The Journey Toward Health Care Equity: Accredited Hospitals' Alignment with Joint Commission Health Care Equity Standards Preimplementation.

Background: The Joint Commission (TJC) released new health care equity (HCE) standards for hospitals with the goal of helping organizations monitor and improve equity of care. This study assessed the state of the field immediately following the release of the new standards to gain a baseline understanding of the field's progress toward HCE.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study. An online questionnaire assessed four domains related to organization's progress toward HCE, as it aligns with TJC's accreditation and certification requirements: 1) leadership, 2) collaboration, 3) collecting and using data, and 4) provision of care. The questionnaire was distributed between April and June 2023. Included hospitals received an accreditation visit in 2022 or were scheduled for a visit after October 2024, leaving 2,098 eligible hospitals. A representative sample of 1,625 hospitals received the questionnaire.

Results: In total, 340 hospitals (20.9%) responded to the questionnaire. Hospitals were mostly meeting the mark in the leadership domain, but many have addressed the other domains to a limited degree. Not-for profit hospitals and those that are part of a system were more likely to have made strides toward achieving compliance with HCE requirements, whereas behavioral health/psychiatric hospitals have made less progress in this area.

Health equity implications: Many of the hospitals surveyed have made advances in the HCE-related topics covered in this study, but achieving HCE is only part of the journey toward overall health equity. Societal institutions must work together to address the social determinants of health for entire communities in addition to individual patient needs.