Equitable care is care that does not vary in quality because of a patient’s individual characteristics. These include:

• Gender
• Age
• Race or ethnicity
• Sexual orientation
• Spiritual beliefs
• Language
• Geographic location
• Physical capability
• Socioeconomic status

Fairview caregivers are committed to understanding the needs and desires of a very diverse patient population, as well as measuring the quality of care they deliver. Although there are no national standards yet, data suggest that Fairview is doing a good job delivering equitable care.

For example, people from a variety of ethnic groups enjoyed good access to appointments at Fairview clinics, according to Fairview data from 2005-06.

Areas in which Fairview needs to understand more about equity include treatment of pneumonia in women, heart bypass surgery in men and heart attack among whites versus non-whites. Fairview is in the process of gathering and analyzing additional data.

Fairview has adopted an updated community care policy that standardizes discounts available to patients and broadens the definition of who is eligible.

Patients who are deaf or hard-of-hearing have access to sign-language and other integrated translation services. Fairview offers interpreter services in a variety of languages, a growing number of translated patient information material and a doula birthing companion service for Somali women.

Learn more about diversity at Fairview.

We value your feedback on how we can make your care more equitable.