Northern Arizona Healthcare’s mission is Improving health, healing people. One component of that goal is to continually work toward health equity in the communities we serve.
Health equity is broadly defined as fair access to – and outcomes of – health care to meet the unique needs of various individuals and populations. When we achieve this, we are helping everyone in our region live their best lives and achieve optimal wellness. This means minimizing or eliminating inequities our communities face in access to health care and social services, and in the delivery of those services.
NAH created the Health Equity Committee in 2023 to identify and reduce disparities in health care for the communities we serve. This multidisciplinary, collaborative approach will lead to greater patient satisfaction and help NAH achieve high performance outcomes for every patient, every time. The NAH Health Equity Committee is responsible for:
- Developing strategies and tactics to identify and address inequities for both inpatient and outpatient services.
- Ensuring fair and just care opportunities, access, and outcomes regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, preferred language and other sociodemographic factors.
- Managing compliance with regulatory requirements from our accrediting agency The Joint Commission and from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- Facilitating awareness of and collaboration for these efforts across the NAH system and within our communities.
To do the above, the committee organized its work into the following strategic priorities:
- Expand patient-level data collection and analysis: use demographic and social needs data to identify health equity gaps and opportunities in our communities
- Reduce health care disparities and address social needs of patients: respond to the identified gaps and needs with relevant, targeted interventions
- Advance organizational structures and culture to support health equity: consider how to support equity when developing and updating policies, processes, education, reports, teams, etc.
- Build community partnerships to enhance capabilities: share insights, learn from others, identify shared goals, and combine action plans and resources when appropriate and feasible