The following is a guest article by Lisa Bari, MBA, MPH, Chief Executive Officer at Civitas Networks for Health.
Health equity was a central theme at this year’s ViVE and HIMSS conferences, and it is gaining interest and attention as many in the health IT community ask ourselves what we can do to improve the insufficient structures, systems, experiences and outcomes for all Americans.
To the Civitas Networks for Health and the DirectTrust communities, health equity is a promise. It is a vision to strive for and a reality we must help to deliver, which is why we’re partnering on one annual conference in August centered around the theme: Better Together: Health Data Collaboratives and Information Exchange to Advance Health Equity. The four-day hybrid conference, August 21-24, is in San Antonio, TX, or live streaming on our virtual platform. It will include nationally recognized health care thought leaders and bring together peers from across the country to connect, share experiences and learn – together.
Highlights from the experts
As one of our recently announced keynote speakers, Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH, CEO of HealthBegins, recently called attention to in his blog, “Almost everywhere I look in health care these days, people are talking about equity. And many are not merely talking about it but trying to do something about it. That’s great news. But the effectiveness of their efforts is likely to be limited by a stubborn fact: few are applying a structural lens to this work. A structural lens reveals that inequities are not simply the unfortunate results and by-products of large forces in society, such as income inequality, structural racism, and generational poverty. Rather, inequities are harms against people. They are harms done by design. And they require structural solutions.” We very much look forward to exploring this approach more fully and to hearing directly from Dr. Manchanda.
At the event, we will also learn from Cara James, PhD, President and CEO of Grantmakers in Health. Dr. James reflected in her most recent message from the GIH President, “It is a time for us to educate ourselves on the health challenges facing communities of color and other vulnerable populations, and to reflect on the progress we have made towards advancing health equity and what more we must do to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.”
Dr. James will be joined on stage by Dora Hughes, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of the CMS Innovation Center at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Dr. Hughes is a part of the leadership working to achieve the recently refreshed CMS Innovation Center’s 2030 vision: A health system that achieves equitable outcomes through high quality, affordable, person-centered care. Equity will be embedded throughout CMS Innovation Center models going forward, and we very much anticipate hearing more about the strategy refresh at the conference.
We are in this together
As we prepare for our big event, we fully recognize that the road to health equity requires perseverance and a willingness to look at systems and structures with a different lens. Through planning this convening, several themes are emerging related to how we make health equity a reality with a particular focus on opportunities stemming from strong partnerships. We wanted to offer these considerations and lessons learned to the broader community, as we know it will take all of us, across stakeholders and sectors, to advance health equity.
Making health equity a reality
Our national networks, comprised of multi-stakeholder health data collaboratives and critical health care and technology solutions partners, are essential to the advancement of health equity:
- We convene community leaders across stakeholders and sectors to address the most pressing challenges in health and healthcare
- We are developing and implementing policies, processes and programs that focus on inequities and disparities with a goal to deliver equitable solutions for all
- We make real-time data available when it is needed most
- We are increasing access to data
- We are analyzing data to understand utilization and trends
- We hold fiercely to high data privacy and secure exchange standards
- We believe whole-person care is possible
- We strive for standards and accountability
Better together
A core tenet of health equity is resource sharing. However, this is not always the approach; competition can cloud our ability to see the positive potential of partnership. When a partnership makes sense, it is worth leaning into. We have a recent example of this with the coming together of the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative and the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement becoming Civitas Networks for Health last October. Less formally, and with a strong commitment to partnership, Civitas works closely with other national networks such as HIMSS, NAHDO, AcademyHealth, and in this case, DirectTrust.
When does it make sense to partner?
- When you have complementary assets
- When you have aligned goals
- When you have overlap in your members or audience
- When you can lighten each other’s load while achieving great things
Consider where you might have the opportunity to partner to further advance health equity. Collaboration and a willingness to learn from others with different perspectives often brings about better solutions.
Continue the conversation with us! Join us for the Civitas Networks for Health 2022 Annual Conference, a Collaboration with the DirectTrust Summit!
We believe in collaboration and are excited to bring together a diversity of people and perspectives as we dig into our theme at this year’s conference. We will hear from national health equity experts (Rishi Manchanda, Cara James, Dora Hughes among others), and we will have many practical solution-oriented examples of how Civitas and DirectTrust members are furthering health equity in communities across our country. Registration is open (early bird rates are still available!), sponsorship opportunities are available, and our agenda will be published mid-June. We invite you to join us to share your ideas and perspectives, meet others in our industry and feel inspired to see how you are part of the solution. Finally, as a hybrid in-person and virtual conference, we expect that greater accessibility will bring about rich and unique experiences. If you have questions, reach out to us at contact@civitasforhealth.org.
