Reducing Disparities in Health Outcomes News

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The National Urban League released its annual State of Black America report, detailing the state of racial equality in America across economics, employment, education, health, housing, criminal justice and civic participation.
A blog co-authored by Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of AHA’s Physician Alliance and interim executive lead of AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, and Derek Robinson, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, highlights the 13 newly announced Illinois-based hospitals who are AHA and BCBSIL’s recipients of health equity grants.
Leaders of the Black Maternal Health Caucus virtually convened the second annual Stakeholder Summit, where members of Congress and supporting organizations urged passage of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act (H.R. 6142/S. 3424) to end preventable maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, and eliminate disparities in maternal health outcomes.
by Melinda L. Estes, M.D.
COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color throughout the nation, with minorities more likely to be infected and severely impacted by the virus. But its effect is more than physical.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic and seniors, which focused on racial health disparities.
Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D., senior vice president of community health and equity and chief wellness and diversity officer at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, shares valuable insights and innovations on bridging gaps of inequities in mental health care for communities in-need.
The AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois July 20 announced grant program awards to support the work of 13 Illinois hospitals and health care organizations in reducing disparities in health care.
by Elisa Arespacochaga
By Elisa Arespacochaga and Derek Robinson, M.D.
Raymond Waller, hospital administrator at Ascension Brighton Center for Recovery in Brighton, Mich., and 2020 chair of AHA's Behavioral Health Council, looks at substance use rates, stigma and the lack of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) behavioral health care providers.
The AHA, American Medical Association, and American Nurses Association urged Senate leaders to include in the next COVID-19 relief bill provisions to strengthen the federal response for racial and ethnic minority and marginalized communities, which are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
Disproportionate rates of COVID-19 illness and death among racial and ethnic minorities likely stem from a higher probability of exposure to the virus at work and at home, according to a study by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality researchers published in Health Affairs.
by Raymond Waller
Raymond Waller, hospital administrator at Ascension Brighton Center for Recovery in Brighton, Mich., and 2020 chair of AHA's Behavioral Health Council, looks at substance use rates, stigma and the lack of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) behavioral health care providers. Read more in this guest blog about the work hospitals and health systems can do now to help future generations.
To aid hospitals and health systems in identifying health disparity gaps, Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of the AHA Physician Alliance and interim executive lead of AHA's Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, highlights new race, ethnicity and language (REaL) data resources and tools to help health care providers meet the needs of minority and vulnerable populations in the fight against COVID-19 and beyond.
The Human Rights Campaign released two news resources that hospitals and health systems can use to provide better care for LGBTQ children and youth.
In this AHA Stat Blog, former AHA Board Chair John Bluford says we need action now to improve health equity. “A good place to start is by our health care systems attacking social and economic determinants of health and racism ZIP code by ZIP code, community by community and city by city in pursuit of better communities and a better nation,” writes Bluford.
by Harsh Trivedi, M.D.
As we mark July as Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, Harsh Trivedi, M.D., president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt Health System based in Baltimore, Md., and a member of the AHA Board of Trustees, writes that hospitals and health systems must improve behavioral health care access for Black, Indigenous and people of color.
The Department of Health and Human Services said its Office of Minority Health will partner with the Morehouse School of Medicine to deliver education and resources on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on racial- and ethnic-minority, rural and socially vulnerable communities.
Hospitalization rates for COVID-19 were nearly four times higher for black, and two times higher for Hispanic, Medicare beneficiaries than for white Medicare beneficiaries, according to data on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health Wednesday held a hearing to discuss COVID-19’s disproportionate effect on racial and ethnic minorities.
The Department of Health and Human Services finalized proposed revisions to a 2016 rule implementing nondiscrimination protections for patients under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.