Cone Health in Greensboro has been nationally recognized for its effort to reduce health care inequities. The system is the 2020 recipient of the American Hospital Association's Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award.
The AHA says Cone Health stands out due to its mandatory health equity courses for physicians as well as unconscious bias training.
The award also highlights specific work in the field of maternal health. Director of the Center for Women's Healthcare and Maternal Fetal Care at Cone Health, certified nurse-midwife Walidah Karim-Rhoades, says the health care system studied readmission rates from 2016 to 2019 for women who had recently given birth. They found that Black mothers were coming back to the hospital due to high blood pressure at rates four times that of white mothers.
So, they implemented a Meds-to-Beds program among other changes.
“We give women a 30-day supply of medication so they don't have to make the stop with the baby after being discharged," says Karim-Rhoades. "They can just go home with the medication to prevent that barrier and hopefully reduce the readmission rate for that pregnancy.”
Karim-Rhoades says continuing to look at data through a racial lens is crucial for more effective strategies in health equity.