Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Racial Segregation In Urban Hospitals Is Widespread
Axios: Report Finds Racial Segregation Common In Urban Hospital Markets
Some of the least racially inclusive hospitals in the U.S. are located in the same cities — even within blocks, in some cases — as some of the most inclusive hospitals, according to a new report from the Lown Institute. In a year that has highlighted racial inequities in healthcare, the analysis shows the segregation still playing out at hospitals across the nation. (Reed, 5/25)
Fierce Healthcare: In Many U.S. Cities, Most And Least Racially Inclusive Hospitals Are Neighbors, Lown Institute Says
Further, Lown’s analysis placed more than twice as many “elite hospitals” named to U.S. News’ Honor Roll in the bottom third of the racial inclusivity ranking than it did in the upper third. “The difference between the most and least inclusive hospitals is stark, especially when they are blocks away from each other,” Vikas Saini, M.D., president of the Lown Institute. “As the nation reckons with racial injustice, we cannot overlook our health system. Hospital leaders have a responsibility to better serve people of color and create a more equitable future.” (Muoio, 5/25)
NPR: Medical Jargon Can Make COVID Health Disparities Even Worse
When cases of COVID-19 began rising in Boston last spring, Pooja Chandrashekar, then a first year student at Harvard Medical School, worried that easy-to-understand information about the pandemic might not be available in the many languages spoken by clients of the Family Van, the health services and health literacy program where she was working at the time. So Chandrashekar recruited more than 175 multilingual health profession students from around the U.S. to start the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project. Its aim: Create clear, understandable information about the virus in more than 40 languages, including English. The group's COVID-19 fact sheets, vetted for accuracy and readability by faculty members who speak and read those languages (the first Urdu effort was deemed too formal), were shared with community organizations around the world. They've been downloaded more 250,000 times so far in over 150 countries. (Kritz, 5/24)
And a year after George Floyd's death —
Politico: White America: Awakened?
One year after the death of George Floyd, there is widespread recognition that America’s national reckoning on race still has a long way to go. But another thing is becoming clear: data suggests public opinion on racial justice issues has changed dramatically, powering a sustained and historically significant wave of activism among white Americans. It’s a development with wide-ranging political and policy implications, creating the conditions for rethinking approaches to policing, criminal justice, housing and health care disparities, to name a few. President Joe Biden’s unprecedented acknowledgment of — and frequent references to — systemic racism is but one reflection of the altered dynamics. (Payne, 5/25)
The Hill: Black Families Experience 'Year From Hell'
Many Black parents remain on edge amid police killings of Black Americans that have continued since Floyd’s killing, which sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. Black Americans separately have endured a disproportionate burden during the pandemic, with recent data showing higher death rates for Black people and Black women in particular. There are also fears that Blacks are being left behind in the nation’s economic recovery. (Folley, 5/25)
