Advancing Health Equity While Integrating Behavioral Health in Primary Care - AHRQ Academy Releases New Guide

Underlying social, economic, and environmental inequities in relation to housing, education, food access, employment, and safety are central factors in creating disparities in health and healthcare. These disparities are reflected in differences in health outcomes such as life expectancy, quality of life, and morbidity and mortality rates based on gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and gender identity, physical ability, age, weight, geographic region, housing status, and immigration status.

In addition to underlying social, economic, and environmental inequities, complex healthcare and social service systems that are fragmented and uncoordinated make it difficult to offer  whole-person care that fully addresses the entire array of problems and illnesses that people bring to the healthcare system.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Academy has released a new guide, Health Equity and Behavioral Health Integration, which shares practical strategies and resources for addressing social and economic inequities while integrating behavioral health in primary care settings.

For more information on existing disparities in health and healthcare see:

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports