Women’s Health: Opportunities to Advance Progress

While women’s healthcare has come a long way in the past few decades—with life-saving advancements in preventive care guidelines, diagnoses, treatments, and research—there are still plenty of opportunities for improvement.

Women and girls continue to face challenges and disparities in several areas, including adolescent mental health, maternal health, and certain chronic diseases. And while women are better represented in clinical trials now than ever before, there are still significant inclusion gaps for certain populations like women of color and those who are pregnant.

Learn how Guidehouse can help clients build on existing successes in health equity and gender equality to fill these gaps. Guidehouse directors Julia Clark, PhD, and Kaajal Singh, MHA, shared their insights in a recent article published in Becker’s Hospital Review.

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Meeting Women Where They Are

According to Dr. Clark and Singh, opportunities to improve health research and outcomes for women often hinge on governmental policies at the federal level. An example of this is CMS’s initiative, the Transforming Maternal Health Model, which aims to improve maternal health outcomes among Medicaid patients.

Another effective approach uses bottom-up strategies to meet women where they are. These include adolescent mental health screenings in schools and during primary care visits, mobile care delivery for services such as vaccinations and postpartum care, and community-based health programs at local churches or senior centers.

Additionally, Dr. Clark and Singh recommend that leaders reconsider core women’s health practices and build new approaches by:

• Engaging healthcare teams and community organizations in an aligned vision
• Working with providers and health agencies to enhance access to clinical trials and address social drivers of health
• Investing in technology-driven wellness strategies, provider education, and community and health plan partnerships
• Implementing population health initiatives and metrics that replicate value-based care models, which strive for high-quality care across the continuum

“If we ignore the health needs of women and do not create an environment with solutions that are meeting them where they are, we are risking the health and well-being of our foundation as a nation, which is a significant risk to our future,” said Singh.

Dr. Clark added, “Buoyed by rapid advancements in technology and incremental gains in policies and programs that directly impact the health of women, our team [at Guidehouse] is truly excited to be leading the conversations and changes required to evolve the future of women’s healthcare to better serve our clients and communities.”

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