MIAMI—The American Medical Association has launched a new network that aims to back industry leaders in driving health innovation through an equity lens.
The In Full Health Learning and Action Community to Advance Equitable Health Innovation was unveiled Monday at the inaugural ViVE conference. The In Full Health initiative is backed by a set of guiding principles that offers healthcare organizations a roadmap to center equity as they consider innovative investment, development and purchasing efforts.
This includes assisting them with shifting resources and decision-making to invest in historically marginalized populations, AMA said.
“It is crucial that we invest in solutions that are created for, with, and by communities that have traditionally been sidelined from health innovation resources,” said Jack Resneck Jr., M.D., AMA president-elect, in a statement.
“As a component of the AMA’s broader work to advance racial justice and equity in health care, this new initiative will help us continue to drive the future of digital medicine while ensuring health innovation addresses the needs and improves the health of all patients—particularly those who have been most marginalized," Resneck said.
The project's guiding principles, AMA said, represent a "renewed vision for a U.S. health innovation sector" that prioritizes equitable resources allocation and a workforce that mirrors the diverse communities it serves. Participants are urged to embed these principles in their work and strengthen their commitment over time.
In Full Health was developed in partnership with the AMA's External Equity and Innovation Advisory Group and first envisioned as the organization laid out its strategic plan to embed racial justice and health equity. The hope, the group said in the announcement, is that solution developers, financial backers and purchasers center marginalized communities in designing, testing and evaluating these platforms.
Its new website, InFullHealth.org, will offer resources for organizations to connect with experts and one another to share content, tools and other opportunities to advance meaningful action.
Collaborators in the project include Rock Health, the HIMSS and the Business Group on Health, AMA said.
“By connecting this community of stakeholders around a shared goal of driving equitable resources to health solutions for those historically excluded in the design and profit of innovation, such as Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people, people with disabilities, and those who identify as LBGTQ+, In Full Health provides the collective power and capability to bring about change,” said AMA chief health equity officer and senior vice president Aletha Maybank, M.D., in a statement.