According to the U.S. CDC health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.” Having a complete view of an individual’s clinical data is vital to achieving this.
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By Jessica Scruton BSN RN CCM-R – According to the World Health Organization, numerous studies report that SDOH play a role in 30% – 55% of health outcomes. In fact, research has indicated that social determinants may be more important to an individual’s health than their lifestyle choices.
By David Pyke – Social determinants of health, as defined by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
By Devin Partida – Technology is central to modern health care, including making comprehensive medical treatment equally available and accessible to everyone. Equity is a significant concern today, especially as data highlights persisting disparities among different demographics.
By Robert L. Murry PhD MD FAAFP – Recently I had the distinct privilege of presenting to the ONC Health IT Advisory Committee at their meeting titled “Health Equity by Design.” The presentation highlighted five areas of focus for Health IT in reducing health disparities:
By David Burda – AHRQ’s snapshot of the U.S. healthcare system taken through the lens of 233 performance measures in three domains and six subareas under the quality-of-care domain. The 2021 report is a picture of the healthcare system as it was in 2019, a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Eliana Donner-Klein & Michelle Rubin – Health disparities are a long-standing challenge in the United States and worldwide. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its higher impact on vulnerable and marginalized groups, more attention is being directed towards achieving health equity.
Achieving health equity, eliminating disparities, and improving health outcomes for all are long-standing goals of CMS and the National Quality Forum. With funding from CMS, NQF continues its focus on these priorities through new work incorporating health equity into the Measure Applications Partnership.
By Matt Fisher – Inequalities and disparities exist throughout society and industries, an issue that has become ever more apparent and spotlighted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on healthcare, the inequities are impacting non-white patient populations and with each report found to exist across what appears to be every aspect of healthcare.