Advancing health equity is an increasingly important priority across the health industry, but conducting sound data analyses to identify disparities is still difficult. As health equity researchers at Advisory Board, we know this firsthand.

I sat down with three data experts who have conducted dozens of health equity data analyses to identify and quantify disparities: Alex Tallian and Leena Aurora, two quantitative researchers at Advisory Board, and Natalie Sheils, a director of health care economics and product analytics at Optum. Alex, Leena, and Natalie shared their learning from years of health equity data analysis and how they’ve made trade-offs to move forward despite limitations.

We identified three challenges health equity and data and analytics leaders are likely to encounter when attempting to identify inequities in their organizations. For each challenge, we provide guidance based on our experts’ experience and tips on how to navigate the challenge.