Health Equity: Delivering Care to Diverse Populations

At Children’s Health, we are always working to ensure that our patients have access to the resources, tools, and high-quality care they need to thrive both today and in the future. By recognizing and working to eliminate health disparities, we can further our mission to make life better for children.

2024 Health Equity Impact Report

We recognize that social, economic and environmental factors have a profound impact on health. Advancing equity requires us to look beyond clinical care and address the broader conditions that shape a child’s well-being.

This inaugural Health Equity Impact Report (pdf) tells the story of our work in 2024. It outlines key milestones, highlights areas of learning and improvement, and reinforces our commitment to sustained, systemwide progress.

Through groundbreaking work and strategic innovation, our Health Equity team is driving real change by expanding access to equitable, high-quality care and identifying and removing barriers to health that exist beyond the walls of the hospital.

What is Health Equity?

Health equity is the fair and just opportunity for everyone to achieve their highest level of health. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation states, “This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care.” At Children’s Health, we believe in providing optimal care to every child that comes through our doors regardless of race, religion, or socioeconomic status. It is this belief in the power of prioritizing health equity in everything we do that has made us consistently one of the top recognized children’s hospitals in the country. Our ever-present goal is to create a safe, culturally competent space for every child to receive medical care void of inequality and disparity.

How is Children’s Health involved?

The Equity of Care Pledge (#123forEquity) is a national campaign to eliminate health care disparities. The #123forEquity campaign asks hospital and health care system leaders to start taking action to accelerate progress that can improve health equity in the following areas:

• Increase the collection and use of race, ethnicity, and language preference REaL data

• Increase cultural competency training

• Increase diversity in leadership and governance

• Improve and strengthen community partnerships

Children’s Health signed the Equity of Care Pledge in 2016. We are among only 1,704 health care systems nationwide, and only 131 in Texas, who have committed to addressing disparities by making the Equity of Care Pledge. Children’s Health is committed to ensuring that all our patients have the opportunity to achieve their highest level of health. By working to improve health equity in North Texas, we can make life better for children and the communities where they live. Below is a snippet of the work being done in this area:

• Research and Data Collection: Our goal is to invest in research and data to understand the health inequities that exist for our patients’ community. This includes our Beyond ABC report, collection of REaL data and social determinants of health (SDOH) data for our patients, our Health Equity Impact Report (pdf), and our Diversity & Inclusion Impact Report.

• Workforce + Operations: Our nearly 10,000 team members have access to education, training and programs dedicated to identifying, understanding, and addressing health inequities in our patient population.

• Care for Underserved Patients and Communities: We are a leader in health equity because we care for diverse patients and communities in North Texas.