Institute of Healthcare Improvement & Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation
Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
Institute of Healthcare Improvement will coalesce health systems and organizations to commit advancing health equity in their Pursuing Equity initiative.
Need
Inequities in health and healthcare result from unacceptable and remediable system failures. Leading healthcare systems are beginning to recognize that they can be inspirational and effective pioneers in tackling this national issue. While healthcare organizations alone do not have the power to improve all of the multiple determinants of health for all of society, they do have the power to address disparities directly at the point of care, and to impact many of the determinants that create these disparities.
Project
The Pursuing Equity initiative aims to reduce disparities by providing practical improvement methods and tools, creating a network for learning across healthcare organizations, and disseminating results and learning to support ongoing national dialog and action. The initiative will bring together 8 leading health systems already committed to, and active in advancing equity. Four of the health systems have identified cardiovascular disease and two have identified cancer as clinical areas for improving equity. The two-year initiative’s primary aims are: 1) a measurable narrowing of health equity gaps in participating health systems and their communities, and 2) a detailed roadmap to advance equity for healthcare systems across the country.
Read more of IHI’s white paper, Achieving Health Equity: A Guide for Health Care Organizations
Project Leader
Amy Reid, areid@IHI.org and Kedar Mate, kmate@IHI.org
Health System Partners
Northwest Colorado Health, Kaiser Permanente, Main Line Health, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Henry Ford Health System, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, Rush University Medical Center, HealthPartners