VIDEO: Racial Inclusivity at US Hospitals

By Judith Garber | May 25, 2021

At the launch of the Lown Hospitals Index racial inclusivity results, Dr. Aletha Maybank, Chief Equity Officer of the American Medical Association, Harriet Washington, medical ethicist and author of Medical Apartheid, and Dr. Richard Besser, CEO and President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, joined Lown leaders Dr. Vikas Saini and Shannon Brownlee to dig into the topic of racial inclusivity at hospitals.

They discussed the historical and structural drivers of hospital segregation, the importance of measurement and accountability, the role of hospital leaders in making health equity central to the mission of hospitals, and the need for institutions to be worthy of the trust of their communities. To hear the full discussion, watch the video of the event below!

This analysis of California’s state budget from 2007 to 2018 finds that to ensure the long-term health of the state, California needs to eliminate health care waste and direct the savings toward increased funding for programs that improve community conditions—like public education, public health, housing assistance, food assistance, and income support.