A Letter for healthcare equality in support of Colorado’s African-American patients, physicians, and community-based organizations.
Dear Governor Jared Polis and Colorado Legislators:
The state of Colorado, as well as the nation, is facing a major public health crisis that has been fueled by institutionalized racism. African-American people remain frustrated by systemic racism and the barriers it creates to justice within state and federal regulatory agencies.
What’s more, the African-American community noticed that pleas for assistance are not thoroughly examined and remain unresolved. This letter is drafted on behalf of the Mile High Medical Society — a minority-led medical society — to reiterate that the needs of African-American patients must be safeguarded and equally protected under the law.
Also, we want access to equitable healthcare services and facilities, as well as adequate care delivery that will provide better health outcomes for the African-American community. As a medical society, we want support from the Colorado government to obtain and maintain medical practices in diverse Colorado communities that will be free of implicit bias, and discrimination.
After 400 years, the all-cause mortality and morbidity rates among the African-American population remain higher than in White populations nationally. This has resulted in 74,402 excess African-American deaths annually. Overwhelmingly, medical and system racism coupled with significant risk factors — like a lack of access to quality foods, housing, transportation, and other inequities — have led to an inequitable healthcare delivery system for people of color. These circumstances prevented African-Americans from having healthy and productive lives.
The Mile High Medical Society declared racism a public health crisis, and we strongly implore your office and the legislators to do the same. Racism, whether perpetuated in systems or by individuals, unequivocally leads to health inequities, especially in the African-American community. This dangerous and immediate public health issue needs to be addressed at all levels of government — most notably at the state level, where resources and funding can have the most impact. The Mile High Medical Society recommends that your office declare to form a cabinet-level Racial Equity Task Force that will prioritize the advancement of racial equity. The Task Force needs to proceed in a prescripted manner and should include the following:
1. Prioritize the advancement of equitable policies and initiatives that address the dismantling of racism, ensure accountability in state and county departments, and identify who will have the resources necessary to do the work.
2. Focus on healthcare outcome inequities, including the State’s response to COVID-19.
3. Address social determinants of health around education, neighborhood environments, employment opportunities and economic stability, and legal considerations.
4. Appoint African-American physicians to State (i.e., CDPHE) and Local organizations, including DORA, to help level the playing field and engage with your administration to improve healthcare delivery in Colorado.
Mile High Medical Society members urge the State of Colorado to take expeditious action to deconstruct and retool the institutions that contribute to these significant health disparities and racism using a multi-disciplinary approach. Colorado’s African-American population, who have been severely impacted by the scourge of racism and all its harmful byproducts, need decisive and impactful assistance to reach the health equity attained by the rest of the State’s population or risk falling further behind.
As a minority-led medical society, accountability, comprehensive planning, independent public-facing data, and funding are necessary to ensure appropriate methods and sustainable resolutions are implemented to improve healthcare outcomes for African American patients in Colorado.
Respectfully,
Johnny E. Johnson, MD
President of the Mile High Medical Society
