A new tool tracks health disparities in the U.S. and highlights major data gaps. Developed by a coalition of researchers and advocates from Google, Gilead, and Morehouse School of Medicine, Health Equity Tracker is a portal that collects, analyzes, and makes visible data to illustrate the health disparities that are a mainstay of medicine in the U.S. The COVID-19 pandemic has especially highlighted these disparities. But it has also shown that data on race and ethnicity are inconsistently reported; 38 percent of federally-collected COVID-19 cases don’t specify race and ethnicity. The coalition’s hope is that even after the pandemic, the tool can highlight the medical problems plaguing the U.S. to help community health leaders make informed policy decisions about other health crises. Read more here. Another health equity tool is PA HEAT (Pennsylvania’s Health Equity Assessment Tool) that is available here. PA HEAT is intended to provide a granular geographic perspective of areas that have significant opportunities to improve equity.
