In an attempt to reduce healthcare inequalities, Yale New Haven Health System has launched the "We Ask Because We Care" campaign. This initiative aims at ensuring better services for patients by considering their unique characteristics.
"In order for us to unpack the long-lasting disparities that we see in our country, it’s very important for us as a healthcare system to get to know our patients. When it comes to disparities in terms of who has access to care, what type of care are they receiving inside the healthcare system and then what are their long-term health outcomes, without having this information on who our patients really are, we can’t determine if people are being treated differently or some patient groups are having worse outcomes from others.", said Lou Hart.
The root of this healthcare inequality problem lies within the diverse minority patient demographics. Medical professionals are concerned that patients of varying minorities are not receiving the best medical care available. Areas such as generally positive patient experience, proper access to healthcare services, and quality clinical outcomes may be lacking for various minority groups. Without sacrificing patient privacy, doctors want to gather information about patients in order to study trends in the relationship between certain characteristics and proper medical care and pinpoint proper solutions to inequalities, according to a news release from Yale New Haven Health:
Moving forward with a practical approach towards reducing these disparities brings us the "We Ask Because We Care" campaign. The "We Ask Because We Care" campaign attempts to take action in solving inequality problems in healthcare by identifying patients’ personal characteristics. Patients will be asked information about their race, preferred language, ethnicity, disability identity, and gender identity providing data that doctors will use to recognize trends in the shortcomings of proper care. Patients will not be required to release this information, and those who do will have full assurance of privacy. All personal information given will adhere to U.S. privacy standards and be kept in the patient's personal file only to be used for data collection purposes. This campaign was partially funded by a grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation, an organization that seeks to make high-quality healthcare affordable for Connecticut residents, according to a news release from Yale New Haven Health:
The impact and potential of this campaign are best encapsulated in the words of Lou Hart. According to Lou Hart, MD, Medical Director of Health Equity for Yale New Haven Health System, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for Yale School of Medicine: "Our hope is at the end of the day our patients look back and say Yale New Haven Health drives human-centered care, patient-centered care, and that our patients feel they were listened to and believe that we have their best interests at heart," according to a news release from Yale New Haven Health:
