Laura Kaiser urges everyone to ‘follow the science,’ not politics, in a new column In a new opinion column published this week in the Modern Healthcare trade magazine, SSM Health President and CEO Laura Kaiser explains our health system’s determination to follow the science and keep politics out of healthcare.
“The challenge,” she writes, “is to remain objective, not letting predispositions or politics cloud our judgment. The people and communities we serve deserve no less.” Early on in the pandemic, for example, SSM Health clinicians noticed that COVID-19 was especially affecting the African-American community. In dealing with a disease that the world had never seen before, SSM Health and others wondered if race might be a factor in the severity of this new coronavirus.
But in following the science, SSM Health and other clinicians around the world later eliminated race as a factor.
Kaiser writes: “As health care providers, we know that high-quality care is not indiscriminately providing care identically regardless of a patient’s personal history or circumstance. Care is best when it is individualized. Patient histories are fundamental to care, as well as an understanding of how different diseases impact different age groups, genders and races, among other personal factors. Research shows us that women are more prone to multiple sclerosis.
Caucasians have a higher likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation and African Americans are at higher risk for sickle cell anemia. If you’re a child with Type 1 diabetes, your medical needs are quite different than an adult who has developed Type 2 diabetes. Our clinicians must use all the information available to determine the best course of treatment for each individual patient.”
“We discovered that social and economic disparities were largely to blame for the virulence with which the disease attacked African-American and other minority communities – yet another example of the systemic barriers to health that have long existed,” Kaiser adds.
At a time when many people look at issues through a political lens, Kaiser affirms that SSM Health sees things differently.
“Our job,” she says in the column, “is to deliver the best care possible to every patient, every time. It’s a sacred responsibility we take very seriously.”
