The Joint Commission has elevated reducing health care disparities to a National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) to underscore that incorporating patients' social needs is an essential part of delivering good health care. The change takes effect July 1.

Explaining its rationale in an R3 Report, the Joint Commission noted that "although health care disparities are often viewed through the lens of social injustice, they are first and foremost a quality of care problem." The new goal code will be NPSG.16.01.01.

The commission's perspective resonates with nurse leaders, among them Alice Benjamin, chief nursing officer for http://Nurse.org and a former patient safety officer. "All the factors that limit health equity are also direct barriers to patient safety," she told AJN.

The commission's rationale is also ingrained in nursing practice, according to Lisa Rowen, chief nurse executive of the University of Maryland Medical System and professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. "Nursing and medicine are grounded in historical fact, information, and practice," Rowen said. "We have to actively challenge everything and continuously challenge ourselves to set the bar higher."

Asking about patients' health-related social needs-transportation, literacy, access to food and housing-at admission and considering those needs during hospitalization and in discharge planning is one way bedside nurses can improve health equity. But it will take more than proactive nursing to move the needle on disparities, according to Rowen. Hospitals and health organizations "need to partner with our communities to advance equity," she told AJN. Universities and colleges must also prioritize equity and nurture a diverse and inclusive nursing pipeline.

Whether the elevation of health equity to an NPSG will measurably and meaningfully reduce health care disparities remains to be seen. The Joint Commission acknowledged in its report that it's not always clear in a clinical setting how best to address patients' health-related social needs. The new standard, therefore, emphasizes the need for health organizations to develop processes to move toward optimum care for all patients, including those with social needs, rather than imposing specific clinical remedies. "Health care is still learning how best to do this effectively and efficiently," the report states.-Jennifer L.W. Fink, BSN, RN