What is the Health Equity Inventory (HEI)?
The HEI is a free cloud-based coordination tool that helps academic health systems and community organizations communicate with one another about their health equity work and engage in effective partnerships.
Who is the Health Equity Inventory for?
The HEI is designed for an AAMC-member health system or medical school’s university within a single, circumscribed geographic location such as a city, county, or small region. AAMC-member standalone hospitals can also use the HEI. The HEI is designed for use across university schools and departments, not just in the school of medicine.
How was the Health Equity Inventory developed?
In 2016, a group of 10 academic medical centers and medical schools, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developed a spreadsheet-based tool to track and coordinate health equity efforts at their institutions. In 2022, the AAMC Center for Health Justice partnered with REDCap, four AAMC member institutions, and their community partners on a two-year pilot to develop an improved, cloud-based version of the tool that could also be accessible to community-based organizations. In 2024, three AAMC member institutions tested the tool for final updates and enhancements. Some institutions participated in multiple phases of the development.
What data does the HEI collect?
The HEI gathers information about health equity-related programs, initiatives, strategies, partnerships, and other activities across institutions’ research, clinical, education, and community engagement missions.
What data does it not collect?
The tool does not capture any human subjects information. It captures only information at the project or initiative level when health equity is named as an explicit goal.
My institution is a not-for-profit hospital. Can the HEI help me with my community benefit reporting and community health needs assessment (CHNA)?
Yes! The HEI allows you to classify activities across community benefit and community building categories from Schedule H Form 990 (though it will not help quantify expenditures). Since the HEI is a centralized repository of all community health- and health equity-focused activity across your institution, it is greatly beneficial for organizing work across community-prioritized health needs in service of CHNA reporting.
Will the HEI evaluate the impact of my health equity activities?
No, but the HEI does allow you to describe each activity’s goals and any methods and metrics you use to assess impact.
How is the information in the HEI protected?
The responses collected in the HEI are classified as restricted by the AAMC. Restricted information may not be released with individual or institutional identification without permission.
How will my institution use the information in the HEI?
It’s up to your institution! For example, you can use the information to tell better stories and give quantitative data about the scope and value of your health equity work. You can then communicate that value to your institution’s leaders and your community in ways that make sense to your institution and relationships.
How will AAMC use the information in the HEI?
Select AAMC Center for Health Justice staff may share aggregate data across institutional users for advocacy purposes and other efforts to further the Center for Health Justice’s mission. Additionally, once we have a critical mass of users, AAMC will produce an annual report describing AAMC-member activity in this space.
How will REDCap use the information in the HEI?
REDCap will not use the information. REDCap staff will have limited access controls, restricting exposure to those with a need to know only in case of emergent issues, such as the need to retrieve lost information.
How long does it take to set up the HEI?
The timeline for building your HEI will vary depending on the size, scope, and complexity of your institution, as well as the breadth of your different health equity activities and partnerships. You’ll gather this data with the Center’s guidance; the Center will set up the HEI for you. Then it’s yours and you can add and update the data.
What support will I have as an HEI user?
All HEI users will have access to a virtual community of other users, the AAMC Center for Health Justice’s support, and office hours to assist with troubleshooting.
I want to use the Health Equity Inventory at my institution. How do I start?
Fill out the interest form, and the AAMC Center for Health Justice will be in touch to set up an introductory call with you. In that call, we’ll help you decide if the HEI is the right fit for you, and we’ll discuss next steps.