The delivery of healthcare should not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Political determinants of health—the governmental systems, structures, and policies that impact health outcomes—create disparities for people across racial, socio-economic, age, gender, and geographical differences. As the most rural academic medical system in the United States, Dartmouth Health hospitals and clinics face challenges in care delivery related to poverty, access, lacking infrastructure and public transportation, inconsistency in broadband internet connection, and other issues not seen in urban and suburban areas. This is just one example of the considerations healthcare systems must be mindful of when working to improve health equity.
In Dartmouth Health's next "Connect with the CEO" live segment on Tuesday, January 24, at 12 pm, CEO and president Joanne M. Conroy, MD, will be joined by Brandon G. Wilson, DrPH, MHA, Senior Director of the Center for Community Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst, for a conversation about health equity and health systems innovation. Conroy and Wilson will discuss the importance of person-centered care, disparities in person-centered care and care preferences among different populations, incorporating community voices, co-design, and community-based participatory research into policy design and leadership development, among other topics.
"Last year, I was pleased to join Dr. Conroy and other distinguished panelists for Dartmouth Health's political determinants of health symposium, and I'm excited to sit down virtually with her again to continue our conversation with a focus on the work of health systems in advancing health equity," Wilson said. "Health systems have a unique and critically important role to play in diversity, equity and inclusion work. By recognizing and using indigenous and community-driven approaches to address deficiencies in how they deliver quality care to patients, they have the opportunity to make the communities they serve not just healthier but more just, more responsive, and more accountable to communities and their prioritized needs."
To watch the segment live, visit the Dartmouth Health Facebook page at noon. The chat function on the live video will be open and viewers who are logged into Facebook will be able to submit questions via the chat. For those unable to watch live at noon, an archived version will be available later on Facebook and Dartmouth Health's YouTube channel. Questions may be submitted in advance to social@hitchcock.org.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.