Transforming Health Care

Health equity represents the opportunity for everyone to live the healthiest life possible, no matter their identity, address, background, or income. To achieve true equity, healthcare providers everywhere must seek to address the pervasive racial bias and discrimination that currently exists in the delivery of healthcare in the United States. In Transforming Health Care, Lynne D. Richardson, MD, and Sima Rabinowitz provide a comprehensive approach to advancing antiracism and achieving racial health equity as a strategic priority and intentional practice in healthcare organizations. Transforming Health Care begins with concrete guidance to support the design of an organizational antiracism action plan, including specific strategies for organization-wide engagement and the creation of an institutional evaluation framework. It teaches how to accurately collect data on patient race, ethnicity, and preferred language, and how to implement screening tools to capture the social determinants of health. Throughout the book, Richardson and Rabinowitz clearly outline the process of embedding equity into medical practice and eliminating bias in the delivery of health care while promoting inclusive, equitable strategies in emerging digital health trends. They consider various antiracist leadership models and business structures, emphasizing the importance of community and patient engagement at every turn. With an inspiring preface from world-leading antiracism scholar and public health advocate Camara P. Jones, MD, PhD, MPH, and spotlight stories throughout that highlight real world examples of existing health care initiatives across the country, Transforming Health Care is the authoritative source for leaders who are seeking to actively contribute to the creation of a medical system with true health equity for all by addressing the existing imbalances through practical steps towards antiracism.

Lynne D. Richardson is the founding Co-Director of the Institute for Health Equity Research and is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Equity Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. A native of Harlem, New York, Dr. Richardson's career as a clinical leader, educator, researcher, and advocate for equity spans four decades. She previously served on the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) of the Centers for Disease Control and chaired their Health Disparities Subcommittee. Dr. Richardson is a Past Chair of the American College of Emergency Physicians Public Health Committee and a current member of the Board of Trustees of the Emergency Medicine Foundation. she is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Sima Rabinowitz is a Senior Scientific Writer with the Institute for Health Equity Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Rabinowitz earned a BA from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton with a double major in French and Spanish, and an MA in Spanish/ Latin American Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. She served for several years on the faculty of Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and worked for more than a decade as an independent science and business writer.

- Acknowledgements - Foreword - Preface - Introduction - Chapter One. How is Racism Operating Here? Developing an Antiracism Action Plan - Chapter Two. Embedding Equity into Quality Measurement - Chapter Three. Embedding Equity into Care Delivery - Chapter Four. Eliminating Bias and Racism from Care Delivery - Chapter Five. Building Antiracist Business Structures and Practices - Chapter Six. Antiracist Leadership and Learning - Chapter Seven. Multisector Partnerships: Creating and Sustaining Change - Epilogue - Notes - Index