An online platform connecting patients of color with doctors has seen record growth during the pandemic.
HUED's goal is to help Black and Latinx patients get what they call “culturally competent care,” which means physicians who understand racial differences.
“There are a lot of psychological barriers that exist in the health care system, which lead to fear, distrust, comfortability and lack of access to quality care for those reasons, and it's because it's systemic,” said Kimberly Wilson, founder and CEO of HUED.
Wilson attributes HUED's spike in growth to the reckoning over racial disparities brought on by the Black Lives Matter movement, paired with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color.
Wilson's own experience of being diagnosed with uterine fibroids launched the idea for the startup. She saw four different white, male doctors near her home. Wilson says all of them either dismissed her pain or told her that she needed a hysterectomy.
It wasn't until Wilson saw a Black provider, miles away, that she felt heard and learned of other options.
“I wanted to develop a solution to that problem and to improve patient care experiences and really equip patients of color to really be their own self advocate, so that they don't go through the journey that I had,” said Wilson.
Patients can sign up to access HUED's database of doctors on their website. Providers interested in being listed go through a vetting process.