Personal Reflections by Marisette Hasan, C-TAC Vice President, Community Action & Policy
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted its second Health Equity Conference on May 29-30 in Bethesda, MD with over 750 attending. I knew that I needed to be in the room with national leaders and wanted to hear the stories of the work being done from dedicated and committed stakeholders. I was moved by the passion and resolve of our CMS Administrator, Chiquita Books-LaSure, and her staff who shared their results that mirrored the theme for the Health Equity Summit: Sustaining Health Equity through Action. Vanquishing disparities and inequities in every arena will not be accomplished with lip service, but we must lock arms together and hold each other accountable to go the distance and celebrate our milestones along the way! Here is the conference agenda.
Several milestones were shared by CMS leaders and breakout session panelists that underscored the need for action to address health inequities and disparities. These actions include but are not limited to:
- The intentionality of incorporating of a “equity lens” in the design of policies, processes, and programming.
- Community engagement with influencers who have the pulse of their community to ensure sustainable success.
- Ongoing assessments that include robust qualitative and quantitative data collection.
- Documentation of measurable outcomes.
- We must undergird our health equity work with accountability, this begins with organizational senior leadership.
I was filled with continued hope and inspiration by the personal health equity advocacy journey of Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, senior vice president and chief diversity officer of the American Medical Association (AMA). Dr. Maybank is the first African American woman to hold this position created by the AMA in 2019. She provided a glimpse of our national progress from the dark days of Covid, social unrest during the murder of George Floyd, and where we stand today. The AMA has taken great strides under her leadership. During Dr. Maybank’s tenure, the AMA released their strategic plan to address social injustice and health inequities, to include the Steps Forward, the Health Equity Center, video series, and other collaborative programs with advocates from across the country. Here is Dr. Maybank’s presentation.
Dr. Maybank provided key principles to advance health equity. The work of equity means:
- We must value all people equally.
- We must know that history does matter, and history is passed down in our bodies.
- Harboring the humility that we don’t know what we don’t know.
- We must see humanity in every person we encounter.
- We must be intentional about being in proximity with those who are different from our culture.
- We must redistribute resources (power-decision making, financial and political) to those who have been historically marginalized and excluded.
