Health care disparities, defined as variation in quality and safety of care by patient sociodemographic characteristics, have been a significant and persistent problem in American health care. While California hospitals and hospital systems have often been at the forefront of the quest to achieve health care equity, significant work still remains ahead of us.
This page is intended to provide hospitals with select current resources and wisdom that can assist them in measuring, understanding, and alleviating disparities in care.
- HSAG’s Health Equity Quickinar Series (Jan – July 2023) can help hospitals address health disparities and meet CMS’ new health equity metrics.
- Recordings of three Equity Track sessions presented at HQI’s Annual Conference in Long Beach, October 3, 2022
- HQI’s two-part webinar series Health Equity Basics for Hospitals:
- Transgender Healthcare: Safety Considerations for Both Patient and Institution
- HQI webinar Addressing Racial Inequity in Healthcare Outcomes with a Focus on Cherished Futures for Black Moms and Babies
- HQI webinar Eliminating Inequities in Pain and Symptom Management discussed the causes and remedies of disparities in management of pain and symptoms.
- HQI webinar The Impact of Bias on Quality and Patient Safety discusses factors that support vs. undermine the ability of individuals and organizations to provide equitable care.
- HQI webinar Protecting Patients from Social Identity Threat & Racial Trauma discusses the nature of these often overlooked but powerful manifestations of structural inequities and ways to mitigate their negative impact in health care settings.
- To assess your hospital’s ability to identify and act on health care disparities, use the Hospital Health Equity Organizational Assessment Tool, which HQI co-developed when working in partnership with HSAG as part of HSAG’s Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN).
- Read key findings and recommendations from HQI’s study of gaps in the collection of race, ethnicity and language data.
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) white paper with guidance for health care organizations: Achieving Health Equity: A Guide for Health Care Organizations
- American Hospital Association’s (AHA) #123 for Equity Pledge to Act Campaign provides a pledge and a blueprint for how hospital and health system leaders can take action on eliminating health disparities. Click on the link to see if your hospital has signed the pledge!
- Hospital Association of Southern California’s (HASC) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resources