Health care clients have historically used the Triple Aim, goals developed in 2007 by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to help guide health care systems on areas of focus to ensure accessibility, reliability, and quality health care. It included a focus on the Patient Experience, Population Health (access to care) and the Cost of Health Care. When a fourth goal was added, the Quadruple Aim included a focus on Well-being for Clinicians and other Team Members. In 2021, IHI added a fifth aim, which addresses Health Equity.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine - NAM) published a report entitled, "To Err is Human," calling attention to unsafe conditions in health care. This prompted radical change to improve the quality of care delivery, transforming health facility design.

In December 2020, NAM published a "Call for Action to Implement Crisis Standards of Care During COVID-19 Surge,” recommending specific strategies to address health inequities. Just as health care designers responded to NAM's 1999 call to action by re-imagining health care design, today's health care design teams must once again innovate to address racial health disparities.

This session uses IHI’s Quintuple Aim as a catalyst for a deep dive into design for health equity. An interprofessional panel will facilitate interactive design activities that introduce action steps designers may take to identify opportunities and to take a proactive approach to improving health equity.