Achieving Equity in an Evolving Healthcare System: Opportunities and Challenges

For decades, disparities in health have been well documented in the United States and regrettably, remain prevalent despite evidence and appeals for their elimination. Compared with the majority, racial and ethnic minorities continue to have poorer health status and health outcomes for most chronic conditions, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, cancer and end-stage renal disease. Many factors, such as affordability, access and diversity in the healthcare system, influence care and outcomes, creating challenges that make the task of eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity daunting and elusive. Novel strategies are needed to bring about much needed change in the complex and evolving United States healthcare system. Although not exhaustive, opportunities such as (1) developing standardized race measurements across health systems, (2) implementing effective interventions, (3) improving workforce diversity, (4) using technological advances and (5) adopting practices such as personalized medicine may serve as appropriate starting points for moving toward health equity. Over the past several decades, diversity in the U.S. population has increased significantly and is expected to increase exponentially in the near future. As the population becomes more diverse, it is important to recognize the possibilities of new and emerging disparities. It is imperative that steps are taken to eliminate the current gap in care and prevent new disparities from developing. Therefore, we present challenges and offer recommendations for facilitating the process of eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity across diverse populations.