With a stylish Internet splash, the US Department of Health and Human Services has rolled out Healthy People 2020, placing further (and needed) emphasis on health disparities and social determinants of health.

This month's column describes some of the efforts around the country to promote increased awareness of racial and other health disparities as well as some of the resources available to reduce them.

This month's column spotlights Brian Smedley, an editor of the Institute of Medicine's "Unequal Treatment" in 2003 and now the director of the Health Policy Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

This month's column looks at a tool for assisting hospitals in measuring their performance related to providing equitable care to gay and lesbian patients and to creating workplace environments that are supportive to gay and lesbian medical providers, nurses, and staff.

New articles and resources related to the causes and effects of health care inequities and disparities. Items include a compelling look at how community-based organizations can play effective roles in decreasing racial inequities in care, as well as big-picture strategies to decrease ethnic health disparities.

AHRQ releases Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit; Latino health inequities are focus of free full-text issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

This column describes recent literature on health disparities, emphasizing tools that can help clinicians to assess and address disparities in their own practices.

This column describes recent literature on health disparities, emphasizing tools that can help clinicians to assess and address disparities in their own practices.

This column examines recent literature on health disparities, emphasizing tools that can help clinicians to assess and address disparities in their own practices. This month's listings focus on obesity and HIV care.

This column examines recent literature on health disparities, emphasizing tools that can help clinicians to assess and address disparities in their own practices. This month's subject: New information about the causes, results, and elimination of health disparities.