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Building care systems you can take pride in

Healthcare is facing an equity crisis — and one of the most marginalized groups is often the LGBTQIA+ community. LGBTQIA+ individuals lack equitable access to care and services and experience worse health outcomes than their heterosexual peers. About 1 in 6 LGBTQIA+ respondents to a Harvard study reported that they’ve personally experienced discrimination at the hands of a clinician; 1 in 5 say they avoid medical care because they feared discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. When they do seek care, LGBTQIA+ people often feel discouraged because their providers aren’t knowledgeable about their specific health issues.

To improve cultural competence in care delivery, health systems have to find new ways to meet the needs of underserved communities. Digital solutions can accelerate health systems’ progress toward equity in many ways. They give providers high-quality data to facilitate screenings and risk assessments, improve patient engagement, and extend services beyond the four walls of the hospital, including telehealth and community resource referrals, just to name a few. The time to act on equity is now. Let’s get started.

Industry insights

• The health equity imperative: How health systems are using digital to provide more equitable care [AVIA]
• Learn from these leaders to advance equity in your health system [AMA]
• When it comes to digital health, access is the bare minimum—patients need high-quality healthcare experiences [MedCity News]
• Tech ‘an incredible strategic asset’ as hospitals go beyond digital transformation, CIO says [Becker’s Hospital Review]
• 5 ways to leverage tech for hospital success under value-based care [HealthTech]

Resource of the week

Even with a renewed focus on health equity, healthcare still isn’t equitable. Health systems must work harder to eliminate these inequities, and evidence-based care models and scalable digital solutions can get us there faster.

Our white paper The health equity imperative: How health systems are using digital to provide more equitable care, explores how AVIA Members have successfully used digital to reduce health inequities in their communities.

What we’re into this week

Read: The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe, a thought-provoking read that connects threads of futurism, race, sexuality, gender plurality, love, and the concepts of memory and time

Listen: to Las Culturistas, a pop-culture fest hosted by Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang and Haute Dog host Matt Rogers

Watch: Conversations with Friends on Hulu, ​​which follows Frances, a 21-year-old college student, as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time