Health Equity Resource Center
Jump to: Action, Provider Education, Illinois Resources, Practice Resources, LGBTQIA topics, Rural Health Equity
Health Equity Member Interest Group Goals
Mission/Vision
Objectives:
- Support IAFP member needs related to education in health equity (e.g. implicit bias training, member activities and discussions)
- Create a network of IAFP physicians and students committed to health equity
Definition of Health Equity 
IAFP definition: Health equity is realized when each individual has a fair opportunity to achieve their full health potential. Achieving health equity requires treating everyone justly according to their circumstances: equality is an outcome of equity. Societal efforts must be undertaken to address structural inequalities that create group-differentiated access to resources, as well as differentiated vulnerabilities to harm.” (IHI, Healthy People 2020, Race Matters Institute, Structural Competency Workgroup, Am J Public Health)
Prominent health organizations definitions
Video Introduction: What is Health Equity?
Recommended Articles
Statement from the Editors of Family Medicine Journals (Oct. 15, 2020) includes a link to over 250 published manuscripts and demonstrates expertise as well as a commitment to addressing racism in medicine.
Definition of Racism:
“Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world. Racism—the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them—inevitably follows from this inalterable condition. In this way, racism is rendered as the innocent daughter of Mother Nature, and one is left to deplore the Middle Passage or Trail of Tears the way one deplores an earthquake, a tornado, or any other phenomenon that can be cast as beyond the handiwork of men. But race is the child of racism, not the father.” (Ta Nehesi Coates, Between the World and Me)
To understand racism, one must understand how it operates on multiple levels: personal, interpersonal, institutional, structural. See the graphic below, and watch this video from RaceForward.
Ways to Take Action
Results from the IAFP's Health Equity Champions Survey highlighted 50+ individuals willing to partner with IAFP in a number of ways, and areas in which they want to get involved. We provide a brief overview of tangible ways to engage in health equity work.
Identify specific need from your personal experience, or community with the Illinois-Specific Resources below
Here are first steps you can take:
1. Reflect on existing biases and privileges you may bring to the table. This may be an uncomfortable reflection, but is part of the continual process. It is ok to make mistakes as long as you are humble.
2. Identify one socio-economic factor that may contribute to health inequity in your community. Think about stories from your patients, or use the resources here.
3. Find your role and superpower: There are different roles that one can play to generate social change. As family physicians, we may identify the most as frontline responders and caregivers. Aside from those two roles, what are unique characteristics that you possess? Check out a full list of roles here, and examples of initial steps.
4. Join our IAFP Health Equity Member Interest Group to be connected with Health Equity champions.
5. IAFP Hosted a Town Hall for Medical Students on October 17, 2020. Learn more and view the recording
Education with state and national FM Advocacy Resources:
Use your Voice: Write an op-ed and/or Letter to the Editor:
Suggested places of distribution:
- AAFP Blog David Mitchell Social Media/Commentary Editor
- KevinMD
- Local newspapers (check the publication’s website for instructions on how to submit Letters to the Editor and Op-Ed and any word count limits)
- Doximity
Tips for writing an Op-Ed from the Harvard Communication Project
Make sure you have a headshot photo to submit, if needed.
You can also contact Ginnie Flynn, IAFP Vice President of Communications, for help in finalizing your message.
Diversity in Health Workforce
Illinois-Specific Resources
Purpose of this section: Direct audience to local resources for connection and potential partnership - this is where we would especially appreciate your experiences as a workgroup and knowledge of local resources and notable interdisciplinary partnerships to highlight
Illinois Specific Statistics on Health Disparities/Structural Inequity
Public Discussion
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
- Medical-Legal-Partnerships, including those coordinated through SIU and Loyola
- Partnerships w/other non-medical organizations
- Statewide, inter-professional organizations
- https://innovation.cms.gov/
Practice-Based Resources
For screening tools, see AAFP EveryONE Project.
THEN Center - The Center for Collaborative Study of Trauma, Health Equity and Neurobiology.
Other screening tools for social determinants of health available including HealthLeads, PRAPARE.
Screening tool comparison table
NowPow
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
AAFP/National Resources
Purpose of this section: Direct audience to concentrated list of select national resources, chosen based on variety of content and potential utility to audience
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Playbook - November 2023 from the White House
CMS Coverage to Care (C2C) resources for clinicians to share with patients in culturally appropriate formats and in several languages
CDC Conversations in Equity Blog
Health Equity and Racism: AAFP Update from the February 2022 Ten State Conference
AAFP EveryONE Project Toolkit
- Implicit Bias Training
- Practice Leadership
- Assessment and Action (Screening and Action Plan Development)
- Community Collaboration
- Neighborhood Navigator
AAFP Health Equity Curricular Toolkit
AAFP FPM Article September 2021 "How to Spot and Tactfully Address Discrimination in the Health Care Setting" written by IAFP members Santina Wheat, MD, MPH and Michelle Byrne, MD, MPH
AAFP FREE CME on Equity in Telemedicine (1.5 Credits)
AAFP CME Audiobooks (for purchase, discounted for members!): 3 Modules: Caring for LGBTQ+ Patients, Communicating Effectively with Your Patients, Social Determinants of Health
Health Equity During COVID-19 Top Strategies for an Equity Focused Recovery
STFM Health Equity: Goals and Resources
Health Equity Fellowship
AAFP Center for Diversity and Health Equity
CDC Social Determinants of Health: Maps and Resources
Structural Competency
National Center for Chronic Disease and Prevention and Health Promotion Social Determinants of Health
CDC Health Equity in Cancer resource center
NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness resource center on promoting culture and inclusion -
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), Advancing Health Equity—Addressing Cancer Disparities Video
LGBTQIA Resources
The National LGBTQIA+ Health and Education Center (The Fenway Institute) Free and low-cost online and in-person training with CME on a full range of SGM Health Care
Howard Brown Health Center for Education Research and Advocacy - Chicago
Center of Excellence for Transgender Health Primary Care Protocols (UCSF)
Health Equity in Rural Health
Provide topic-specific opportunities at intersection of health equity and rural health, given unique landscape and practice of Illinois family physicians
Rural Health Equity Summit: August 2021 led to the creation of our Rural Health Equity Resource Center
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