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The Overloooked Role of Imaging in Improving Health Equity

by Jeff Blackwood on April 12, 2023
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Among all healthcare services, diagnostic imaging could possibly have the greatest near-term impact on addressing issues underlying Health Equity and Access to Care.

Racism, poverty, and political animus have left their marks on much of American society, and one of the most pervasive results is access to proper healthcare services. Variations in life expectancy and the presence of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease can be tied directly to outside influences called “Social Determinants of Health” or SDoH. By definition, these problems are large, systematic, and require long-term solutions from the community, but improving access to healthcare services can have a direct impact on patients, today.

Within healthcare, much of the focus to achieve Health Equity is on access to primary care. While that certainly makes a major impact, most of the critical conditions affecting underserved populations are beyond the scope of a primary care practice. For example:

  • Black adults have the highest rates of hypertension, a condition primarily treated by cardiologists
  • Hispanics are 1.5x more likely to die from diabetes complications, a condition primarily treated by endocrinologists
  • Black women are 3-4x more likely to die in pregnancy, who may be assisted by OB/GYNs, doulas, or midwives

Conditions such as these require specialty care, and in each case diagnostic imaging is required to confirm the diagnosis before assigning a specialist.

It’s generally agreed that the earlier a condition is detected, the earlier treatment can be prescribed, making a positive outcome more likely. Diagnostic imaging is how that early detection is achieved, but our society has built barriers to early detection, especially for underserved patients of color.

For example, over 90% of diagnostic imaging is concentrated in hospitals or imaging centers, most often located in urban centers serving wealthy populations. As hospitals continue to close and services like imaging become more concentrated, patients find themselves in “healthcare deserts,” where they find they must travel longer distances, face longer scheduling delays, and pay higher costs just to answer their basic healthcare questions.

In addition, hospitals are inconvenient and confusing for outpatient visitors, there’s a long and relatively recent history of medical abuse of people of color (see Tuskegee syphilis experiments that ended in 1972), and there’s often an emotional disconnect between providers and patients of color. Evidence shows that providers often dismiss or minimize complaints of pain by patients of color, especially black women, demonstrating a lack of empathy or an unperceived barrier to patient-provider communication.

With these barriers, it's understandable that many black women seek alternate care when pregnant, even though black women are 3-4x more likely to die in pregnancy than white women. Doulas and midwives have been around for centuries, but many states and insurance companies don’t recognize them as qualified healthcare providers. As a result, they can’t order basic services like a first trimester ultrasound for their patient.

Without imaging, the provider could miss some factors complicating the pregnancy, ultimately risking the lives of both the mother and fetus. Conditions like pregnancy-related hypertension and preeclampsia could develop during the pregnancy, and it’s important to monitor the development and well-being of the fetus during a pregnancy with these conditions.

That’s why diagnostic imaging from New Frontier Mobile Diagnostics matters.

New Frontier’s professional sonographers bring proven portable imaging equipment directly to patients in their provider’s office or local clinic. We provide an independent, affordable solution to answer a patient’s medical questions.

For more information, visit www.NewFrontierMD.com, or have your provider or clinic contact us at (913) 428-9488.

 

To learn more about New Frontier’s commitment to improving access to care and health equity for all patients, check out these previous posts:

Our Mission: Imaging for Everyone – https://newfrontiermd.com/imaging-for-everyone-rural-patients/

New Frontier Adds Women’s Health Services – https://newfrontiermd.com/womens-health/

Topics: Access to Care, Health Equity