Digital medicine

Telehealth program aims to reduce health care disparities for Black patients giving birth

A new telehealth program at UC Davis Health aims to reduce health disparities for Black patients giving birth, and has received a Telehealth Equity Catalyst Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges for $27,000. The program will expand the use of video visits for prenatal and postnatal care for Black patients over a 12-month period. Throughout that time, researchers will track completed and failed video visits.

The project is co-lead by Ijeoma Uche, M.P.H., and Jennifer Rosenthal, M.D., M.A.S. Uche is an ARC-MD honors pathway student at UC Davis and co-founder of Birth By Us, an app for Black people focused on pregnancy and postpartum care. Rosenthal is the Center for Health and Technology faculty director of digital health equity and process improvement, associate professor of pediatrics and ARC-MD associate director.

This is the third year in a row that UC Davis Health has received the Telehealth Equity Catalyst Award, which aims to recognize and highlight efforts to understand and address barriers to care associated with telehealth and health technology.

Sacramento’s first comprehensive trauma recovery center opens

UC Davis Health opened the first comprehensive trauma recovery center in Sacramento. The UC Davis CAARE (Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource and Evaluation) Diagnostic and Treatment Center established the new center, thanks to a nearly $1.2 million grant from the California Victim Compensation Board. The CAARE Center will collaborate with the UC Davis Health Wraparound Program, a hospital-based violence intervention program, and the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program to provide trauma recovery services for victims of crime from infants to those age 30 years old. The center will make trauma-informed, culturally responsive and evidenced-based mental health treatment available. It also fills the gap in services for underserved and vulnerable young adults who experience violent crime. These victims will receive timely care as well as longer-term mental health services when needed.

A road map to diversify the health care workforce

UC Davis Health, recognized by Forbes as a “Best Employer in California,” has developed a road map for increasing workforce diversity across the industry. While California banned the consideration of race or ethnicity in hiring at public institutions in 1996, UC Davis Health has since come up with a holistic outreach and local recruitment plan that has proven effective. The approach received global attention through a case study published in New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst’s January 2024 issue.

The case study provides a step-by-step guide for medical centers and institutions to diversify their workforces, and presents some of UC Davis Health’s successful recruitment efforts as a community-anchored institution. An Anchor Institution Mission (AIM) for community health represents UC Davis Health’s commitment to leverage its economic and human power to improve the local community’s health and well-being, and UC Davis Health aims to employ 20% of its employees from AIM communities.

Achieving this requires mission-based, community-partnered hiring practices such as ongoing support for an inclusive work environment, programs to enhance sense of belonging, more career development and mentorship for entry-level employees, and more opportunities for staff to create and maintain meaningful connections with their local communities.