Engage in Equitable Health Care

Engage in equity as a health system by making care more accessible and reducing disparities through research, active listening, and collaboration with community partners.

Major Themes

• Equitable, accessible health care delivery
• Health equity research and education that informs practice
• Minority and Women Business Enterprises

Key Milestones for FY2021

• Assess barriers to access across the community
• Increased data capture and accuracy for patients’ race and ethnicity
• Anti-racism statement included in clinical research process (IRB)
• Implement diversity and inclusion recruitment and retention best practices to increase BIPOC participants in clinical research

Objectives

1. Ensure equitable, accessible health care delivery
   • Work with partners to assess and mitigate barriers to access across the community
   • Significantly increase data capture and accuracy for patients’ race and ethnicity in eRecord; use de-identified information as a tool to study and address health disparities
2. Establish URMC as a national leader in health equity research and education
   • Enhance research and education related to health and health care equity that includes local and national/international investigators.
   • Ensure health equity research informs URMC senior leadership and URMC clinical quality improvement
   • Provide support to schools and clinical departments to implement health equity education
   • Work with community partners to identify and study our area’s top five health priorities and disparities; action plan to address learnings
3. Increase use of Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBE)
   • Directory of local MWBE, including those who might not be able to meet official certification

Progress

In Progress

• Extensive internal review of our clinical presence in the City of Rochester.
• Increased activity with Community Partners to better serve city residents.
• Have increased capability to track social determinants of health for patients in the electronic medical record.

Complete

• Four critical working groups are actively identifying system opportunities to ensure—
  • healthcare equities
  • build community partnerships
  • lead the way with health equity research and education, specifically focusing on the impact of racism on health and translating our efforts into policy and action.
• Proposal for Office of Health Equity Research.
• Edith Williams, PhD, named Founding Director of the Office of Health Equity Research. Visit this website to learn more. 
• Telva Olivares, M.D., is now head of the Health Equity Steering Committee.