Brigham and Women’s Hospital https://www.brighamandwomens.org, American Medical Association https://www.ama.org and the Joint Commission https://www.jointcommission.org have created a learning network to help hospital systems apply equity to quality and safety to improve outcomes in historically marginalized populations.
The Advancing Equity Through Quality and Safety Peer Network is a year-long mentorship and networking program that the organizations are piloting. The plan is to equip eight participating health systems with the foundational knowledge and tools to embed equity throughout their institutions’ healthcare delivery practices and advance racial justice and equity for patients, staff, and communities.
Studies show that Black, Latinx, and Asian American patients are at a significantly higher risk of contracting and in many cases, dying from preventable hospital acquired infections such as MRSA, C. diff, or catheter associated UTIs than non-Latinx white patients.
The first phase of the Peer Network’s approach will begin with participants including, Atlantic Medical Group/Atlantic Health, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, U of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Ochsner Medical Center, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics.
A framework designed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement will be used to reduce health inequities within clinical operations by leveraging an infrastructure of quality and safety care to all patients.