The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on the link between systemic racism and health in many communities. This infographic clarifies the relationship between long-standing social and economic inequities and health disparities affecting Black Americans, over the life course and in relation to COVID-19. Black Americans are dying at 2.5 times the rate of White Americans from the virus. Here we review intentional and actionable strategies that can be enacted at the state, local and health care system levels to bring about lasting change.

Watch the first webinar in our ongoing series on systemic racism to hear expert advice on reducing the impact of systemic racism on the health of Black Americans.

Our expert panelists, Camara Phyllis Jones, MD; Derek Robinson, MD; and Tiffany Netters, MPA, discussed:

• How health is not created in the health system and how we need to sustain a focus on racism moving forward and improving health and the health care system
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois’s comprehensive approach to addressing racism in health care through provider anti-bias training, efforts to increase workforce diversity and the incorporation of equity into value-based care arrangements
• How a local system of health centers is focusing on grassroots strategies and efforts to address systemic racism and improve health outcomes in the community

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Featuring

Camara Phyllis Jones
Emory University; Morehouse School of Medicine

Derek Robinson
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois

Tiffany Netters
504 HealthNet

Speakers will discuss:

• How racism harms individual health and has contributed to a public health crisis in America and among Black Americans
• A health plan’s comprehensive approach to reducing health disparities, from a state-wide perspective
• Public health solutions from a network of more than 20 FQHCs and 70 community health organizations addressing the effects of the pandemic on the uninsured and frontline workers in New Orleans

A draft agenda is available on our website.

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