Unequal Treatment at 20: Accelerating Progress toward Health Care Equity Webcast

Thursday, March 16th, 2023

In 2003, the National Academies Press published a landmark report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, that shocked many policymakers and the medical establishment with its finding that racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of care are “remarkably consistent,” even after controlling for access-related factors, such as income and insurance status. Despite the national attention this report received, the nation has made little progress toward eliminating health care inequities in the 20 years since the report was published.

As the 20th anniversary of Unequal Treatment approaches, the Urban Institute is launching a new program of action to elevate health care inequities as a national priority and build momentum for key remedies and structural reforms. To kick-off the initiative, we invite you to join us for a full-day symposium designed to bring together policymakers, researchers, health care administrators and professionals, and other interested parties. The webcast symposium on March 21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. will

  • make evidence of the causes and consequences of health care inequities more accessible to patients, health care consumers, health care industry leaders, and policymakers;
  • identify the most promising research and policy strategies that have emerged in the 20 years since Unequal Treatment’s publication;
  • allow interested parties to collaborate to develop tools and mechanisms to hold practitioners and policymakers accountable, particularly at the state level, where key opportunities exist to establish equity-focused strategies; and
  • elevate the voices of patients from marginalized communities and a new generation of scholars of color whose perspectives must be centered in identifying research questions and solutions.

Register here.