The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) is committed to supporting its member hospitals to ensure that every person in every community receives high-quality, equitable and safe care. This guide was developed by the MHA Keystone Center to provide practical guidance for organizations seeking to eliminate disparities in care to advance health equity, including:
- The importance of incorporating an equity lens into all improvement strategies, including quality, patient safety and population health, to improve health outcomes and the patient experience.
- Establishing a common understanding of health organizations’ role in addressing health disparities to achieve equity in care.
- Assessing each organization’s level of implementation within key categories that have been identified as critical components of any organization’s strategic plan to reduce disparities.
- Providing targeted resources and critical steps to support organizations in their journey to advance current practices toward achieving equity in care.
As health systems become increasingly focused on managing the health of populations and new payment structures hold health systems accountable for patient outcomes, these systems will need to consider the financial risk associated with allowing disparities in health outcomes to continue. The total cost of racial/ethnic disparities in 2009 was approximately $82 billion, including $60 billion in excess healthcare costs and $22 billion in lost productivity. The economic burden of these health disparities in the U.S. is projected to increase to $126 billion in 2020 and $353 billion in 2050 if the disparities remain unchanged. Racial/ethnic minorities and individuals with limited English proficiency in the U.S. are more likely to suffer an adverse event, have inappropriate and often costly tests ordered, have a longer length of stay in the hospital, be readmitted to the hospital, and incur ambulatory-sensitive hospitalizations. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarQ3_2025