Opportunities to be healthy are the conditions and circumstances that enable us to prevent illness and injury and maintain the best possible quality of life when disease or accidents occur. These are the daily context in which people live, work, play, pray, and age and that affect their health. Systemic racism and its consequences have led to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color being more likely to experience barriers

Anti-racist structures acknowledge that all people and institutions exhibit racism at some point or some way and are committed to dismantling racism through policies and practices that advance racial justice and promote equity.

Access is the ability to receive high-quality health care that meets each person’s needs. This means culturally and linguistically appropriate care, having the technology to monitor health or participate in telehealth, a workforce large and diverse enough to address each person’s needs, and community-based supports that help people get and stay as healthy as possible.

Race, ethnicity, and language (REL) measurement means collecting, analyzing, and using data to identify and address health disparities. Quality REL data is self-reported using detailed, standardized categories and selecting multiple categories.

Health Equity Solutions recently submitted a public comment on the Office of Health Strategy’s Roadmap for Strengthening and Sustaining Primary Care. This Roadmap is intended to inform the development of the state’s primary care infrastructure through health reforms that expand the team of providers caring for patients, align how they coordinate, and improve the system’s capacity to address social drivers of health by expanding payment options beyond a fee-for-service model.