A recent column by the Chief Operating Officer of Ascension Health urging greater diversity in healthcare has been cited by Fortune online.
In the column – published across the country in The Washington Informer, The Seattle Medium, Daytona Times, The Madison Times, The Pittsburgh Courier and more – Patricia A. Maryland, Dr.PH, President, Healthcare Operations and Chief Operating Officer, suggests ways to improve healthcare for African-Americans. She says that besides a lack of access to affordable healthcare, nutritional education and safe spaces to exercise, many African-Americans suffer because they mistrust the healthcare profession.
“Mistrust in medicine is particularly pronounced among African-American men, many of whom will enter the healthcare system only after their conditions are severe or life-threatening,” Pat writes. A study found that “black men who self-identified as ‘highly mistrustful’ of healthcare were more than twice as likely to delay check-ups and cholesterol screenings, and three times more likely to delay a routine blood pressure screening, than those who were more trusting,” she says.
“That trust factor has implications, not just for public health, but for the reimbursements that healthcare providers can win from the government,” writer Sy Mukherjee says in Fortune.
Pat encourages healthcare providers to create “a new standard of care that recognizes the unique needs of minority populations and designs a care strategy around what works for each individual patient.” She writes that a commitment to “this personalized care approach is proving vital in earning trust and improving the health of the African-American community.”
A contributing factor is the relatively low representation of African-Americans in the physician community. According to Pat, black Americans make up 13 percent of the population but account for barely 4 percent of practicing physicians.
"Studies show relationships between patients and physicians of the same race or ethnic background also are characterized by higher levels of trust, respect and patient satisfaction,” she writes. “It’s clear that more needs to be done to encourage African-Americans to pursue medical professions – and ensure the proper supports are in place to nurture diversity in the field.”
