During Black History Month, I want to reflect on what it means to provide culturally humble and racially concordant care—and why this work is so essential to who we are as a hospital and health care provider.

Culturally humble care recognizes the real history and ongoing impact of inequities experienced by Black/African Americans (B/AA) in healthcare, including at ZSFG—inequities that continue to shape trust and health outcomes today. It calls for a lifelong, self-reflective practice rooted in listening, questioning assumptions, and acknowledging our own limits and biases. In doing so, we build trust, meet patients where they are, and improve the quality and equity of care we provide.

Representation is core to racially concordant care, helping to reduce power imbalances and build trust when patients see their identities reflected in the people who care for them.

A powerful example of this approach is the Honeycomb Clinic located in our Children’s Health Center. Founded in 2023 by Drs. Dannielle McBride and Ursula Griffiths-Randolph, the clinic was created in direct response to families who expressed a desire to receive care from a B/AA physician given their experience of racism within the health system.

After two years, the results speak for themselves:

• Continuity of care for patients with Honeycomb providers averages 70%, compared to 43% for non-Honeycomb Black-identified patients.
• The percentage of patients overdue for a well-child visit has dropped from 61% to 32%, continuing a significant downward trend.
• No-show rates have steadily improved, with the most recent data showing a decrease to 20%, down from 29% when the clinic began.

Honeycomb also partners with the following clinics and programs connected to ZSFG: Folashade Wolfe-Modupe, MD, from the Black Centering Families and Family Health Center; Savanah Washington, CNM, MSN, in the 5M Obstetrics Midwifery Gynecology clinic; and Mia Short, Mental Health Clinician, and Randi Tanksley, Director of Family Navigation, from Solid Start. Through these collaborations, patients receive care that supports their prenatal health, nutrition, and, importantly, the health of their care giver.

We are also committed to building the future of health equity and representation in healthcare. Last summer, through a partnership with the DPH Office of Equity and Black2SanFrancisco.org, a program of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, we welcomed students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to ZSFG for six-week paid internships. These students gained hands-on experience in clinical and care settings throughout the hospital. We are grateful for their contributions and the opportunity to support them on their path toward advancing health equity.

This work requires ongoing learning from all of us. We remain committed to supporting staff through opportunities such as Equitable, Fair, and Respectful Workplace and Implicit Bias Trainings, Relationship Centered Communications workshops, events sponsored by The Black/African American Health Initiative, and many other educational resources available to everyone at ZSFG.

Thank you for the care you provide every day, for your openness to learning, and for the many ways you help create an environment of trust, respect, and belonging for our patients and one another.

Susan