Effective Strategies for Achieving Healthcare Equity

Healthcare is a complex ecosystem and ensuring health equity is a critical challenge that requires the collective effort of all those involved. Payers, governmental agencies, and employers all have a crucial role to play in making healthcare more equitable. By leveraging their unique positions and access to large datasets, these organizations can identify disparities early and partner with key stakeholders to drive health equity across the healthcare landscape.

At the recent Becker's Healthcare Payer Issues Roundtable, my fellow panelists and I addressed the topic of “Driving Health Equity: How Payers Can Address Disparities Today.” It was a fast-paced session and as we explored the issues, it highlighted the crucial role payers can take in promoting equity in the healthcare system.

All payers should be asking themselves what they can do better to drive equity and make that a business priority. Organizations must prioritize investing in innovative solutions that have a meaningful impact on eliminating health disparities, including:

• Ways of increasing access to care.
• Offering health education and wellness programs to help reduce the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases and other health conditions that disproportionately affect underserved populations.
• Contracting with providers who prioritize health equity in their practices. As part of this, we should promote Value Based Care programs that can collect and report data on inequities. We also should ensure that providers have the necessary cultural competency to service diverse populations by offering cultural competency training and resources.

In the current climate, it's crucial that we keep a watchful eye on all aspects pertaining to health equity, especially in terms of developments in mental and maternal health. Employers and health plans are increasingly recognizing the importance of implementing healthcare benefit designs that promote fairness and inclusivity in the workplace, leading to an explosion of services aimed at fulfilling this growing demand. It's safe to say that we can expect to see even more options emerging in the marketplace in the near future.

It is important to recognize that achieving health equity is not just the responsibility of the healthcare industry alone. Because social determinants of health, such as access to healthy food, safe housing, and quality education, play such a significant role in shaping health outcomes, communities need to be actively engaged and empowered to contribute to this effort.

To achieve equity in the healthcare ecosystem, a comprehensive approach that acknowledges the interdependence of social, economic, and health determinants is necessary. By working collaboratively, we can bridge the gap in health disparities and establish a more equitable healthcare system that benefits all individuals.

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Tags: Peter W. McCauley Sr., Extraordinarily Courageous Communicator, Becker's Payer Issues Roundtable, Healthcare Equity