Ending unequal treatment: Strategies to achieve equitable health care and optimal health for all

Racial and ethnic inequities in health and health care impact individual well-being, contribute to millions of premature deaths, and cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Addressing these inequities is vital to improving the health of the nation’s most disadvantaged communities—and will also help to achieve optimal health for all. In its 2003 report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, the Institute of Medicine examined the impacts of health care disparities and proposed ways to advance health equity. Because disparities persist, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an expert committee to revisit the 2003 report, review the major drivers of health care inequities, provide insight into successful and unsuccessful interventions, identify gaps in the evidence base, propose strategies to close those gaps, consider ways to scale and spread effective interventions to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in health care, and make recommendations to advance health equity. The committee’s report, Ending Unequal Treatment: Strategies to Achieve Equitable Health Care and Optimal Health for All, presents its conclusions, goals, and recommendations. (author description)