CommonSpirit council spearheads systemwide push toward health equity

By JULIE MINDA

Within months of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became glaringly obvious throughout the medical field that while the pandemic was having an impact on virtually all people everywhere, there were some populations that it was hitting much harder than others. Data and anecdotal evidence showed that in the U.S. the public health crisis was disproportionately impacting people of color, the poor, the uninsured and the elderly.

Michael Richards, vice president of government programs and public policy at SSM Health, cited relaxed pandemic regulations related to telehealth, including the allowance for mental health services to be provided to Medicare enrollees by phone.

Richards leads the Interstate Healthcare Collaborative, which operates out of SSM Health. The collaborative advocates for and provides education on interstate license compacts and telehealth policy on behalf of health systems and medical associations.

“During the public health emergency we showed that caring for patients at home

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CommonSpirit Health in 2020 established a Vulnerable Populations Council to develop strategies for better reaching populations who do not have equitable access to health care information, resources and services. Migrant farmworkers are one such population. Here, farmworkers at Del Bosque Farms stack boxes of melons on a flatbed trailer in Firebaugh, California, in July 2021.

To ensure its 140 hospitals and 1,000plus other care sites in 21 states were taking on such disparities, CommonSpirit Health in late 2020 established a Vulnerable Populations Council.

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