Conquering Health Disparities

Conquering health disparities with purpose, vision and bold action

Inequities in health care and mental health services disproportionally affect minority communities across the nation every day. The conditions in which people are born, live, work, and play can vastly affect their health risks and outcomes. Often, just the zip code you live in can determine your life expectancy.

At Optum, we believe physicians and clinicians are best suited to take on health inequity in the communities we serve because we can help discover barriers, break down stigmas, and connect people to services within their community. Here’s how we’re working to make health care better for our underserved communities at Optum:

We’re collaborating with community organizations and providing better access.

The common barrier in health care for most minority communities is access. Many people have complex social needs that create barriers to care. Many of our care delivery organizations within Optum offer house calls, 24-hour nurse lines and case reviews when social determinants are at play.

Our physicians and clinicians are backed by a team that can act as a bridge between patients and the programs and systems already in place in their community, giving people the extra support they need and teaching them how to use resources.

We’re providing personalized care based on individual needs.

Our physicians and clinicians are encouraged to build deep relationships with their patients resulting in a better understanding of each person’s unique needs.

We give physicians and clinicians resources – like our stratification tool – to help identify social determinants of health in high-risk patients so we can intervene early. And we’re leveraging data and emerging analytics to identify, address and monitor disparities in care.

We believe in spending time with our patients to achieve the best outcomes.

Compounding issues like increased racism, distrust of the medical community and access to care are contributing to poorer health outcomes. Creating safe spaces of empathy, understanding and healing for our patients is critical. One of the best tools we have is the simple act of listening.

Ask your patients how they’re feeling or what happened to them? Look for cues and signals of distress, detachment or disengagement. Then pause and see what happens. The power of trust and compassion can truly improve the patient experience.

When we’re aware of their social drivers and emotional needs we can use our collective power and resources to connect patients to the services they need in the community when and where they need and trust it most.?

We’re promoting equity and diversity in our workforce.

Optum represents a diverse group of communities and cultures. And as physicians, we can make sure we bring our community’s voice to the table.

Our experiences create who we are, and no one is immune to bias. We must all work to keep ourselves in check so we can provide safe spaces for our patients. Optum offers opportunities to conquer implicit bias in the health care setting through trainings, educational opportunities and a culture of inclusion and improvement.

I’m proud of the work we’re doing at Optum. We’re thinking differently and being bold. We’re changing healthcare for the better. And we have the focus, commitment, people and tools to do it better today for an even better tomorrow.