Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in U.S. Health Care

Our hope is that policymakers and health system leaders will use this tool to investigate the impact of past policies on health across racial and ethnic groups, and that they will begin to take steps to ensure an equitable, antiracist health care system for the future.

Digital health equity is an emerging gap in health

Digital health equity is a new crisis that connects urban and rural health and impacts unique and diverse populations. Based on the World Health Organization, “health equity is defined as the absence of unfair and avoidable or remediable differences in health among population groups defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically.” As health systems begin to expand and refine their digital health systems, digital health equity should be a fundamental aspect of this digital development.

Don’t Neglect Health Equity

The potential for improving health, and health disparities, on an individualized or community basis is tremendous, but this effort must be pursued as a collaborative and interdisciplinary study that involves the communities meant to benefit from it.

Equitable Access To Healthcare Starts With Affordable Broadband For All

Yes, the pandemic has brought to light just how deep and wide America’s inequities run. Now tech companies, internet service providers, and other forward-thinking companies must step up and help America’s healthcare system move into a digitally accelerated era of greater equity and access.

Equity in health care improves people’s health

Equity-oriented health care means paying particular attention to those at greatest risk of poor health and that typically means people who are most affected by the negative impacts of social conditions such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, stigma, racism and other forms of discrimination.

Expanding health care access and equity through telehealth

Telehealth is an innovative solution to connect patients to quality care. Expansion of telehealth access must address the challenges that have historically hindered utilization.

Health Equity: What We Can Learn from the World

Solutions from abroad can inspire action for health equity in the United States.

Health Equity: Why it Matters and How to Achieve it

Health inequities—defined by the World Health Organization as systematic differences in the health status of different population groups—have been in the national spotlight for years, which isn’t surprising given that the U.S. ranks last on measures of health equity compared to other industrialized countries.

How telehealth could make healthcare more equal

Because telehealth isn’t dependent on getting to a specific location and more affordable than in-person visits, it’s an important tool for those who would otherwise forgo care.

In AI development, equality starts with a mandate for fairness and inclusivity

Remarkable progress has been made in medicine over the last century. But it is not equal progress, largely due to inequality in the development of drugs and diagnostics.

Racial Inequities Persist in Health Care Despite Expanded Insurance

The pandemic has highlighted longstanding inequities, taking a greater toll on Black and Hispanic communities. An editorial in the journal noted that the health care system has a long history of racism. Hospitals only desegregated when they were threatened with the loss of federal funds from the Medicaid and Medicare programs, which were enacted in 1966.

Rich nation, unequal health care: Why a charity that's helped Haiti is aiding the U.S.

Early on in the pandemic, PIH began working with partners in various U.S. communities, including Newark, N.J., Fulton County, Ga., the Navajo Nation and the state of Massachusetts, to train contact tracers and set up other public health interventions for America's most vulnerable. Low-income communities of color have been disproportionately hard hit throughout the pandemic — and that's made long-standing racial and ethnic health disparities glaringly obvious.

Toward Better Outcomes And Equity In Healthcare: Turning Pandemic Adaptations Into Lasting Transformation

These advances have saved lives, and though born out of necessity, serve as a foundation towards a holistic long-term vision for sustained acceleration. With so much changing so quickly, it is easy to lose sight of how this foundation paves the way for years of future advances—which is why defining the vision is so important.