Build trust by making healthcare fairer and more equitable, say experts

The goal of making healthcare fairer and more accessible is a core topic across the life sciences space. Whether it be the price of treatments, payment model initiatives, the way in which they are administered, or geographical inequalities exposed over time, the conversation continues to have a place at conferences worldwide.

In September, panelists at LSX World Congress USA in Boston, Massachusetts told delegates how healthcare providers need to build trust within communities and provided them with different approaches taken to reach this goal.

"When we think about trust, there are a couple of important points to acknowledge, and I think we saw a lot of this during the COVID-19 pandemic as well. There is factually a history where the broader healthcare system in some cases, has misused [and] abused people of certain demographics within the US,” said Willie Reaves, head of public engagement at cell therapy technology platform company, Cellino.

Reaves provided the audience with examples of “earned mistrust” and cited the Tusekgee Syphilis Study with African Americans, the forced sterilizations of Native Americans and “indigenous folks” and explained how “there are a number of different examples” he could present.

In 1932, 600 African American men in Macon County, Alabama were enrolled in a project with the promise of free healthcare, which aimed to study the progression of syphilis (Tusekgee Syphilis Study).

399 men with latent syphilis and 201 men who did not have the disease were being treated for “bad blood,” which is the colloquial term the experiment used to label the individual’s condition. The individuals were monitored by healthcare workers but were only given placebos like mineral supplements and aspirin.

In an effort to track the disease’s entire progression, the researchers did not provide effective care and the men died, went blind, developed mental health problems, or experienced other severe health issues due to the untreated syphilis.  

The history of mistrust can cause communities to view aspects of healthcare with a degree of wariness, as well as suffer the physical barriers to accessibility and affordability. To try and overcome this challenge, Reaves told attendees healthcare providers must think about how they are communicating with people and “what is most effective is [to] bring in folks who are representative of that population, bringing people who already have the trust of the people.”

Dora Green, director of US health equity at Takeda, agreed with Reaves and said her firm has “been very intentional since the inception of our health equity team in partnering externally with organizations that have deep, trusted relationships in the community.”

According to Green, a key advantage of partnering externally with people who have trusted relationships in the community is they are able to say “yes, I know Mrs. Smith, I know Mrs. Oluwakemi, I know all these people in this community, and I am able to address what is going on with them.”

Reaves also said it can be as simple as looking at which communities already trust in the healthcare space. For example, “often [people] really trust their primary care physician (PCP). They may be a little wary of doctors, but they have known their PCP for 20 years [and] they will rely upon their advice.”

Communicating with community

The panelists placed importance on the delivery of clear, consistent, and trusted communication across communities in the US. Green said a factor “that we often forget about” is workforce development and diversity.

Hiring individuals that can bring “lived experience” fuels “a positive impact on the healthtech that you are developing” because “they are going to be able to comment and provide intel and insights on what are the measure that we are using to say this is successful, because it may look different.”

Additionally, it helps the journey of how to engage in conversation with the community when “they do not know us at all.” If you develop “those resources of community engagement, but also through your workforce development, you can see a positive impact on the resource that you or your healthtech are developing at launch, as opposed to post-launch.”