Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1383677
51 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP AMA acknowledges harmful past, launches road map to propel health equity By Hannah Mitchell T he American Medical Association launched a three-year road map to aggressively push toward health equity and embed ra- cial justice within the organization, as well as acknowledge how previous policies have harmed minorities and marginalized groups. A May news release said the AMA believes that to fulfill its mission in promoting medicine and improving public health, it couldn't ignore current health inequities. Here are the AMA's five strategic approaches to health equity and so- cial justice: 1. Embed racial and social justice in AMA enterprise, culture, sys- tems, policies and practices: • e AMA will build the capacity to understand and operationalize anti-racism strategies through training and tool development. • It will ensure equitable structures and accountability in its work- force, contracts, budgeting, communications and publishing. • It will integrate trauma-informed lenses and approaches. • It will assess organizational change over time. 2. Build alliances with historically marginalized and minoritized physicians, as well as other stakeholders: • e AMA will develop structures and processes consistent with the experiences and ideas of historically minoritized and mar- ginalized groups, such as LGBTQ+ people, women, people with disabilities and people of color. • e road map will establish a coalition of multidisciplinary equi- ty experts in healthcare and public health to advocate for social justice in healthcare. 3. Ensure equitable structures and opportunities in innovation: • e AMA will embed racial justice and health equity within ex- isting healthcare innovation efforts and will equip the healthcare innovation sector to advance health equity and justice. • e AMA will focus on historically marginalized minority healthcare investors and innovators. • It will engage in cross-sector collaboration and advocacy efforts. 4. Push upstream to address social determinants of health and root causes of inequalities: • e strategy will strengthen physicians' knowledge of public health and structural and social drivers of health inequities. • It will empower physicians and health systems to dismantle structural racism and systems of oppression. • e AMA will equip physicians and health systems to improve services, technology, partnership and payment models that ad- vance public health and equity. 5. Foster pathways for truth, racial healing, reconciliation and transformation for AMA's past: • e AMA will amplify narratives of historically marginalized physicians and patients that were previously not celebrated. • It will quantify the effects of AMA's policies and decisions that have excluded, discriminated and harmed. n Mass General Brigham names inaugural chief community health equity officer By Kelly Gooch E lsie Taveras, MD, has been tapped as the first chief community health equity officer for Mass General Brigham, the Boston-based health sys- tem said May 3. Dr. Taveras is chief of the division of general academ- ic pediatrics and executive director of the Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hos- pital in Boston. Effective in mid-May, she will focus on confronting inequity and racism, lead efforts of Mass General Brigham's United Against Racism initiative and drive a new health system strategy in community health, the health system said. "Dr. Taveras is the perfect choice for this newly creat- ed role, as she has extensive experience implement- ing evidence-based programs in both clinical and community settings," Tom Sequist, MD, Mass General Brigham chief patient experience and equity officer, said in a news release. "There is tremendous work al- ready underway across Mass General Brigham, and by harnessing this collective strength under Dr. Taveras' leadership we will accelerate our progress, making a difference in the lives of our patients and the commu- nities we serve across the region and beyond." Mass General Brigham said Dr. Taveras, who also teaches in the nutrition department at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will continue research work in the MassGeneral Hospital for Children pediat- rics department and continue to lead the Kraft Center for Community Health. Mass General Brigham has about 74,000 employees in Massachusetts and includes Massachusetts Gen- eral Hospital and Boston-based Brigham and Wom- en's Hospital. n