To improve health equity, leaders must make it ‘the center of your strategy’
More health systems say they are aiming to close disparities in healthcare. Susan Garfield of EY outlines steps to help move the needle.Susan Garfield has been working on health equity issues for 25 years.“The issues aren’t new,” she says.Nonetheless, Garfiled, the chief public health officer at Ernst & Young (EY), says she is glad health equity issues are gaining more attention from healthcare leaders. Many of those issues have been vividly illustrated in the COVID-19 pandemic.“COVID has brought the challenges of health equity and health disparities to the forefront,” she says. “It has shown the impact persistent health disparities and health inequities have.”“It has always been a topic that is real and prevalent,” she says. “It has emerged as a priority for healthcare organization...