Transcript Slide 1

Health Equity in Action:
What It Means for One Foundation
Susan G. Zepeda, Ph.D.
March 2014
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky
Our mission is to address the unmet health
care needs of Kentuckians.
We work towards our mission by
• Improving access to care
• Reducing health risks and disparities
• Promoting health equity
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky
We:
• Make grants
• Support and disseminate research
• Hold educational forums
• Convene communities
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky
• Promoting Responsive Health Policy
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Increasing access to integrated quality care
Supporting children’s health
Increasing KYians in smoke-free communities
Strengthening local public health
• Investing in Kentucky’s Future
– 7 community coalitions; 5 year commitment
• Strengthening Communities
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Social Innovation Fund
Matching Grants
Challenge Grants
Conference Support
What is Health Equity?
“Health equity is achieving the highest level of health for all
people. Health equity entails focused societal efforts to
address avoidable inequalities by equalizing the
conditions for health for all groups, especially for those
who have experienced socioeconomic disadvantage or
historical injustices.” (Healthy People 2020)
Health Equity
• Inequities exist across many dimensions:
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Race
Income
Gender
Rural versus urban
Education level
Ethnicity
Immigration status
Sexual orientation
Social connectedness
Other factors
• These factors all interact
How do we know there’s inequity?
We look for:
• Inequalities
• Disparities
ACA requires all federally-funded programs
and surveys to collect data on race, sex,
ethnicity, language, and disability status
How do we know there’s inequity?
Health inequalities and disparities are differences
among specific population groups, including racial
and ethnic minority groups in:
• occurrence,
• frequency,
• death, and burden of diseases
• other unfavorable health conditions
• Source: HHS
How do we know there’s inequity?
Inequities are basically disparities that are
• Preventable
• UNFAIR
Decreasing disparities is part of working towards health
equity, but it is not enough
Two Steps Back to Prevention
Social and Physical
Environment
Exposures &
Behaviors
Approach adapted from Prevention Institute
Health
care/services
Health
Outcomes
How do we do our work “through an
equity lens?”
Through work on population health, primary prevention, and policy-level
changes, communities move toward equity
How do we do our work “through a
health equity lens”?
Equality is NOT Equity
This is Equality
This is Equity
What Health Equity Means to Kentucky
Where you live, work, play, and learn
matters when it comes to health
What Kentucky looks like…
36% of KY counties are among America’s “persistent poverty counties”
More than 20% of residents living in poverty for > 30 years
USDA Economic Research Service
Study in contrasts:
Oldham County
High school grads
91%
Per cap income
$34,731
Tooth loss 6+
15%
Violent crime
21.8
Owsley County
56%
$11,706
42%
231.3
Per 100,000
Cancer Deaths
Per 100,000
186
270
What Kentucky looks like…
3 Largest Kentucky Race / Ethnic Groups
Racial Identity:
• White population is 3,745,655 persons - 86.3%.
• Black population is 333,075 persons - 7.7%.
Ethnic Identity:
• Hispanic population is 132,836 persons - 3.1%.
Urban/Rural
58.4% of Kyians live in the State’s 1,411 urban sq miles
41.6% of Kyians live in the State’s 39,486 rural sq. miles
– Source: US Census Bureau -Census 2010
Walking our Talk
How do we do our work “through a health equity
lens?”
What changes in our:
• Grantmaking?
• Polling?
• Research?
• Training/educational forums?
• Community convenings?
Doing our Grantmaking through a Health
Equity Lens
• Learning from our mistakes
• Getting our Board and Community
Advisory Committee (CAC) on Board
Learning from our mistakes
• Requiring rigorous evaluation design of applicants coaching/TA on
evaluation after selection
• Universities community-based organizations
• One year grants Multi year support
• Tidy measurable objectives policy change; collective impact
• 0 to 60 in one year planning precedes implementation
– Bright idea business plan sustainability
• Strength of PI strength of cross-sectoral collaboration
– Who’s at the table?
– What are their roles and responsibilities?
Talking to your board
• Start where they are, with who they are
– Clinical and administrative, outpatient and hospital providers
– Business men and women
– Public health workers
• Frame the conversation
– Various frames shown earlier
• Engage their input
– CAC discussion – multiple meetings
– Program Development and Oversight Committee – 9 month study
What Health Equity Means to Kentucky
Where you live, work, play, and learn
matters when it comes to health
Health Equity and Policy
• All types of policies  health
• Policies can:
– make inequities worse,
– maintain the status quo,
– help correct inequity
Policies informed by equity address the causes
of health and disease, not just the outcomes
Ideas… Upstream, Mid- and Down
Agree on goals/aims - differ on approaches, to
accommodate differing population or community needs.
Downstream • Track demographic data to spot health disparities
• Build the healthcare workforce, change delivery strategies to
increase care access
– Care navigators
– Mobile dental, other clinics
– Dental hygienists
– Telemedicine
Ideas…Upstream, Mid - and Down
• Midstream –
– “Behavioral Economics” – Financial incentives for desired performance
(eg. premium reductions for folks who maintain positive health
behaviors)
– Partner with education to enroll eligible children in needed services
• Upstream –
– Place-based strategies
– Policy and systems change
- Cross-sectoral collaboration
To reduce exposure to health risks, support healthy behaviors
Promote safe neighborhoods
Promote healthy food, physical activity
Where we haven’t gone…
Equity by the numbers: % of Foundation
dollars provided to –
– Poorest communities
– Women- and minority-run organizations
– Grantees with “majority minority” boards
Where we do go….
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Mapping where the grants go
Assessing the impacts of our work
Breaking down barriers to participation
Continuous feedback loop learning as
we go
Thank you
Questions?
Email: [email protected]