Joy Lewis—senior vice president of health equity strategies at the American Hospital Association—joins KP in this episode of the InOn Health podcast. They discuss the impact of hospitals in reducing health disparities for various populations in the United States.

Joy reveals the vision of the American Hospital Association, which focuses on achieving a society of healthy communities with individuals reaching their highest potential for health, where everyone receives the necessary support to live the healthiest life possible. She provides insights into how (modifiable) societal factors influence health outcomes and conditions. She describes the advancement of health equity demonstrated as:

"We will know we've achieved health equity when the quality of care that’s rendered does not vary based on characteristics like race, ethnicity, gender, geographic and socioeconomic status.”

Joy explains advancing health equity involves removing structural barriers—dismantling the existing structure requires implementing more just action, such as creating a moral case of listening to patients as the first step. She explains how hospitals are the most influential institutions in the communities they serve. She further elaborates how the health/medical industry should pivot towards a more inclusive community partnership, involving co-designing and co-developing health equity solutions, ultimately creating sustainable solutions.

Joy discusses the path to advancing equity and eliminating disparities requires the ongoing development of products, information, and resources. She outlines the evolvement in data-gathering—traditionally focused on race, ethnicity, and language—now pivoting to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and social needs. She elaborates how this data—including other factors like housing conditions, food insecurity, and transportations needs—impacts people's abilities to engage in their health. Collecting this data would serve as a guide to provide the proper clinical support while eliminating biases to ensure it does not negatively impact patients.

Connect with Joy Lewis:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyalewis/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-hospital-association/

https://twitter.com/joylewisMPH

https://twitter.com/IFD_AHA

Connect with KP:

linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/

https://twitter.com/inonhealth

inonhealth.com/podcast

inonhealth.com/