b'CONCORD HOSPITAL HEALTH SYSTEM | Patients FirstAdvancing Health Equityin Our CommunitiesOur purpose is to serve our communities by providingAcross every system, across providers, across care to everyone, no matter their circumstances.administrative settings, building that level of trust is Health equity means giving everyone the samemultidimensional, Dr. Haque says. Thats the most opportunity to be healthy, regardless of their race,important thing weve done in the last yearcreate disability, gender identity, language, location, ora movement where health equity is foundational to other factors, explains Vice President of Populationevery part of our healthcare system, for every one of Health Betsey Rhynhart. It also means consideringour patients.other needs like housing, transportation, food, In Fiscal Year 2024, CHHS launched a Health Equity and income. Team and created a Health Equity Plan to advance The goal, explain Rhynhart and Insha Haque, DO, this important work. The initial focus is on four a primary care physician in Penacook with a focus areas for quality improvement: high blood pressure, on population health, is to reduce differences invaccines, food insecurity, and LGBTQ+ health. With health care and make sure everyone can access these focal points have come the collection of Social health services. Determinants of Health data of more than 14,000 patients; completion of a staff survey on LGBTQ+(L-R)Dr. Insha Haque and Betsey RhynhartOver the past year, CHHS has been working on ahealth readiness; and work on community projects plan to identify and fix gaps in access and healthto improve vaccine access and insurance coverage outcomes, including life expectancy and disease for New Americans and address food insecurity with rates across different groups. To achieve healthpartners such as the New Hampshire Food Bank. equity, the health system will use collected dataProviding care equitably means making sure to address those gaps and build trust with theeveryone gets the quality and compassion they community toward understanding and solving deserve, no matter their background, Rhynhart says. the root causes.We remain committed to doing just that. 22'