Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association ANCHORING EQUITY: MHA’s Izzy Lopes on Embedding Health Equity in Hospital Operations
MHA’s Anchoring Equity blog series profiles the work of our members as they work to advance health equity, diversity, and inclusion in their organizations and in their communities.
MHA’s Vice President of Health Equity Izzy Lopes was recently featured on the Health Disparities Podcast, which is supported by Movement is Life. She spoke to host Dr. Mary O’Connor about Massachusetts hospitals’ historic Medicaid waiver commitment, their efforts to better meet the needs of their communities, and how they are collaborating to eliminate disparities across patient populations.
Read the full description from the Health Disparities podcast:
Hospitals and health systems can play a big role in addressing healthcare disparities in our nation. It’s the focus of our latest podcast series. Today, we zero in on a statewide health equity initiative that is first of its kind in the nation.
Through a historic 1115 Medicaid waiver, Massachusetts hospitals have made a commitment to come together with the state to embed equity into the foundation of their operations.
“This really does entail an intentionality on the part of our hospital systems that I think is unmatched in many ways — an intentionality and a will and a drive and a desire to do this work”, says Izzy Lopes, Vice President of health equity for the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association.
Health Disparities podcast host Dr. Mary O’Connor speaks with Lopes about the statewide initiative that aims to address healthcare disparities. Lopes explains why it’s important to prioritize people over percentages, use data to drive health equity strategies, and collaborate with community partners to address patients’ health-related social needs.