About
About
The goal of the Equitable Healthcare Lab is to create impact and change at the community and healthcare delivery levels. We work with health systems and researchers to “help medicine fit people—all people” through the application of human-centered systems design.
Why focus on equity?
Because:
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Some people get the treatments they need, and others don’t,
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People in some neighborhoods live longer and better than people in other neighborhoods,
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Some people can find doctors and facilities that will treat them, and other people cannot, and
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The most frequently documented differences between these two groups of people are income level, zip code, and skin color.
Our Action Framework
Inequity in healthcare is caused by systems, not patients.
Our Action Framework targets 5 system forces:
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Payment & Performance
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Care Models
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Healthcare Workforce
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Data & Technology
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Demographic Shifts
How We Developed This Framework
In the summer of 2021, the Equitable Healthcare Lab conducted a literature review to identify system-level drivers of inequity. While there are many well-documented community-level factors that drive disparities in health outcomes, the Lab sought to triangulate on the “invisible” factors that promote or disrupt inequity at the front lines of care delivery. We surveyed over 150 peer-reviewed papers from PubMed, public health funder websites and gray literature.