Fostering a culture of equity across the entire Health and Human Services System is not just a lofty strategic goal for Fairfax County, Virginia. It is also something the Community Health Care Network (CHCN) has been actively working to achieve for many years. In the 1980s, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors became concerned about the difficulties encountered by the County’s low-income and uninsured residents in obtaining health care, and financed a study of the issue.

What do you get when you invite 15 to 20 diverse patients over to dinner to talk about their health care in their native language? Pure magic!

People who work in safety net clinics deserve an extra dose of respect, for we all know they could earn more money applying their skills in less challenging environments. In Fairfax County, Virginia, these challenges include a low-income uninsured population that speaks 55 languages. 

The trend toward value-based care is accelerating, and is more urgent as the climbing costs of care threaten gains in health coverage. As the field is moving toward new ways of paying for value, attention to health care disparities is sorely lacking. Not for lack of need — since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s Unequal Treatment report, we’ve seen evidence that progress in reducing disparities in care has painfully been slow, or in some cases nonexistent.