Disparities in Care

America’s surgeons strongly support the elimination of disparities in the availability and delivery of health care. We believe there must be equality among all citizens when it comes to health care – no matter what the patient’s economic status, race or ethnic background. Health care spending has escalated in this country to unsustainable levels and at the same time the gap between the health care received by minorities and the health care received by the rest of America has grown larger.

The surgical community has made it a priority to improve patient communications – in fact, we have made it one of the core competencies of being a surgeon. We believe that surgeons need to be more culturally competent in communicating with their patients, especially when the patient is from a different race, gender or economic background. Patients need to trust their physicians and understand what they are saying because a lack of good communications often leads to poor health outcomes.

Another way to help reduce disparities is to diversify the surgical workforce by attracting more minorities into the profession. Studies, including one by the Institute of Medicine, show that minority physicians tend to practice in minority communities.

Finally, we can reduce disparities and improve access to health care by making health care more affordable, expanding insurance coverage and ensuring we have health care providers available when needed. There are critical shortages developing in many parts of the health care workforce, including among surgeons. Therefore, we support adding surgeons to the National Health Service Corps, which can both increase public service to the underserved and provide medical school debt relief.