Increasing Access to and Quality of Healthcare Services to Promote Community Health Equity

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue of Healthcare. The accessibility and quality of healthcare play an important role in protecting and promoting the health of populations. Given that many communities—especially those in racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minority groups, and those of lower socioeconomic positions—experience disproportionate burdens of disease, this Special Issue focuses on highlighting promising evidence-based and data-driven practices and studies that reduce health disparities and promote health equity.

This Special Issue aims to showcase descriptive, applied, and evaluative research—research which elucidates strategies for health promotion, including efforts to increase early diagnosis, promote access to quality care/treatment, and reduce social and economic burdens of disease across the life course, including those related to mental health. Submissions examining unequal access to and/or the utilization of care (including technological resources) and the efficacy of culturally appropriate resources (e.g., in-language materials, contextual messaging, community-based communication) are especially welcome. Populations of interest include immigrant communities (including those who are diasporic or intersectional in nature), communities whose data has been disaggregated from broader demographic categories, marginalized groups, and healthcare providers who serve diverse patients and clients.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Investigations of social, cultural, economic, and political determinants of health disparities.
• Promising evidence-based or data-driven practices which result in institutional changes improving access to and/or quality of care for patient populations at higher risk for adverse health outcomes.
• Policy-level interventions (local, state, or federal) which increase access to culturally appropriate care, improved outcomes, and/or reduce disproportionate burdens of risk, illness, and/or death.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Arnab Mukherjea
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag
Dr. Hannah Thuy Nguyen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• disparities in health care access and quality
• vulnerable populations
• determinants of health care utilization
• culturally- appropriate interventions for improved health care outcomes