Dr Seun Ross: Achieving Equity Is Necessary to Sustain the Health Care System

In her presentation, “Driving Health Equity in Population Health Programs,” at the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health (GPBCH) 2023 Wellness Summit, Seun Ross, PhD, executive director of health equity for Independence Blue Cross, addressed the multifaceted aspects of health equity and why it is imperative to strive for it.

Transcription

What were the key takeaways from your presentation "Driving Health Equity in Population Health Programs"?

Health Equity is important. It is a business imperative and also a social mission, it is not either or, it is an “and.” There is a business case for health equity. Achieving health equity is important so that we can sustain the health care system. Without trying to achieve health equity, the health care system would undergo serious burdens that it may not be able to sustain.

Can you share the different perspectives of what health equity means to different communities?

When people often think of health equity, they think of health equity as it relates between the races, so closing disparities between white and Black, or Latino and White, or Asian and Hispanic. But I think the health equity is much broader than that. When you think of health equity, everyone receives care and so we need to think about achieving health equity between genders, between if you are abled or differently abled, and that encompasses all of the physical or chronic conditions that people deal with every day.