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2020 Board of Directors

Thanks to a health equity grant delivered through a collaboration between the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL), Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago extended free diabetes education services to uninsured and underinsured patients through its accredited, self-management diabetes education program offered by its Diabetes Community Center (DCC).

In this Advancing Health podcast about Cone Health and how it has pioneered educational sessions for its physicians about social and racial influences in health care, Darren Henson, Director of Operations with the AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, speaks with three members of Cone Health’s leadership team: Laura Vail, Director of Health Equity, Dr. Alvin Powell, Chief Health Equity Officer and Paul Jeffrey, President of Cone Health’s Wesley Long Hospital. Cone Health, winner of the AHA’s 2020 Equity of Care Award, has been recognized for its innovative process and creative steps that hospitals and health systems can incorporate to achieve similar success in advancing health equity.

This session will explore strategies and internal enabling conditions for hospitals and health systems to advance health equity and simultaneously improve their business performance through an explicit focus on racial equity. Ryan De Souza, Associate Director at FSG, will share insights from the FSG report “Health Care and the Competitive Advantage of Racial Equity: How Advancing Racial Equity Can Create Business Value.” Kate Sommerfeld, President of Social Determinants of Health Institute at ProMedica, a Toledo-based non-profit health care system, will bring the insights to life by sharing ProMedica’s story on how it’s approaching this work. The strategies implemented by ProMedica are rooted in community and multisector partner alignment and help promote racial equity.

By focusing on improving health equity, hospitals can provide tremendous value to patients and the overall health care delivery system. Strategies for eliminating health care disparities, along with additional guidelines and best practices, are highlighted in this new resource that’s designed to help health care organizations refresh their commitment to advance health equity in their communities. It’s also a useful guide for initiating new steps toward eliminating health inequities for all individuals.

Right before the COVID-19 outbreak occurred, AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) convened more than 65 leaders, trustees and clinicians from rural hospitals across the country at AHA’s annual Rural Conference. We inquired about strategies for health equity in rural communities, as well as these communities’ most common areas of disparity or need.

In this continued discussion, Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of the AHA’s Physician Alliance and interim executive lead for the AHA’s Institute for Diversity an Health Equity, talks with Juana Slade and Anton Gunn about their efforts to learn more about the patients they are serving through REAL data collection, stratification and utilization.

Inequities in health care are widely noted, yielding poorer quality of care and reduced patient safety, and increased costs. The economic burden of racial health inequalities in the United States is estimated to be $230 billion dollars. Identifying disparities in health care and effectively intervening to mitigate the effect of these gaps is key to attainting a society of healthy communities, where all individuals reach their highest potential for health. Hospital and health systems may utilize a dashboard to provide health care leaders with the necessary information on their journey to advance health equity, diversity and inclusion. A basic level health equity, diversity and inclusion dashboard may include measures to model the American Hospital Association 123forEquity Pledge to include the following: race, ethnicity and language preference data collection, stratification and use, cultural competency training, diversity and inclusion in governance and leadership, and community partnerships.

Diversity, inclusion and cultural competence training are imperative for health care organizations, as the U.S. demographic landscape continues to change. The need to understand these changes and develop sustainable business strategies for success requires leadership to manage the intersection between diversity and health care business strategy. For health care organizations, accomplishing this goal will positively impact patient experience, employee engagement, leadership development, service excellence, as well as safety and quality. Diversity & inclusion, along with community engagement, serve as support pillars for our critical focus on overall health equity. A health care organization with a robust diversity strategy can improve the overall health of their local community by helping to eliminate health disparities and reduce the cost of care.

 

The AHA Institute for Diversity and Health Equity has renamed the award to honor the first African American and first hospital trustee to chair the AHA board, who was a tireless advocate for equity of care.

In a video highlighting Kearny County Hospital’s innovative efforts to attract physicians and improve health equity, Duane Reynolds, president and CEO of AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, and John Supplitt, AHA’s senior director of AHA’s Constituency Sections, join with leaders from the hospital and community to discuss the importance of addressing the unique needs of a rural population.

The Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) can help you plan for a more diverse future and provide tools to meet today’s challenges.

The Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Awards are given annually in recognition of outstanding efforts among hospitals and health care systems to advance equity of care to all patients and to spread lessons learned and progress toward diversity, inclusion and health equity.

WASHINGTON (December 16, 2019) – The American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) today announced a joint collaboration and one-year grant program to support hospitals in eliminating health care disparities and working toward ensuring individuals in every community receive safe, equitable and high-quality care.

Institute for Diversity and Health Equity homepage. It is our vision to empower health organizations to provide equitable care for all persons. Our mission is to advance health care equity, diversity and inclusion.

  National Conferences   2021: Accelerating Health Equity Virtual Conference  2018: Stengthening Our Roots: Expanding Our Focus in Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity - Chicago, IL.  2016: Accelerating Health Equity through Diversity and Inclusion - Philadelphia, PA. 2014: Equity: Moving Beyond Diversity - Chicago, IL.

IFDHE’s biennial DEI Benchmark Survey provides a snapshot of member and non-member hospitals’ attitudes and practices regarding diversity in the workforce; leadership and governance; equity; and inclusive policies and behavior.

Each fall, the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity partners with various hospital and health systems across the country to provide an 18-20 week paid internship opportunity for academically strong, diverse individuals. This opportunity is aimed at students who have completed their health care oriented graduate degree within the last two years. The Fall Enrichment Program (FEP) offers an immersive on-site experience for those who want to become exceptional hospital administrators and health care leaders.

Institute for Diversity and Healthy Equity (IFDHE) Team Members