Health Equity Blogs

For Women’s History Month, we turn the spotlight to a female-led venture capital firm that is out to change women’s lives for the better.

According to the CDC, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths can be prevented; that’s a 20% increase from previous years. Know why? That’s the theme for today’s Maternal Health Awareness Day – Know Why. Maternal Health Awareness Day, Jan. 23, shines a light on the many complex factors contributing to maternal health deaths and amplifies promising initiatives to combat the rising rates of maternal morbidity and mortality.

Welcome to the American Hospital Association special podcast series, #JustLead, a look at how hospitals and health systems that have been recognized with awards for innovation, collaboration and he

Our most recent Health Equity Innovation Summit took place Oct. 10 in AHA’s Region 6, which includes members from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota. This one-day event brought together C-suite hospital leaders, community members and patient advocates to explore regional challenges and co-develop potential solutions to accelerate actions to advance health equity.

In this podcast, Priya Bathija, vice president of AHA’s strategic initiatives speaks with globally recognized expert and leader in maternal care, Dr. Neel Shah about the state of maternal health in the U.S, along with how Maven Clinic is supporting Black moms and their families.

Black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy or childbirth-related death than White women. The health and well-being of women on their maternal journey – before, during and after childbirth are critical aspects of equitable health care.

This month we celebrate National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, so it is appropriate that we consider the impact of our words as we work to reduce the stigma around mental health issues.

Dr. Leon D. Caldwell, Senior Director, Health Equity Strategies and Innovation, in the Institute of Diversity and Health Equity at the AHA, sits down with Dr. James Min, CEO and Co-founder of AHA Associate, Cleerly, as well as Dr. Richard Chazal, Senior Cardiologist and Medical Director of the Heart & Vascular Institute at Lee Health System.

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. This tradition started back in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots – a series of demonstrations that were brought on by the continued mistreatment of LGBTQ+ individuals in New York City.

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It is an opportunity for us to celebrate the generations of Asian Americans who have enriched America’s history and are instrumental to the country’s future success.

“The power of visibility can never be underestimated.” – Margaret Cho.

The strong work and dedication of the diversity and inclusion team at UnityPoint Health, led by their senior vice president of diversity and inclusion, earned them recognition in PRC’s annual client awards. The health system and its community partners have continued their work to address disparities and social determinants of health.

One priority for hospitals and health systems is advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. The AHA’s next gathering, the Accelerating Health Equity Conference, May 10–12 in Cleveland, will focus on that topic.

Over the past few years the goal of health equity has moved into our national conversation about health care in a new, bigger and different way.

We spoke with Leon D. Caldwell, AHA’s senior director for health equity strategies and innovation and one of the Health Equity Roadmap’s architects, about its importance to hospitals and health systems.

Though recognizing implicit bias is important, hospitals must have an action plan to address it.

This week is Black Maternal Health Week, and April is National Minority Health Month. It’s an opportunity to “deepen the conversation” about black maternal health in the U.S. and to highlight the “important role individuals and organizations can play” in helping to reduce health disparities and improve the health of racial and ethnic minority communities.

According to latest data from the CDC, the U.S. maternal mortality rate, already significantly higher than in comparable countries, continues to rise, specifically for women of color.

Now is the time to evaluate how far we have come in closing gaps in health disparities, assess where health care is on the equity journey and take what we’ve learned to strengthen our organizations and communities through collaborative and innovative work — by investing in our neighborhoods and one another.

With the biennial DEI benchmark survey now available through March 15, read AHA’s Leon Caldwell’s blog addressing the hesitancy related to taking the survey, as well as strategies to manage said anxieties. For questions related to your participation in the survey, please contact AHA’s survey support team at surveysupport@aha.org.