Healthcare Equity

Why is this important to family physicians?

Many barriers to health equity exist in urban and rural communities, including physician workforce shortages, an imminent maternal mortality crisis, budget challenges, and the lack of intergovernmental agency prioritization.

What is happening on this topic?

House Bill 4645 creates the Equity and Representation in Health Care Act, which was an initiative of the Cook County Health Department in 2022 with the goals of (1) providing new and increased funding to support loan repayment and scholarship programs; (2) filling gaps by adding health care professions eligible to participate; and (3) prioritizing populations that continue to be underrepresented in the health care workforce. IAFP supported the legislation as part of a healthcare coalition; click here for the coalition support paper.

Additionally, several rural health initiatives and programming that started over the past few years were again supported in the Illinois state budget in 2022. Public Act 102-698 included continued funding for mental health ad support services to "farm owners"; the Lieutenant Governor’s Rural Health Affairs Council; J1 Waiver Applications from the Rural/Downstate Health Access Fund; rural health centers to expand primary healthcare; and the SIU Rural Health Institute.

In September 2021, IAFP also hosted a Rural Health Equity Summit with the following learning objectives:

  • Raise awareness of rural health challenges and community needs.

  • Identify and discuss resources available to effectively meet those challenges.

  • Understand how workforce data impacts access to care

  • Address the many layers of barriers that prevent sustaining progress in rural health

  • Facilitate collaborative discussions to improve problem-solving on: maternal mortality, opioid use, mental health, immunizations, obesity, and diabetes.

  • Recognize diversity, equity, and inclusion as integral to strengthening rural health.

Do you want to take a deeper dive into more resources?

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with programs focused on providing equitable health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable, click here.

HealthLandscape has a variety of online mapping applications developed to help decision making in healthcare and community health practices – a recognition of the importance of data-driven decision making, click here.

Additional Resources