Jump In, Be Brave, Have the Conversation – Reducing Health Disparities among Minority Patients

For racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, health disparities take on many forms, including higher rates of chronic disease and premature death. Gaps persist even after differences in health insurance, socioeconomic status, state and severity of the disease, comorbidities, and medical facility are taken into account, says Michelle Durham, Director, Psychiatry Residency Training at Boston Medical Center (BMC). The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, and in many cases widened, the gap in both health outcomes and access to quality care, unmasking long-standing inequities that pervade the healthcare system and society at large.