be, in general, late diagnosis, incurable chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, and unnecessary hospitalization, which will further add to the cost of long-term health care and create more burden to the health system.

Such access gaps to health care providers and organizations result in emergency departments receiving more patients and increasing workload. These drivers make the delivery of uninterrupted and quality care challenging and affect the morale of the staff, job satisfaction, and the efficiency of the staff negatively (Bourgault, 2023). As they cope with the challenges of providing health care to a population with poor accessibility, the colleagues will face more pressure, burnout, and a lack of resources.

These issues cause further health disparities at the community level, a decrease in trust towards the health care system, and the aggravation of the health outcomes. These barriers have to be overcome to not only improve equity and social justice but also improve the health of the populations and create economic opportunities by cutting down on avoidable health care spending and improving the efficiency and sustainability of the health care services provided.

Gap Contributing to the Issue

The disparity in the distribution of health care resources among African Americans is one of the gaps that causes the lack of access. The underserved areas are characterized by a lower number of health care facilities, primary care providers, and culturally competent providers of services. The black patients have a greater chance of being discriminated against in the health care facilities. Almost one-fifth of Black adults (18 percent) report that a health care provider mistreated them because of their race or ethnicity, while among Hispanic adults and White adults, it was 11 percent and 3 percent, respectively, which strengthens the fact that the disparities in patient experience and care delivery continue to exist (Waldrop, 2025).

Structural and systemic barriers like economic disparities and institutionalized racism are other obstacles to preventive and specialized care (Tremblay and Lanoix, 2023). Such a shortage of workforce, limitation of finances, and institutional injustices augment the health disparities. Thus, special interventions are needed to improve the accessibility, quality, and equity in the health care services.

Identifying any Socioeconomic or Diversity Disparities 

The socioeconomic inequalities are also of great importance in limiting the possibilities of accessing health care by African American communities. Many of the inhabitants of these populations are in low-income neighborhoods in which they do not have access to preventive and primary care due to financial limitations, such as the inability to afford health insurance coverage or reimburse out-of-pocket medical expenses (Egede et al., 2023). Such financial constraints tend to culminate in later diagnosis, uncontrolled chronic illness, and high incidences of preventable hospitalization. According to Waldrop (2025), an analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed that Black people are worse off than White people on nearly 70% of the health measures examined, including overall life expectancy and general health status.

Diversity-related factors also contribute to the disparities. Many African Americans typically reside in areas with limited health care facilities and a lack of culturally competent providers, which reduces the accessibility of health care and the quality of health care. The language and culture present a barrier to communication. Therefore, patients may not be able to comprehend the plan of treatment, medication regimen, and follow-up, which may predispose them to complications and readmissions. Together, these socioeconomic and diversity-based issues result in a systemic disparity in health care access, poorer health outcomes, increased health care costs, and increased disparities between the African American populations and the other racial or income groups.

The Findings Regarding the Need to Address the Chosen Issue

Various scholarly and evidence-based materials would strongly suggest the need for working on the lack of access to health care among African Americans and searching for substantive policy and practice changes. Studies always indicated that African Americans have greater rates of avoidable chronic illnesses, avoidable hospitalization, and untimely death due to the delayed or insufficient access to primary care and preventive care (Egede et al., 2023).

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, black people have poorer health outcomes in most health indicators than white people, and in insurance, economic, and living in medically underserved communities (kffcarenec, 2024). These differences add up to the cost of health care and impose a heavy burden on the health systems that have to cope with advanced disease instead of averting it.

The importance of structural and systemic barriers to persistent access gaps was also brought to attention in the scholarly literature. According to Zhang et al. (2020), overreliance on emergency departments and less continuity of care among African American communities are linked to provider shortages, low access to culturally competent care, and disjointed delivery systems. Moreover, discrimination and mistrust towards the health care system also prevent individuals from seeking prompt care, exacerbating their health condition and adding financial costs for patients and organizations in the long term (Yearby et al., 2022). Such results prove that it is not an individual behavior problem but rather a systemic problem that has to be addressed through the effort of coordination.

Implementation Plans

The implementation plans that have supporting evidence-based research are to increase accessibility by developing the workforce, increasing the coverage of insurance, and implementing community-based care models for the population. Research indicated that the availability of primary care providers in underserved communities and culturally competent education improves patient interactions, disease control, and health outcomes for African Americans (Knowles et al, 2023).

Policy interventions and incentive programs to boost the workforce that enhance Medicaid and preventative care services have also been found to decrease unnecessary hospital admissions and decrease the general cost of health care (Hamad et al., 2020). Taken together, these academic results bolster the need for the development of evidence-based, specific implementing plans to reduce economic and systemic barriers, improve access to care, and establish health equity in African American communities in the long term.

The Predicted Outcomes and Opportunities for Growth

Implementing strategies to improve access to health care in African American communities is expected to have a variety of significant benefits for the patient and the health care organization. Through the increased number of health care providers available in underserved regions, improved recruitment and retention efforts, patients will see shorter wait times, a better rate of access to their preventive and primary care services, and less acute and chronic condition management (Bourgault, 2023).

Culturally competent care practices can be integrated to make sure that the treatment plan is based on the individual social, economic, and cultural needs of African American patients, which should result in increased health outcome disparity reduction and compliance with medical advice.

These propositions will ultimately lead to trust in the health system, which will encourage greater use of preventive services and early interventions, will decrease the number of preventable hospitalizations and severe complications. Furthermore, the result of the well-resourced workforce will be the enhancement of professional growth, satisfaction of providers, and health care capacities, which will lead to health equity and well-being of the community in the long term.

Specific Economic Benefits

Closing the access gap within African American communities would clearly be helpful in an economic context. The avoidance of unnecessary hospitalization and emergency room visits will cut costs to the health care system as well as to the patients. Retention and decreased turnover of staff make it possible to reduce the costs of recruitment and training and increase efficiency and service provision in the underserved areas (Bourgault, 2023). The combination of the economic benefits will improve the community and health system, which will lead to a more sustainable and equitable model of care.

Conclusion

It is required to enhance the access of the African American communities to health care by using strategies that ensure the increase of patient outcomes and the maintenance of the well-being of the providers. The provider recruitment and retention in underserved areas can be improved, and it will act as a curb to the shortage of workforce and better continuity of care. Culturally sensitive and supportive working conditions help tackle burnout and stabilize the workforce in healthcare. The administrators, policymakers, and community agencies should strive to create a stronger system that would provide equitable, high-quality care.

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