The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities in care access and service quality for minoritized populations.

More than 39 million people have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and there have been more than 648,000 COVID-19-related deaths in the United States alone.[1](Opens in a new window) Data consistently show that American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic people have experienced disproportionate rates of illness and death due to COVID-19. American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander in the U.S. had over three times the number of premature excess deaths per 100,000 people in 2020 compared to White or Asian people.

Physician-Led Care Coordination Practices: Project Overview
Through an award provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) partners with the American Medical Association’s Center for Health Equity to create physician-led care coordination pilot projects. These projects are enhancing the capacity of physician-led practices to implement COVID-19 prevention, vaccination, testing, and treatment strategies that improve the health of populations disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, racial injustice, and other forms of oppression.

Project strategies center equity and document best practices in care coordination for minoritized communities (i.e., Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color, people that identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer, Asian American Pacific Islanders, people who are experiencing disabilities, and other minoritized groups). Including populations marginalized based on economic circumstances and other determinants of social inclusion.