The American Medical Association (AMA), in response to the public health crises and community-led movements for racial justice, created a meaningful, sustainable action plan for institutions and small medical practices to place health equity at the forefront.
The guide, Racial and Health Equity: Concrete STEPS for Smaller Practices – Translate Your Commitment to Racial and Health Equity Into Action in Your Practice, outlines key questions and action steps that stakeholders can take for ongoing health equity improvement.
- Identify ways to prepare yourself and your team for conversations about health equity, racial equity, racism, and anti-racism with colleagues, patients, and other practice stakeholders
- Describe the importance of data and how to improve the quality of your data to further racial and health equity efforts
- Explain how to advance racial and health equity in your practice using SMART goals and quality improvement efforts.
- Commit to do the work
- Start shifting group norms by learning about what you don’t know
- Get a handle on your data
- Develop a shared, clear, compelling vision and goals
- Launch targeted improvement efforts.
Embedded within the guide is an additional Toolkit for Productive Conversations on Race and an infographic explaining appropriate Implicit and Explicit Exam Room Questions. Great resources for practices ready to embark on a journey of continuous learning and improvement for racial and health equity.
Family physicians can claim American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) credit for their healthy equity quality improvement achievements through the ABFM’s Health Disparities/Equity Self-Directed Clinical Activity. This activity provides a mechanism for meeting your performance improvement requirement by showing how you have assessed and improved the way that your practice addresses social determinants of health; health equity (broadly defined); and/or systemic ways in which you assure that patient access, experience, and care are equitable. To learn more about ABFM self-direct projects, visit the OAFP website.