Many social factors and systemic inequities inside and outside of clinical walls affect health, but this doesn’t negate the responsibility of health care organizations to help reduce inequities and improve community well-being. We believe there is an opportunity and an obligation for every health care organization to assess and accommodate patients’ goals, needs, and life circumstances to advance health equity. While health care organizations are not alone in grappling with broader social and economic determinants of health, they have a unique role to play in identifying and leading efforts to implement strategies that promote true equity.
Our nation’s experience with COVID-19 created a shared national awareness of how the intersection of race, health, and economic status impacts both health care access and treatment. The pandemic, coupled with renewed calls for racial justice, underscored the urgency for action. As a result, health care organizations across the country are making commitments to advancing equity in their own institutions. This work is complicated and intensive and requires commitment and infrastructure that go well beyond a new taskforce or updated job titles.
The above is an excerpt of a piece originally published in Health Affairs.
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