A recent University of Michigan research study demonstrated that Michigan Medicine providers disproportionately tested newborns of Black mothers for exposure to drugs during pregnancy compared to other races. As part of its mission to foster equitable treatment for all patients, the Perinatal Joint Practice Committee approved and implemented a policy to guide meconium test-ordering for drug exposure during pregnancy. Maria Skoczylas, MD, and her team aim to further investigate and reduce the disparities in testing.

Have you ever considered that the race and ethnicity data used in research might be inaccurate? Drawing on data from Mott and two other children's hospitals, Gary Freed, MD, MPH, and Niko Kaciroti, PhD, discuss discrepancies between parent self-report and EMR racial and ethnic designations. They also explore how different ways of categorizing race in EMR can exacerbate inaccuracies, what these inaccuracies mean for how we look at inequities in child health, and what we can do better moving forward.

Jennifer Erb-Downward, MPH, presented on her project examining whether children whose caregivers report a concern about housing or food insecurity receive appropriate referrals to services within the primary care setting. And Melinda Rushing, PhD, presented on her project focusing on whether there are any associations between pain-treatment inequities in the Mott emergency department and uncontrolled pain episodes during subsequent admissions.

Jeremy Adler, MD, MSC, presented on his project examining potential inequities in diagnostic delay for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.