One of the most powerful tools in the pursuit of health equity is data. Numbers can help tell stories beyond anecdotes and show when those individual stories are part of a wider pattern.
Data on patients’ race, ethnicity, and language (REL) in particular can reveal gaps in care, ensure providers are offering patients personalized care and resources, and ultimately create a more equitable health care system. 
Dr. Jessica Isom, a community psychologist at a federally qualified health center in Boston, Massachusetts, recently saw the impact of collecting this data in her own work. At the time, her health center was looking to gain a better understanding of how well it was serving patients dealing with opioid use disorder.
“We disaggregated data for the first time by race, ethnicity, and also language to see who was coming in for care at all, and then what kind of care they were receiving, and then whether or not that care was at the level of quality that it should be,” said Isom, who is a clinical instructor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.
The data revealed that, compared to the population of the area the health center was supposed to be serving, Black, Hispanic, and non-English speaking patients were underrepresented. These groups were not accessing services as often as other racial groups.
The gap in service was not just about who was coming in for care, but also the quality of care provided. The health center found disparities in which patients were receiving the full spectrum of treatment for opioid use disorder. While the standard for opioid use disorder was to have access to medication and mental health services, Black and non-English speaking patients were less likely to be offered both.
“It was a great eye-opening experience, and also a call to action around more work that we needed to do,” Isom said.
By looking at this data, the organization was able to respond strategically and adjusting outreach to better meet the needs of underserved communities.
In Connecticut, all health care providers who are connected to the state health information exchange are required to collect REL data. The Connecticut Health Foundation supports a network of health care providers who are working on these issues to convene monthly and has awarded grants to some participants. To learn more about the network, click here.
For patients, sharing REL data with their care providers is voluntary and not required. But doing so means they can receive better health care. If a doctor is aware of their race or ethnicity, they can screen for any diseases they might be more at risk of getting. Providers can also offer translation services to accommodate a patient’s language preference to ensure that patient can best understand the visit.
Collecting and reviewing REL data can also help ensure that clinicians are providing the same quality of care to all patients regardless of their race or ethnicity – providing the same types of insights Isom’s health center received.
On a broader scale, REL data can help guide policy decisions on public health, inform where resources should be allocated, and create a system that better serves all communities, particularly those most in need.
Isom said that an important lesson for other organizations is that this data does not have to be perfect.
“A lot of folks can get stuck around having the best possible data available, and that’s not required for doing equity work. You do want to use data that you have. You do want to try in a parallel process to get better data, and at the same time you can act on what you do have available to you,” she said.
The process of analyzing REL data can force health care providers to confront uncomfortable truths about their practices. While they might recognize health disparities exist on a larger scale, it can be more difficult for them to acknowledge that these disparities also exist among their own patients. Data can break through cognitive biases and motivate change.
“Collecting data just demonstrates what you value. So, if we value population health and the health of our society, then we’ll be motivated to collect all the data that we need to be successful at that,” Isom said.