The Quintuple Aim for Health Care Improvement: A New Imperative to Advance Health Equity

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought Long-overdue and much-needed attention to the lack of health equity in the US and around the world. Nearly everywhere, socially marginalized populations, including racial and ethnic mi-noritized groups, older adults, and individuals living in poverty, experienced higher rates of COVID-19 and morbidity and mortality from infection, as well as greater disruptions to their preventive and chronic care. Although the reasons are myriad, the fact remains that these differences, which persisted long before the pandemic, are unacceptable and avoidable. The challenge now is translating this heightened social consciousness into action, particularly in communities, clinics, and health systems.