National Minority Health Month – A Time to Do Better
It’s National Minority Health Month which for me generated the question, why do we need a Minority Health Month? What has caused the disparity of care that requires us to focus on the access and level of healthcare the minority population receives. First let’s look at some statistics.
According to the Minority Health Initiative,
Among adults with mental illness, black adults (39%) are less likely than white adults (52%) to receive mental health services.
Black adults are 30% more likely than Whites to die prematurely from heart disease.
Black women are 300% more likely to die during childbirth than white women.
The statistics show that something is happening that is having an adverse effect on health in minority communities. It is widely recognized that the social circumstances and related environmental hazards and exposures have a considerable impact on health outcomes. These are commonly referred to as social determinants of health (SDOH). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines SDOH as “the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.” These community-level factors influence a variety of individual health-related social needs such as financial strain, housing instability and poor quality, food insecurity, lack of access to health care, and inadequate educational opportunities. An inability to meet these social needs puts individuals at higher risk for exacerbating health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, depression, cancer, and diabetes. It is clear that these social determinants of health have a profound impact on the access and level of care for minority populations.
I’m a big believer in self-reliance and accountability. I think we shouldn’t be surprised when bad choices result in negative impacts on our lives, but things that we can’t control, like where we are born and our access to good healthcare, shouldn’t doom us to substandard care. It is important to recognize that this access to care should be obtainable in a person’s own community which has historically been a challenge. It is also evident that people would like to be treated by someone who looks like them and understands their ethnicity. I’ve always been critical of the government’s push to standardize care in a one-size-fits-all solution when our science is continually pushing toward the much more effective goal of individualized care. When a patient is treated by a provider that understands them individually, the health outcome will be better. So, how do we make this happen?
The statistics show the problem, but solutions are complicated. It is difficult to train and graduate minority providers when they are often born into communities where educational opportunities are scarce. It is tough to convince providers to maintain facilities in financially challenged communities. But there are solutions, and we are working to turn the tide.
One step is to focus on gathering more information about the social condition of patients. Maybe you’ve noticed, like I have, that my providers are asking me more questions about my situation at home, especially at the yearly wellness exam. This is in response to the fact that our diet, our exercise, and our social life have a huge impact on our wellbeing. In recognition of this broader definition of healthcare, the suppliers of funds in support of the underserved are increasing the flexibility of how these funds can be used by expanding the definition of healthcare to include many aspects of SDOH. We have also recognized that there are state and local organizations that are better equipped to understand and treat the specific needs of their community. The closer the fund distribution is to the patient, the better the outcome. While these are great steps, we need to increase the training and awareness of those who provide care to minorities.
Access to care for the minorities in our country is important, eliminating disparity in the access to healthcare will make our country stronger and better. I hope that National Minority Health Month will help us focus on this important issue.
Best, Thair