Commitment to Equity
A Core
Integral Care
Value
When it comes to mental illness, substance use disorder and intellectual and developmental disabilities, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have historically not received the same quality of health care as Whites.
Integral Care is committed to working toward racial equity. We aim to provide quality health care to everyone and create a space where our clients, team members and providers feel welcome.
Our work has included the creation of a Board Staff Ad Hoc Committee on Racial Equity, the development of a Racial Equity Plan, and the completion of a Racial Equity Assessment of Integral Care. Across these efforts, we:
- Had important conversations with staff, clients, and stakeholders
- Worked with national racial equity and cultural competency experts
- Looked closely at policies and procedures, environment, workforce, and client access to services
We learned that more had to be done to support our staff as well as offer more equitable service provision for clients of color. To deliver quality health care for all, organizations like ours must act instead of react. Our work to end institutional racism and support people of all identities will remain constant as we continue to build racial and health equity agency-wide.
Addressing Racial Disparities in Our Care
- Added differential diagnosis questions to electronic health records to address overdiagnosis of schizophrenia in Black/African American males.
- Increased education and advocacy efforts to reduce over-diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) among BIPOC children and youth.
- Tracking client outcomes by race categories and ethnic origin to identify disparities in service provision and how long clients wait for care.
- Streamlined intake assessments so clients only share their story once.
- Created a Health Disparities Report Card to identify biggest disparity gaps, inform where we send resources, and track progress.
How We’re Supporting Our Staff
- Implementing hiring practices to recruit a team that reflects the people we serve.
- Training staff on the impact of institutional racism and how to recognize their own unintended biases.
- Training staff on how each person’s cultural identity impacts communication, health beliefs and practices, and service delivery.
- Creating unbiased interviewing training to incorporate cultural competency into the hiring process.
- Releasing a yearly Health Disparities Report Card, an at-a-glance tool to find where more staff resources are needed and to track our progress on filling the biggest disparity gaps.