I have recognized the disparities in GI care in my 20 years of practice. I see several patients and recall a specific case of a 35-year-old African American man who was admitted to the hospital with a Crohn’s colitis flare up. He was diagnosed at 25-years-old. He had perianal Crohn’s disease with multiple complex anorectal fistulas. During his frequent hospitalizations, he was repeatedly referred to as “difficult” and “non-compliant.”

After a visit to my office, we had a long discussion regarding the risk of not taking a biologic and he immediately started the prescribed therapy. In his previous experience, this patient was not offered a biologic and treated with repeated course of steroid therapy. He appreciated the shared decision-making process between clinician and patient for his care. The unfortunate truth is that he felt that health care providers failed to answer his questions and listen to his concerns. He has proven to be compliant with recommended medical therapies since he has been under my care.

The untimely death of actor Chadwick Boseman from colon cancer this year highlighted the need for communities of color to get screened for colon cancer. I have tried to mitigate disparities in my practice by encouraging colon cancer screening in African American communities. I have gone to predominately African American churches to discuss colon cancer screening. I have identified primary care providers with large number of African American patient population and established a professional relationship to get their patients screened appropriately. It’s important that professional organizations shine light on these issues to improve the health of underserved populations.

I encourage you to donate to AGA Giving Day to fund health disparities research. Disparities in GI care will affect the larger population. If we can close these disparities, we can lower health care costs overall and we will identify disease earlier to achieve better outcomes.