HEALTH EQUITY ADVOCATES LAUNCH CAMPAIGN IN MASSACHUSETTS TO ELIMINATE RACISM IN PATIENT CARE WITH AN INNOVATIVE, RACE-CONSCIOUS APPROACH

Healing ARC Framework Revolutionizes Care in Hospitals, Health Facilities

BOSTON, Sept. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A prominent group of health professionals, community leaders, and healthcare equity advocates today launched a campaign to raise awareness of successful race-conscious approaches to healthcare delivery in Massachusetts that target institutional racism and can bring transformational change to health care systems.

The campaign educates hospital administrators, lawmakers, social justice advocates and communities about the value of race-conscious interventions, such as those implemented under the Healing ARC framework. The Healing ARC is a collaborative approach that helps rectify patient care inequities, while countering the notion that race-blind solutions alone effectively fix systems broken by racism.

"We are advocating for an approach to address racism in health care by enlisting the community and health care institutions as equal partners, equally motivated to identify and address health and health care inequities with race-conscious strategies that are absolutely necessary for people confronting the effects of structural racism that is killing them, their family members and their friends," said Dr. Camara Jones MD, MPH, PhD, a member of the Healing ARC Campaign's Advisory Committee and Past President of the American Public Health Association.

In 2015, a study by physicians at BWH found that over a 10-year period, on average, fewer Black and Hispanic patients diagnosed with heart failure in the Emergency Department were admitted to the specialty cardiology unit that improves patient outcomes. In response, physicians developed a race-conscious, Healing ARC care model to address the racial inequities and enhance accountability. A pilot program launched earlier this year creates a more equitable process by sending a digital alert to the medical records reminding physicians of the option to send patients to cardiology.

"Historical data shows improved health outcomes for patients sent to cardiology specialists, including lower 30-day readmission rates and better follow-up rates compared with patients who were admitted to general medicine," said Dr. Michelle E. Morse, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Commissioner for New York City's Health Department. She co-led the study and developed The Healing ARC with Dr. Bram P. Wispelwey. BWH doctors Michael Wilson and Regan Marsh, members of the campaign's Advisory Committee, are implementing the intervention.

The campaign's objective is to expand Healing ARC applications to more hospitals, healthcare facilities, and public health institutions, while explaining why the care delivery model at BWH is needed, what it can achieve, and why race-conscious interventions are required to dismantle racism in healthcare.

"We believe the Healing ARC framework can make a transformational difference in patient care," said Dr. Wispelwey, an Instructor in Medicine at BWH and Instructor at the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "The approach addresses two antiracism goals by providing clinician education through acknowledgment of a racial inequity and providing a path of redress for patients of color."

Quotes from Health Leaders
Healing ARC Campaign Fact Sheet 
Campaign Website

About the Healing ARC Campaign
Our campaign educates hospital and healthcare system administrators, lawmakers, social justice advocates, civic and community leaders about the effectiveness of race-conscious interventions, such as those implemented under the Healing ARC framework. By implementing applications under the Healing ARC framework, America can prevent inequities in healthcare and improve the quality of life for many families and individuals.

To schedule media interviews contact: Michael K. Frisby at [email protected]

Contact: 
Michael K. Frisby
202-625-4328/[email protected]

SOURCE Healing ARC Campaign