Nashville-based HCA Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson recently announced a new partnership focused on improving the healthcare industry and resolving health inequities.
In a statement released Tuesday, the companies promised to collaborate on programs to support healthcare workers and marginalized communities in the medical world. Detailing their three upcoming programs, HCA Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson plan to create initiatives dedicated to working on health equity issues amongst nurses by providing better programs, such as educational programming and training, and sharing nursing resources.
The HCA Healthcare Research Institute, along with Johnson & Johnson, will also work together to create health programs focused on cardiovascular issues with a special focus on finding out what causes heart arrhythmia. The effect of digital health technology on patients with coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease will also be studied.
“HCA Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson have had a long and productive relationship, and both companies have worked very hard to address many of our country’s healthcare challenges,” said the chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare, Sam Hazen, in a statement. “We believe strongly in the power of strategic partnerships, and we are excited to collaborate to advance health equity, enhance patient care and provide even greater support to our nurses.”
Along with supporting nurses and those with cardiovascular health issues, the partnership will focus on increasing programs to detect lung cancer amongst the Black community during earlier stages.
As of now, Black Americans record the highest rates of lung cancer out of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, according to a report by the Lung Cancer Research Foundation, Black Americans, specifically Black men, are 11% more likely to develop this specific type of cancer. Once they are diagnosed with lung cancer, Black men are also proven to have to deal with higher chances of fatality. In the same report, the organization reports that they’re almost ten percent more likely to pass away as a result of lung cancer.
These rates are furthered by the fact that Black Americans are diagnosed in the later stages. According to a “Stage of Lung Cancer” report by the American Lung Association, Black Americans are 18% less likely to receive a diagnosis in the early stages.
Once they do get a diagnosis, they’re 23% less likely to receive treatment in the form of surgery and nine percent less likely to receive any form of treatment. As a result of these disparities, Black Americans are 21% less likely than white Americans to live up to five years after first developing cancer.
“No one company can solve society’s most pressing health challenges alone — it takes collaboration,” said the chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson, Joaquin Duato, in the statement. “That’s why we’re working with HCA Healthcare to improve patient access and outcomes, address the nursing crisis, and advance health equity. We are united in our focus to improve patient care.”
