To address health inequities that Indigenous and racialized patients can experience, collect data on racial and Indigenous identity at health card application and renewal, suggests a group of authors in CMAJ ( Canadian Medical Association Journal ) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221587 .
"Although race is a social construct that uses perceived physical differences to create and maintain power differentials and the existence of discrete racial groups has not been shown to have any biological basis, perceived race influences how people are treated by individuals and institutions," wrote Dr. Andrew Pinto, founder of Upstream Lab based at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, part of Unity Health Toronto hospital network, along with coauthors.
Indigenous and Black patients have less access to health care, receive poorer care and have worse outcomes.
"Having data on race available for analysis can facilitate the measurement of racial inequities in health care, help to hold organizations and governments accountable for addressing these inequities and monitor progress," the authors wrote.
Collecting self-reported identity data on health card applications and renewals could be an efficient way to obtain this information, with the caveat to plan for and prevent potential harms of collection. The authors suggest the following:
"Racism in Canada's health care systems continues to lead to injustice, but data that would assist in tracking progress and ensuring accountability are lacking or inadequate. Near-universal race and Indigenous identity data could be collected efficiently at health card application and renewal across Canadian jurisdictions," the authors conclude.
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Commentary/editorial
People
Considerations for collecting data on race and Indigenous identity during health card renewal across Canadian jurisdictions