Becker's Hospital Review

13 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 3 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING The second step is for clinicians to recognize their own implicit biases and do what they can do to address them — on an individual level. Dr. Haye gave an example of how a physician who is conscious of existing disparities and his or her own potential biases might act: "Two patients can present the exact same way but if you have a bias for the one who might be uninsured or has less access to care . . . you may treat them differently, which ultimately impacts their clinical outcomes." The third step is putting measures in place to mitigate biases at the system level. This can be achieved by standardizing care through establishing protocols and procedures, as well as conducting drills and simulations aimed at hardwiring how a patient who presents a certain way should be treated every time. With this systemic approach, there should also be an emphasis on seeing the patient as a person and not just as a collection of medical symptoms and concerns. "There are so many different contributing factors in patients' lives that have brought them to this point, in which they are presenting in front of you," Dr. Haye said. "Take the time to ask questions, take the time to avoid making assumptions and really delve a little deeper into them as a whole person so that you can address all of their needs — not just the medical." Clinicians should be asking patients who appear vulnerable whether they have stable housing or reliable transportation, so that it can be taken into account in treating the patient as a whole person. Clinical education partnerships can help providers effectively address maternal health disparities Despite growing awareness and a sense of urgency around addressing maternal health mortalities, progress has been slow. To move beyond raising awareness to taking action, healthcare organizations need a system that standardizes care and reduces variability in how vulnerable patients are treated. TeamHealth provides educational training and leadership development to clinicians committed to being part of the solution in addressing maternal health disparities. "From an educational standpoint, the goal is to help physicians understand how best to treat these patients and how to help organizations improve communication between team members, so that when they are faced with a patient emergency in real time, it all functions like a well-oiled machine — they know what to do and they do the same thing every time," Dr. Haye said. The approach she alluded to, standardization of care processes, is a time-honored best practice in the healthcare industry and in the care quality movement, but it has not necessarily been applied to reducing maternal health disparities. To that end, Dr. Haye said it is important to provide clinicians with practical tools to help them address disparities, which is the heart of what TeamHealth does in partnership with healthcare organizations. "We are giving a charge to all of our clinicians to address their own biases and consider what they can do with respect to health disparities on a personal level, just taking it one step at a time," Dr. Haye said. "Ultimately, that is how we're going to address health disparities — everybody being committed to doing just one thing, taking one step at a time." Dr. Haye added that TeamHealth also reinforces the importance of provider organizations hiring with diversity in mind; research has long established that patients' health outcomes are correlated with being treated by clinicians who reflect their demographics. "When a patient is treated by a racially concordant physician, in particular in the Black community, it does improve outcomes around cardiovascular disease and infant mortality," Dr. Haye said. TeamHealth practices what it preaches by being mindful and intentional in its own hiring practices and paying special attention to diversity, Dr. Haye added. Conclusion Maternal health disparities have plagued marginalized communities for decades. However, it is only now that healthcare organizations are looking at this problem critically and appraising the role and responsibility they have in reversing this trend. "As clinicians, our goal should be to show up in the best way that we can to meet the needs of the patients and deliver the type of care they deserve," Dr. Haye said. "Part of that requires taking ownership of ourselves and finding ways in which we can help to address health disparities one patient at a time. We all came into healthcare to do a great job by our patients, and part of that is combating health disparities."

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