The Need to Provide Equitable, Not Just Equal, Care to Black Clients Diagnosed With Schizophrenia

Browne & Mohamed1 evaluated Black-white treatment disparities in older people with schizophrenia enrolled in intensive community-based treatment in Connecticut's Veterans Health Administration (VHA). After finding few racial disparities in service delivery, clinical, and functional outcome trajectories over six months, the authors concluded that “provision of high-intensity services in an equal-access setting may reduce health disparities between Black and white older veterans with serious mental illnesses.” We challenge this statement: from a health equity standpoint, intervention effectiveness should be evaluated by the degree to which baseline health inequities are eliminated post-treatment.