This week, we answer the age-old question: how do you talk about Health Equity without talking about Health Equity? NCQA’s Health Equity Accreditation Programs provide a strong framework for health care entities to improve equity in their organizations. When it comes to solving gaps in Equity, our guests in this episode come from very different backgrounds and experiences. Yet each one proves how bridging the historic gaps in Health Equity could be the key to solving all of the flaws of modern health care in the United States.

Dr. Joshua Liao is an expert in the topic of value-based payment reform. A board-certified internal medicine physician with the University of Washington, Dr. Liao is Medical Director for Payment Strategy at U-W Medicine, and he holds a position in Health Systems and Population Health in their School of Public Health. He strongly believes that value-based payment structures not only could save providers money…they could save health care as we know it.

Dr. Siobhan Wescott, a Native American of the Athabaskan ethnic group, is Director of American Indian Health and professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Raised in a tiny cabin just outside Fairbanks, Alaska, Dr. Wescott earned her Public Health degree from U-C-L-A and received her medical training from Harvard Medical School. As Dr. Wescott indicates, promoting Equity for any group ultimately supports Equity for all groups.