Unequal Measurement: A Call for a National Framework for Measuring Health Equity

Commonwealth Fund August 6, 2025
Maria Bonfiglio, Rebecca Dawar, Paul E. Casey, Anisa Jivani, Laurie C. Zephyrin, David A. Ansell

TOPLINES

There are significant gaps in how U.S. health institutions measure health disparities, creating the potential for both public confusion and policies that undermine progress toward health equity

A national framework for measuring health equity is necessary and should include measurements across the domains of community, organization, employees, and patients

Abstract

• Issue: Without national, validated standards for measuring disparities in health care, rating, ranking, and regulatory organizations have adopted different metrics and methodologies for evaluating progress. Inconsistent measurement tools can draw incomplete or even conflicting accounts of an organization’s progress toward health equity and risk curbing the advancement of efforts to achieve equity.
• Goal: To investigate the current state of health equity metrics across rating and regulatory entities and...

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