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NICHQ Creates Department of Health Equity Innovation to Address Systemic Health Inequities
BOSTON – The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) recently launched a new Department of Health Equity Innovation, led by VP of Health Equity Innovation Stacy Scott, PhD, MPA, with the goal of accelerating strategies that address systemic health inequities.
“We’ve worked diligently over the past few years to infuse equity into everything we say and do at NICHQ,” said Dr. Scott. “Yet, like many organizations, we needed more internal infrastructure to ensure we’re centering health equity throughout our projects and formalizing that focus across the organization.”
In May 2021, NICHQ joined three other national maternal and child health organizations in a public commitment to undoing racism as a key driver to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. NICHQ’s focus on racial equity, implicit bias, and the impact on maternal and child health outcomes has been interwoven in many projects, including:
- National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network
- Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project
- National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives
- New York State Birth Equity Improvement Project
Some of the ongoing work the Health Equity Innovation Department will support is the Equity Systems Audit Tool, co-created by NICHQ and the Global Infant Safe Sleep (GISS) Center to assess implicit and explicit bias in healthcare systems. The department will also support internal equity engagement and support existing projects to ensure they are effectively incorporating equity. New projects related to health equity will be identified and prioritized within the next few months.
“This is our opportunity to ensure that we consider a variety of approaches to equity work,” said NICHQ CEO Scott Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP. “Creating a dedicated department will allow us to lead equity projects that are important to both NICHQ and the MCH field but may not align with project funding. It also creates a mechanism for additional partners to join us in the work.”
Read more about NICHQ’s commitment to equity.
About the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ)
NICHQ is a mission-driven nonprofit dedicated to driving dramatic and sustainable improvements in the complex issues facing children’s health. We are committed to building and managing effective change strategies that align partners and engage stakeholders to achieve better outcomes for children and their families. During the past 20 years, NICHQ has led more than 80 initiatives and reached millions of children and families. NICHQ’s unique approach to improving children’s healthcare systems gives more families access to care and coordinated services and helps all children achieve better outcomes. NICHQ is deeply committed to health equity and ensuring all children reach their optimal health. For more information, visit www.nichq.org.
