May 30, 2023 • 31 mins
Consumers want equitable healthcare, and in this episode, we explore the visionary leaders and grassroots start-ups leading the change:
- Hear from Karen Ashley of Providence about their strategic plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Learn about healthcare startups advocating for better outcomes for all
- Gain insights from consumers on what makes them feel heard in their healthcare experiences
For more on DE&I in healthcare, download MDRG’s four-part series, The Business Case for Empathy.
This show is produced by Shift Forward Health, the channel for change makers. Subscribe to Shift Forward Health on your favorite podcast app, and you’ll be subscribed to our entire library of shows. See our full lineup at ShiftForwardHealth.com. One subscription, all the podcasts you need, all for free.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura (00:05):
Welcome to what Consumers Want, the podcast that brings the
voice of the consumer to the health care conversation. Are
you interested in getting outside the health care echo chamber?
Using research and insights, we explore key health care opportunities
through the eyes of the end consumer. We examine trends
outside of health care that are driving consumer expectations, as
well as what consumers expect from brands now and in
(00:26):
the future. This podcast is brought to you by DRG,
a market research firm that unlocks the whole mind for
deeper insights. I'm your host, Laura McCabe. Let's find out
what consumers want. In this episode we are going to
explore diversity, equity and inclusion in health care. We have
a great conversation on deck for you with DRG president
and founder Sandra Brown and our guests, Karen Ashley, Vice
(00:50):
President and Chief Diversity and Equity and Inclusion officer at Providence.
A national health care system. You will hear Karen and
Sandra dig into how health care systems can bridge gaps
in diversity, equity and inclusion and how Providence is doing
so right now. Later, you'll hear from me, Lauren McCabe,
consumer strategist at MG, about the change makers and disruptors
(01:11):
who are advancing equity in the delivery of health care.
And finally, we will, of course, hear from our consumers
this month. We ask consumers, how can health care providers
ensure that you are acknowledged and listened to? Let's hear
what people had to say.
Consumer #1 (01:25):
I believe that health care providers can ensure that I
feel acknowledged and listened to if they respond to emails
and text messages, if they can do a text message,
which would be wonderful within a 24 hour period.
Consumer #2 (01:38):
I know doctors and health care providers are terribly busy
and rushed and have so many requirements, but just to
slow down a minute would make me feel like they
knew what I needed.
Consumer #3 (01:49):
I feel like they should be listened to you and
be more empathetic with your feelings.
Consumer #2 (01:54):
I'd like to be given more than one choice of treatment.
Consumer #4 (01:58):
Think one of the biggest ways health care workers can
ensure that their patients are being listened to and acknowledged
is by specifically saying, you know, please let me know,
Am I hearing you correctly and summarizing and repeating back
what they said and giving the patients an opportunity to
correct them or fill in any gaps?
Laura (02:16):
As you heard, there are so many different ways that
consumers want to be acknowledged when seeking care. In our
next interview with Karen Ashley from Providence, she shows exactly
how acknowledgment and listening is instrumental in building an inclusive
health care system. Okay, so.
I'm here with Karen Ashley, who is the Chief Diversity
Equity and Inclusion Officer at Providence Health. So welcome, Karen.
(02:40):
Really appreciate you being on.
Karen (02:42):
Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure
to be here with you today.
Laura (02:47):
Tell us a little bit about your role at Providence.
Karen (02:50):
Sure. So my role in Providence involves leading our diversity,
equity and inclusion initiatives. We are in the process here
at Providence of developing our first ever comprehensive, consolidated Strategic Plan.
(03:11):
I am super excited about the work that we're doing
to build this strategic plan. It's a 2023 to 2025
strategic plan. That is what I have the honor and
privilege of of doing here at Providence. So it's great,
great to be here and super excited about the team
and about all of my key partners and collaborators. Senior
(03:33):
leadership support. Can you tell I'm excited. Can you tell them? Excited.
Laura (03:38):
And I'm excited that Providence is really leaning into this
and really developing a very deliberate strategy to go forward.
I'm singing to the choir here and that the last
three years or so since the beginning of the pandemic
has been such a significant focus for many organizations. And
(04:00):
particularly I'd like to just get your thoughts on why
do you think health care has been so clueless in
this arena and how has it missed the mark?
Karen (04:10):
We can extend a little grace to companies and corporations,
organizations across all industries in our country. So so let's
back up to even you know, there was Covid, the
pandemic that hit. And then there was, as some of
(04:30):
my friends and colleagues describe it, the daylight death of
George Floyd. And and I'll tell you, in all honesty,
I think both of those back to back, if I
could just call them just just horrific events really kind
of served as a wake up call not to just
health care, but to a lot of companies and industries,
(04:54):
like I said, across the country and then quite honestly,
honestly believe a wake up call even. To our country,
even around the globe, as we begin to see just
a lot of focus, a lot of focus. And so
many companies like said and leaders across the globe realized
(05:16):
we are not as far along in this journey as
we thought we were. Yeah, I.
Laura (05:22):
Could not agree with you more about the importance of
those two very tragic but pivotal events that really served
as a wake up call. And I love your comments
that we need to extend ourselves some grace. So I'm
going to hold to that going forward. Let's keep talking
(05:43):
a little bit about this idea. And I'm curious, what
do you think the consumer expectations within health care organizations,
what are those expectations that we are struggling to meet
when it comes to our efforts?
Karen (06:00):
Yeah. Well, you know, I will tell you, as a
black African American woman, right, my family, as I was
growing up, this just kind of there's this inherent, you know,
historical mistrust of the health care system. So many biases,
the microaggressions, the assumptions that we are the recipients of
(06:25):
when it comes to our health care have just just
caused this generation of mistrust. And the health care system
in doctors, in health care providers across the board. And
so I think that where hospitals and health care systems,
what they're beginning to realize is that this is real.
(06:46):
This is real from the consumer, from the patient perspective. Right.
And I believe it's such as we are at at Providence,
are beginning to realize that it's a gap that we
have to close, that we have to have not just providers,
but we have to have a holistic experience for our
patients and consumers. You know, as we talk about empathy,
(07:10):
as we talk about empathy, it begins from the moment
a patient or a consumer calls to schedule an appointment.
It begins from the moment a patient or a consumer
shows up in the emergency department or in a clinic.
And so, you know, believe that we're beginning to to
realize and to understand that we have to have a
(07:31):
workforce beyond just doctors and nurses. We need to have
a workforce, a frontline workforce. Right. That is empathetic and
that understands cultural competency, that understands, you know, we can't
treat all patients the same way because they're issues, because
their concerns, because their historical backgrounds, their experiences are different.
(07:57):
And so believe that that is a journey that health
care systems are on right now. And again, I'm going
to say going to say it's just super exciting to
be a part of the journey to help Providence and
this industry begin to pivot and to turn a corner
and begin to start closing some of these gaps.
Laura (08:16):
You talked a bit about this first ever strategic plan
that is going to take you from 2023 to 2025.
Tell us a bit about that strategy and how you
at Providence are aligning that around your efforts.
Karen (08:34):
Sure, sure, sure. So first, let me start by saying
we spent a lot of time at gathering information, conducting
a listening tour last year. So I spent 5 to
6 months on the road last year visiting with our
caregivers across the entire footprint of Providence. I spoke with
(08:59):
close to 600 of our employees listening to their stories
and their experiences with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion
and providence. And we also from our Caregiver Engagement survey,
we have an inclusion index where we trended that data
(09:21):
for about three years. Just to gather some insight as
to how are we doing from an inclusion perspective. And
then of course, we study the trend of our workforce
demographics and we use all of that information to inform
our 2023 to 2025 the strategic plan. You know, it's
(09:44):
important to us that the voices of our workforce, our
caregivers are represented in this strategic plan. So we we
did a lot of due diligence, due diligence up front
to build. This strategic plan. We have an intent statement,
which is somewhat of our vision statement that serves as
(10:06):
our North Star. And the intent statement reads as this
You belong at Providence. We're advancing world class health with
human connection through our shared commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
And so while this strategic plan is still somewhat in
draft form or socializing it, we're close to to finalizing it.
(10:29):
But it's important that we have that North Star, that
intent statement, that vision. You know, we want to make
sure that everyone, no matter who you are, that you
have a sense of belonging, that you belong at Providence.
The strategic plan has three pillars, the first one being
promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The second pillar is caring
(10:54):
for each other in our communities. And then the third
pillar is on being correct. Champions of Change. So we're
approaching this strategy, this strategic work from an internal perspective
and then also from an outward external perspective as well.
We want to make sure that there are strategies in
(11:16):
place not only to help our workforce and our caregivers
full a sense of belonging and a sense of inclusion,
and that they have access and pathways to growth and
development opportunities. We also want to make sure that our
patients and the communities that we serve know and understand
(11:38):
that this is work that is important to us and
that is a priority for us. So, you know, there
are tactics within the strategic plan that even speak to
ensuring that we have leadership that is representative from our
front line all the way up to our boards. So
our regional boards, our community boards. So it's a it's
(12:01):
a very comprehensive strategic plan could go on and on
talking about it, because again, I'm so excited about where
we are and how we've drafted this plan and how
many of our caregivers have had an opportunity to to
weigh in on it. So let me stop right there,
because I could talk probably for the rest of the
rest of our time together about our strategic plan.
Laura (12:24):
I love that you had such an extensive listening tour.
I'd love to hear more about the inclusion index that's
piqued my interest.
Karen (12:35):
Sure. Sure. So we conduct an annual employee survey. We
call it Caregiver Engagement Caregiver Experience survey. And as a
part of that survey, we have several questions that make
up inclusion index. In those questions are designed to measure
(12:58):
how included are caregivers feel here at Providence. And so
we carve those nine questions out of the survey and
we slice and dice the data for those nine questions
by race, by ethnicity, by gender, by geographic footprint, by
(13:21):
job level, by job category. We do all of that
work together. Insights to gather insights as to how our employees,
what their state of inclusion, how they feel about, you know,
whether or not they feel included. Is their voice, are
their voices heard? Are their opinions taking into consideration? Those
(13:44):
are some of the things that we try to pinpoint
with respect to this inclusion index. And so that actually
is one of the metrics that we've identified, the inclusion
index that will help us track and measure. The second
pillar of the strategic plan that I shared with you
just a little bit earlier. So we're very serious about,
(14:06):
you know, fostering and creating a culture of inclusion and
then coming up with, you know, with a mechanism E
this inclusion index to measure and track whether or not
we're making progress on creating a culture of inclusion for
our caregivers.
Laura (14:22):
Excellent. So I want to pivot a bit to some
work that we're doing here at G, and it kind
of picks up on your earlier comment about the importance
of empathy. So what we're doing is developing a four
part series, and one of those series is to really
think about how empathy can help bridge some of these gaps.
(14:48):
And one of the definitions that I like for empathy,
there's so many out there, is that empathy is seeing
with the eyes of another listening with the ears of another.
And feeling with the heart of another. So I'm curious
what your thoughts are with respect to this notion of
(15:09):
empathy and its role in this broader conversation that we're having,
but also that we're having as an industry and we're
having a country.
Karen (15:19):
It's a great question. So, you know, if I can
if I can go back to the listening tour sessions
that I conducted, right? And so in each location, I
had two 90 minute sessions, one with core leaders and
then a second session with individual contributors. And so as
(15:40):
we're on this topic of empathy, it was interesting to
sit in my space in my role, which was just
to facilitate the conversations and to listen. And so in
so many of our sessions, the conversation started out very
high level. Everything is fine. We don't have any issues.
(16:02):
Everything is great. And then it would just take if
I tell you, Sandra, one person, one person who will
be courageous enough to to say, well, hold on just
a minute. Let me share with you what my experience
has been. And once that person would finish telling their
(16:24):
story and their experience, you could almost hear a pin
drop in the room and people begin to understand that, oh,
my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Mean. And literally, I had
people who were who sat in the circle and would say,
I've worked with you for 20 years, and I never
(16:45):
knew that. I never knew that. And it created it
would create just such a dialogue where you'd see the humility,
you know, begin to rise up and people would begin
to understand, oh, my goodness, there's a lot that I
don't know. There's a lot that thought I knew. But oh,
(17:07):
my goodness. Here's my co-worker who is also a friend
who has had some experiences that have just absolutely have
not been privy to. And so when we talk about
empathy and people beginning to understand, oh, my goodness, I
need to begin to broaden my horizon, I need to
(17:28):
begin to open my thinking, to open my heart right.
And to be a little bit more vulnerable and to
allow myself to exercise empathy and to hear other people's
stories and to begin to, as best I can, try
to understand their situations and their experiences and do what
(17:51):
I can from my seat or from my place to
disrupt some of what they're experiencing, some of the barriers
that are getting in their way. So, you know, this
whole notion of empathy, it has to be organic. It
has to be authentic. And quite honestly, I believe a
lot of it comes from having conversations and people giving
(18:15):
themselves to be vulnerable and to say there's just so
much that I don't know. And, you know, a lot
of times and it works both ways. A lot of times,
if I can be honest here, I think a lot
of times our white caregivers, Caucasian friends, caregivers and colleagues,
they feel that the ownership is on them but think
(18:37):
it's ownership on everyone's part to exercise vulnerability and to
be open and to be willing to learn and to
exercise empathy.
Laura (18:47):
I'd love your thoughts as we begin to wrap up
on how the industry really needs to evolve in order
to ensure that we are putting empathy into practice and
those who are again, from a different sexual orientation, race,
ethnic identity are feeling as though we are listening and
(19:10):
providing culturally sensitive care. What does that evolution look like?
Karen (19:15):
Sure. So I would say the evolution looks like the industry,
health care industry, you know, as we sit in communities
and serve communities, that we also have to be citizens
of the communities where we serve, that we have to
be engaged and involved with the communities that communities need
(19:38):
to know us as well. And again, you know, I'm
going to say kudos. I'm so proud of the work
that Providence is doing. We launched not too long ago
a stand up to cancer initiative where we collaborated with
black churches, and this was in our South division. So
(19:59):
in California, in the LA area, we partnered with black
churches to raise awareness about the importance of colon cancer. Right.
Colon cancer screening. You know, as we know, Chadwick had
the unfortunate, timely death and was such a such a huge, huge,
(20:20):
huge pillar in the community and a spokesperson for colon cancer.
You know, the work that Providence came alongside with 30
black pastors from across Los Angeles to talk about the
importance of colon cancer and getting screened and how important
it is for the health of the community overall. That's
(20:44):
an example of how the industry can begin to be
a part of the communities and to close some of
these health equity gaps and to build trust right in
the communities that that's taking the work directly to the
communities and addressing addressing health care problems that are prevalent
(21:04):
in certain communities. That's the type of work that the
health care industry can continue to do. You know and
know health care systems across the country are beginning to do,
you know, this type of work that's important. We, you know,
have community health workers here at Providence that are out,
you know, in the communities meeting with with the citizens
(21:27):
and the members of the communities, you know, helping them
with transportation needs, you know, having conversations with them about
why it's so important for them to keep their medical appointments,
talking with them about diet and just health care, mental
health and that sort of thing. You know, taking the
work directly to the communities and building that trust, building
(21:51):
that bridge to help people feel comfortable. It's okay. It's okay.
Your health is what matters. Your health is what matters.
So if if you're not comfortable coming to us, we'll
come to you.
Laura (22:04):
My last question before we wrap up is what are
your hopes for where healthcare will be in the future?
What would you imagine in the next five years, in
the next 15 years, the ideal state to look like?
Karen (22:20):
Oh wow, that is a great question. I will start
with this from a perspective the day where companies get
to the point where they can say diversity, equity and inclusion.
Just second nature for us. Second nature we do diversity,
equity and inclusion without even thinking about it. We don't
(22:43):
have to talk about it. It just happens. I will
say the same for health care. My hope, my prayer
and I know we will get there, is that we
get to a point where patients, consumers from all different
walks of life trust their doctors. They trust their nurses.
(23:08):
They trust that when they walk into a hospital that
they're going to be treated fairly and equitably in an
empathetic manner. As we're talking about empathy with care and
with love and with kindness. My prayer and my hope
is that we get to a point where if you're black,
(23:28):
if you're Latina, if you're Asian, if you're a part
of the LGBTQ plus community, if you're a veteran, if
you're disabled, regardless, regardless of your background, that you feel
comfortable seeing a doctor or a nurse or practitioner who
(23:51):
looks different from you, who may have a different background
from you, or where that becomes a non-issue. That when
I walk into a doctor's office, as I'm sitting in
the room, as I'm waiting, you know, to have a
surgical procedure, that it doesn't matter if my surgeon is
Asian and I'm black, I trust that that surgeon is
(24:16):
going to take care of me to the best of
his or her ability and maybe even go beyond that
if I'm white. My hope and my prayers that I
get to a point where it doesn't matter that a
black doctor, a black nurse, is going to take just
as good a care of me as a white nurse
or a doctor will. So in essence, what I'm saying
(24:38):
is my prayer and my hope is that we get
to a point in healthcare where it becomes a non-issue,
it becomes a non-issue, and that there's trust all around,
that there's trust.
Laura (24:52):
Great parting thought. And you know, this idea that Dei is.
So ingrained into the DNA of the system that it's
not something that we even have to be developing plans
around anymore. Karen, is there anything else that you'd love
to share with the people that will be listening to
(25:16):
this podcast? I know there's so much more we could
have talked about.
Karen (25:20):
Yes. Yes, indeed. So, you know, I will say to
the people who are listening to this podcast, Lean in
to this work, as we talked about, the third pillar
of our strategy, being courageous champions of change. Let's just
deputize something. How about we do this? Let's deputize everyone
who's listening to the podcast as a champion of change
(25:44):
and would encourage everyone, no matter what your job is,
no matter what your role is, do what you can
to positively affect change in this health care industry. You know,
as you go to your providers, your doctors and your physicians,
ask them questions, ask them questions about whether or not
(26:08):
they've gone to training, ask them questions about if they've
gone to implicit bias training or what their journey is.
You know, and encourage encourage them in that way. So
I just encourage everyone lean into this work. Don't don't
be afraid of it. Be courageous. Champions of change. You know,
just commit to wanting to leave our health care system
(26:32):
in a better place that than we found it.
Laura (26:34):
Hey, you all heard it. You are now deputized as
courageous champions. I accept the challenge and hope that everyone
else will as well. Thank you, Karen. This has been
such a great conversation. I really appreciated your time and
I look forward to sharing our conversation out more broadly.
Just a reminder to those who are listening about our
(26:57):
empathy series, the link to that is in the show notes.
If you are interested in getting a sense of what
we are doing here at DRG. Thank you.
A big thank you to Karen for sharing her insights.
Next up, we are going to explore the consumer trends
that are disrupting health care. Our focus this month, Equity.
(27:17):
Welcome to Outside the Echo Chamber, where we talk about
trends impacting health care. Today we are talking about the
change makers and disruptors who are advancing equity in health care.
Let's talk about the maternal health crisis. The maternal mortality
rate in the US is three times higher than other
high income countries. Birth is even riskier for black American women.
(27:38):
When 55 women die per 100,000 births versus 19 deaths
per 100,000 births for white women. And side note in
the Netherlands, which is the safest place in the world
to give birth, only 1.2 women die per 100,000 births.
So what is being done to address this? She Matters
is a digital health platform that supports black mothers with
(28:00):
culturally competent care, has published their, quote, pink book and quote,
This interactive map combines data on maternal outcomes from the
CDC and US news showing where the safest healthcare systems
are for black women to give birth. Currently, they spotlight
hospital systems in the 14 US states with the largest
(28:20):
African American populations, but they plan to expand coverage soon.
The key takeaway here for health care systems, you must
proactively share data and show what you are doing to
bridge disparities and care gaps. If you don't, others will
do it for you. Along the lines of maternal care,
Walmart is paying for doula services in four US states
(28:42):
with the highest maternal mortality rates. That's Louisiana, Georgia, Illinois
and Indiana. As shared by Walmart. Quote, We have chosen
to expand the doula benefit to these states in particular
because we see potential to have an instant impact for
associates who live there, end quote. Walmart joins other major
companies like CVS and Microsoft that offer coverage for doula care.
(29:05):
Shifting to broader efforts. There also has been an increase
in health care startups that are addressing the need for
culturally competent care. So Vitahealth launched in October of 2022,
delivers care to elderly, elderly, Hispanic patients. Patients can choose
to get care at home virtually, or in a clinic
and care in a clinic. It features larger than average
(29:28):
exam rooms so patients can bring their extended family as
well as bilingual providers, to take away for health care.
Assisting culturally competent care looks at the social determinants of
health and addresses all of them, including how patients want
to receive care and what will make them the most
comfortable city block. Another disruptor in the space provides medical
(29:49):
care and additional support to help increase favorable outcomes. City
Block says, quote, Count on us for the things in
your life that affect your well-being. Such as child care support,
setting up checkups and appointments, even getting groceries and finding
a place to live. End quote. Wrapping up here, it's
more important than ever that traditional health care is proactively
(30:10):
reporting gaps in a care and addressing them in a
360 degree way, taking into account the patient's life outside
the clinic, looking to and collaborating with the disruptors will
go a long way and starting the journey to a
more equitable health care system. We'd like to give a
big thank you to our guest, Karen, and of course,
the consumers who share their thoughts with us today. If
(30:33):
you are looking for more information on this topic, you
can subscribe to our four part Empathy Whitepaper series. We
will be releasing the fourth and final whitepaper this month
and have covered empathy in the workplace as well as
how empathy can drive more equitable health care. You can
go to our show notes for a link to that content.
End Speaker (30:52):
All right, you guys, thanks so much for tuning in.
If you like what you heard, please share rate and
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more content about simplifying health care, visit Inc.com. That's Inc.com.
This show is produced by Shift Forward Health, The Channel
for Change Makers. Subscribe to Shift Forward Help on your
(31:13):
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all for free. We'll see you next time on what
Consumers want.
Welcome to what Consumers Want, the podcast that brings the
voice of the consumer to the health care conversation. Are
you interested in getting outside the health care echo chamber?
Using research and insights, we explore key health care opportunities
through the eyes of the end consumer. We examine trends
outside of health care that are driving consumer expectations, as
well as what consumers expect from brands now and in
(00:26):
the future. This podcast is brought to you by DRG,
a market research firm that unlocks the whole mind for
deeper insights. I'm your host, Laura McCabe. Let's find out
what consumers want. In this episode we are going to
explore diversity, equity and inclusion in health care. We have
a great conversation on deck for you with DRG president
and founder Sandra Brown and our guests, Karen Ashley, Vice
(00:50):
President and Chief Diversity and Equity and Inclusion officer at Providence.
A national health care system. You will hear Karen and
Sandra dig into how health care systems can bridge gaps
in diversity, equity and inclusion and how Providence is doing
so right now. Later, you'll hear from me, Lauren McCabe,
consumer strategist at MG, about the change makers and disruptors
(01:11):
who are advancing equity in the delivery of health care.
And finally, we will, of course, hear from our consumers
this month. We ask consumers, how can health care providers
ensure that you are acknowledged and listened to? Let's hear
what people had to say.
Consumer #1 (01:25):
I believe that health care providers can ensure that I
feel acknowledged and listened to if they respond to emails
and text messages, if they can do a text message,
which would be wonderful within a 24 hour period.
Consumer #2 (01:38):
I know doctors and health care providers are terribly busy
and rushed and have so many requirements, but just to
slow down a minute would make me feel like they
knew what I needed.
Consumer #3 (01:49):
I feel like they should be listened to you and
be more empathetic with your feelings.
Consumer #2 (01:54):
I'd like to be given more than one choice of treatment.
Consumer #4 (01:58):
Think one of the biggest ways health care workers can
ensure that their patients are being listened to and acknowledged
is by specifically saying, you know, please let me know,
Am I hearing you correctly and summarizing and repeating back
what they said and giving the patients an opportunity to
correct them or fill in any gaps?
Laura (02:16):
As you heard, there are so many different ways that
consumers want to be acknowledged when seeking care. In our
next interview with Karen Ashley from Providence, she shows exactly
how acknowledgment and listening is instrumental in building an inclusive
health care system. Okay, so.
I'm here with Karen Ashley, who is the Chief Diversity
Equity and Inclusion Officer at Providence Health. So welcome, Karen.
(02:40):
Really appreciate you being on.
Karen (02:42):
Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure
to be here with you today.
Laura (02:47):
Tell us a little bit about your role at Providence.
Karen (02:50):
Sure. So my role in Providence involves leading our diversity,
equity and inclusion initiatives. We are in the process here
at Providence of developing our first ever comprehensive, consolidated Strategic Plan.
(03:11):
I am super excited about the work that we're doing
to build this strategic plan. It's a 2023 to 2025
strategic plan. That is what I have the honor and
privilege of of doing here at Providence. So it's great,
great to be here and super excited about the team
and about all of my key partners and collaborators. Senior
(03:33):
leadership support. Can you tell I'm excited. Can you tell them? Excited.
Laura (03:38):
And I'm excited that Providence is really leaning into this
and really developing a very deliberate strategy to go forward.
I'm singing to the choir here and that the last
three years or so since the beginning of the pandemic
has been such a significant focus for many organizations. And
(04:00):
particularly I'd like to just get your thoughts on why
do you think health care has been so clueless in
this arena and how has it missed the mark?
Karen (04:10):
We can extend a little grace to companies and corporations,
organizations across all industries in our country. So so let's
back up to even you know, there was Covid, the
pandemic that hit. And then there was, as some of
(04:30):
my friends and colleagues describe it, the daylight death of
George Floyd. And and I'll tell you, in all honesty,
I think both of those back to back, if I
could just call them just just horrific events really kind
of served as a wake up call not to just
health care, but to a lot of companies and industries,
(04:54):
like I said, across the country and then quite honestly,
honestly believe a wake up call even. To our country,
even around the globe, as we begin to see just
a lot of focus, a lot of focus. And so
many companies like said and leaders across the globe realized
(05:16):
we are not as far along in this journey as
we thought we were. Yeah, I.
Laura (05:22):
Could not agree with you more about the importance of
those two very tragic but pivotal events that really served
as a wake up call. And I love your comments
that we need to extend ourselves some grace. So I'm
going to hold to that going forward. Let's keep talking
(05:43):
a little bit about this idea. And I'm curious, what
do you think the consumer expectations within health care organizations,
what are those expectations that we are struggling to meet
when it comes to our efforts?
Karen (06:00):
Yeah. Well, you know, I will tell you, as a
black African American woman, right, my family, as I was
growing up, this just kind of there's this inherent, you know,
historical mistrust of the health care system. So many biases,
the microaggressions, the assumptions that we are the recipients of
(06:25):
when it comes to our health care have just just
caused this generation of mistrust. And the health care system
in doctors, in health care providers across the board. And
so I think that where hospitals and health care systems,
what they're beginning to realize is that this is real.
(06:46):
This is real from the consumer, from the patient perspective. Right.
And I believe it's such as we are at at Providence,
are beginning to realize that it's a gap that we
have to close, that we have to have not just providers,
but we have to have a holistic experience for our
patients and consumers. You know, as we talk about empathy,
(07:10):
as we talk about empathy, it begins from the moment
a patient or a consumer calls to schedule an appointment.
It begins from the moment a patient or a consumer
shows up in the emergency department or in a clinic.
And so, you know, believe that we're beginning to to
realize and to understand that we have to have a
(07:31):
workforce beyond just doctors and nurses. We need to have
a workforce, a frontline workforce. Right. That is empathetic and
that understands cultural competency, that understands, you know, we can't
treat all patients the same way because they're issues, because
their concerns, because their historical backgrounds, their experiences are different.
(07:57):
And so believe that that is a journey that health
care systems are on right now. And again, I'm going
to say going to say it's just super exciting to
be a part of the journey to help Providence and
this industry begin to pivot and to turn a corner
and begin to start closing some of these gaps.
Laura (08:16):
You talked a bit about this first ever strategic plan
that is going to take you from 2023 to 2025.
Tell us a bit about that strategy and how you
at Providence are aligning that around your efforts.
Karen (08:34):
Sure, sure, sure. So first, let me start by saying
we spent a lot of time at gathering information, conducting
a listening tour last year. So I spent 5 to
6 months on the road last year visiting with our
caregivers across the entire footprint of Providence. I spoke with
(08:59):
close to 600 of our employees listening to their stories
and their experiences with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion
and providence. And we also from our Caregiver Engagement survey,
we have an inclusion index where we trended that data
(09:21):
for about three years. Just to gather some insight as
to how are we doing from an inclusion perspective. And
then of course, we study the trend of our workforce
demographics and we use all of that information to inform
our 2023 to 2025 the strategic plan. You know, it's
(09:44):
important to us that the voices of our workforce, our
caregivers are represented in this strategic plan. So we we
did a lot of due diligence, due diligence up front
to build. This strategic plan. We have an intent statement,
which is somewhat of our vision statement that serves as
(10:06):
our North Star. And the intent statement reads as this
You belong at Providence. We're advancing world class health with
human connection through our shared commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
And so while this strategic plan is still somewhat in
draft form or socializing it, we're close to to finalizing it.
(10:29):
But it's important that we have that North Star, that
intent statement, that vision. You know, we want to make
sure that everyone, no matter who you are, that you
have a sense of belonging, that you belong at Providence.
The strategic plan has three pillars, the first one being
promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The second pillar is caring
(10:54):
for each other in our communities. And then the third
pillar is on being correct. Champions of Change. So we're
approaching this strategy, this strategic work from an internal perspective
and then also from an outward external perspective as well.
We want to make sure that there are strategies in
(11:16):
place not only to help our workforce and our caregivers
full a sense of belonging and a sense of inclusion,
and that they have access and pathways to growth and
development opportunities. We also want to make sure that our
patients and the communities that we serve know and understand
(11:38):
that this is work that is important to us and
that is a priority for us. So, you know, there
are tactics within the strategic plan that even speak to
ensuring that we have leadership that is representative from our
front line all the way up to our boards. So
our regional boards, our community boards. So it's a it's
(12:01):
a very comprehensive strategic plan could go on and on
talking about it, because again, I'm so excited about where
we are and how we've drafted this plan and how
many of our caregivers have had an opportunity to to
weigh in on it. So let me stop right there,
because I could talk probably for the rest of the
rest of our time together about our strategic plan.
Laura (12:24):
I love that you had such an extensive listening tour.
I'd love to hear more about the inclusion index that's
piqued my interest.
Karen (12:35):
Sure. Sure. So we conduct an annual employee survey. We
call it Caregiver Engagement Caregiver Experience survey. And as a
part of that survey, we have several questions that make
up inclusion index. In those questions are designed to measure
(12:58):
how included are caregivers feel here at Providence. And so
we carve those nine questions out of the survey and
we slice and dice the data for those nine questions
by race, by ethnicity, by gender, by geographic footprint, by
(13:21):
job level, by job category. We do all of that
work together. Insights to gather insights as to how our employees,
what their state of inclusion, how they feel about, you know,
whether or not they feel included. Is their voice, are
their voices heard? Are their opinions taking into consideration? Those
(13:44):
are some of the things that we try to pinpoint
with respect to this inclusion index. And so that actually
is one of the metrics that we've identified, the inclusion
index that will help us track and measure. The second
pillar of the strategic plan that I shared with you
just a little bit earlier. So we're very serious about,
(14:06):
you know, fostering and creating a culture of inclusion and
then coming up with, you know, with a mechanism E
this inclusion index to measure and track whether or not
we're making progress on creating a culture of inclusion for
our caregivers.
Laura (14:22):
Excellent. So I want to pivot a bit to some
work that we're doing here at G, and it kind
of picks up on your earlier comment about the importance
of empathy. So what we're doing is developing a four
part series, and one of those series is to really
think about how empathy can help bridge some of these gaps.
(14:48):
And one of the definitions that I like for empathy,
there's so many out there, is that empathy is seeing
with the eyes of another listening with the ears of another.
And feeling with the heart of another. So I'm curious
what your thoughts are with respect to this notion of
(15:09):
empathy and its role in this broader conversation that we're having,
but also that we're having as an industry and we're
having a country.
Karen (15:19):
It's a great question. So, you know, if I can
if I can go back to the listening tour sessions
that I conducted, right? And so in each location, I
had two 90 minute sessions, one with core leaders and
then a second session with individual contributors. And so as
(15:40):
we're on this topic of empathy, it was interesting to
sit in my space in my role, which was just
to facilitate the conversations and to listen. And so in
so many of our sessions, the conversation started out very
high level. Everything is fine. We don't have any issues.
(16:02):
Everything is great. And then it would just take if
I tell you, Sandra, one person, one person who will
be courageous enough to to say, well, hold on just
a minute. Let me share with you what my experience
has been. And once that person would finish telling their
(16:24):
story and their experience, you could almost hear a pin
drop in the room and people begin to understand that, oh,
my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Mean. And literally, I had
people who were who sat in the circle and would say,
I've worked with you for 20 years, and I never
(16:45):
knew that. I never knew that. And it created it
would create just such a dialogue where you'd see the humility,
you know, begin to rise up and people would begin
to understand, oh, my goodness, there's a lot that I
don't know. There's a lot that thought I knew. But oh,
(17:07):
my goodness. Here's my co-worker who is also a friend
who has had some experiences that have just absolutely have
not been privy to. And so when we talk about
empathy and people beginning to understand, oh, my goodness, I
need to begin to broaden my horizon, I need to
(17:28):
begin to open my thinking, to open my heart right.
And to be a little bit more vulnerable and to
allow myself to exercise empathy and to hear other people's
stories and to begin to, as best I can, try
to understand their situations and their experiences and do what
(17:51):
I can from my seat or from my place to
disrupt some of what they're experiencing, some of the barriers
that are getting in their way. So, you know, this
whole notion of empathy, it has to be organic. It
has to be authentic. And quite honestly, I believe a
lot of it comes from having conversations and people giving
(18:15):
themselves to be vulnerable and to say there's just so
much that I don't know. And, you know, a lot
of times and it works both ways. A lot of times,
if I can be honest here, I think a lot
of times our white caregivers, Caucasian friends, caregivers and colleagues,
they feel that the ownership is on them but think
(18:37):
it's ownership on everyone's part to exercise vulnerability and to
be open and to be willing to learn and to
exercise empathy.
Laura (18:47):
I'd love your thoughts as we begin to wrap up
on how the industry really needs to evolve in order
to ensure that we are putting empathy into practice and
those who are again, from a different sexual orientation, race,
ethnic identity are feeling as though we are listening and
(19:10):
providing culturally sensitive care. What does that evolution look like?
Karen (19:15):
Sure. So I would say the evolution looks like the industry,
health care industry, you know, as we sit in communities
and serve communities, that we also have to be citizens
of the communities where we serve, that we have to
be engaged and involved with the communities that communities need
(19:38):
to know us as well. And again, you know, I'm
going to say kudos. I'm so proud of the work
that Providence is doing. We launched not too long ago
a stand up to cancer initiative where we collaborated with
black churches, and this was in our South division. So
(19:59):
in California, in the LA area, we partnered with black
churches to raise awareness about the importance of colon cancer. Right.
Colon cancer screening. You know, as we know, Chadwick had
the unfortunate, timely death and was such a such a huge, huge,
(20:20):
huge pillar in the community and a spokesperson for colon cancer.
You know, the work that Providence came alongside with 30
black pastors from across Los Angeles to talk about the
importance of colon cancer and getting screened and how important
it is for the health of the community overall. That's
(20:44):
an example of how the industry can begin to be
a part of the communities and to close some of
these health equity gaps and to build trust right in
the communities that that's taking the work directly to the
communities and addressing addressing health care problems that are prevalent
(21:04):
in certain communities. That's the type of work that the
health care industry can continue to do. You know and
know health care systems across the country are beginning to do,
you know, this type of work that's important. We, you know,
have community health workers here at Providence that are out,
you know, in the communities meeting with with the citizens
(21:27):
and the members of the communities, you know, helping them
with transportation needs, you know, having conversations with them about
why it's so important for them to keep their medical appointments,
talking with them about diet and just health care, mental
health and that sort of thing. You know, taking the
work directly to the communities and building that trust, building
(21:51):
that bridge to help people feel comfortable. It's okay. It's okay.
Your health is what matters. Your health is what matters.
So if if you're not comfortable coming to us, we'll
come to you.
Laura (22:04):
My last question before we wrap up is what are
your hopes for where healthcare will be in the future?
What would you imagine in the next five years, in
the next 15 years, the ideal state to look like?
Karen (22:20):
Oh wow, that is a great question. I will start
with this from a perspective the day where companies get
to the point where they can say diversity, equity and inclusion.
Just second nature for us. Second nature we do diversity,
equity and inclusion without even thinking about it. We don't
(22:43):
have to talk about it. It just happens. I will
say the same for health care. My hope, my prayer
and I know we will get there, is that we
get to a point where patients, consumers from all different
walks of life trust their doctors. They trust their nurses.
(23:08):
They trust that when they walk into a hospital that
they're going to be treated fairly and equitably in an
empathetic manner. As we're talking about empathy with care and
with love and with kindness. My prayer and my hope
is that we get to a point where if you're black,
(23:28):
if you're Latina, if you're Asian, if you're a part
of the LGBTQ plus community, if you're a veteran, if
you're disabled, regardless, regardless of your background, that you feel
comfortable seeing a doctor or a nurse or practitioner who
(23:51):
looks different from you, who may have a different background
from you, or where that becomes a non-issue. That when
I walk into a doctor's office, as I'm sitting in
the room, as I'm waiting, you know, to have a
surgical procedure, that it doesn't matter if my surgeon is
Asian and I'm black, I trust that that surgeon is
(24:16):
going to take care of me to the best of
his or her ability and maybe even go beyond that
if I'm white. My hope and my prayers that I
get to a point where it doesn't matter that a
black doctor, a black nurse, is going to take just
as good a care of me as a white nurse
or a doctor will. So in essence, what I'm saying
(24:38):
is my prayer and my hope is that we get
to a point in healthcare where it becomes a non-issue,
it becomes a non-issue, and that there's trust all around,
that there's trust.
Laura (24:52):
Great parting thought. And you know, this idea that Dei is.
So ingrained into the DNA of the system that it's
not something that we even have to be developing plans
around anymore. Karen, is there anything else that you'd love
to share with the people that will be listening to
(25:16):
this podcast? I know there's so much more we could
have talked about.
Karen (25:20):
Yes. Yes, indeed. So, you know, I will say to
the people who are listening to this podcast, Lean in
to this work, as we talked about, the third pillar
of our strategy, being courageous champions of change. Let's just
deputize something. How about we do this? Let's deputize everyone
who's listening to the podcast as a champion of change
(25:44):
and would encourage everyone, no matter what your job is,
no matter what your role is, do what you can
to positively affect change in this health care industry. You know,
as you go to your providers, your doctors and your physicians,
ask them questions, ask them questions about whether or not
(26:08):
they've gone to training, ask them questions about if they've
gone to implicit bias training or what their journey is.
You know, and encourage encourage them in that way. So
I just encourage everyone lean into this work. Don't don't
be afraid of it. Be courageous. Champions of change. You know,
just commit to wanting to leave our health care system
(26:32):
in a better place that than we found it.
Laura (26:34):
Hey, you all heard it. You are now deputized as
courageous champions. I accept the challenge and hope that everyone
else will as well. Thank you, Karen. This has been
such a great conversation. I really appreciated your time and
I look forward to sharing our conversation out more broadly.
Just a reminder to those who are listening about our
(26:57):
empathy series, the link to that is in the show notes.
If you are interested in getting a sense of what
we are doing here at DRG. Thank you.
A big thank you to Karen for sharing her insights.
Next up, we are going to explore the consumer trends
that are disrupting health care. Our focus this month, Equity.
(27:17):
Welcome to Outside the Echo Chamber, where we talk about
trends impacting health care. Today we are talking about the
change makers and disruptors who are advancing equity in health care.
Let's talk about the maternal health crisis. The maternal mortality
rate in the US is three times higher than other
high income countries. Birth is even riskier for black American women.
(27:38):
When 55 women die per 100,000 births versus 19 deaths
per 100,000 births for white women. And side note in
the Netherlands, which is the safest place in the world
to give birth, only 1.2 women die per 100,000 births.
So what is being done to address this? She Matters
is a digital health platform that supports black mothers with
(28:00):
culturally competent care, has published their, quote, pink book and quote,
This interactive map combines data on maternal outcomes from the
CDC and US news showing where the safest healthcare systems
are for black women to give birth. Currently, they spotlight
hospital systems in the 14 US states with the largest
(28:20):
African American populations, but they plan to expand coverage soon.
The key takeaway here for health care systems, you must
proactively share data and show what you are doing to
bridge disparities and care gaps. If you don't, others will
do it for you. Along the lines of maternal care,
Walmart is paying for doula services in four US states
(28:42):
with the highest maternal mortality rates. That's Louisiana, Georgia, Illinois
and Indiana. As shared by Walmart. Quote, We have chosen
to expand the doula benefit to these states in particular
because we see potential to have an instant impact for
associates who live there, end quote. Walmart joins other major
companies like CVS and Microsoft that offer coverage for doula care.
(29:05):
Shifting to broader efforts. There also has been an increase
in health care startups that are addressing the need for
culturally competent care. So Vitahealth launched in October of 2022,
delivers care to elderly, elderly, Hispanic patients. Patients can choose
to get care at home virtually, or in a clinic
and care in a clinic. It features larger than average
(29:28):
exam rooms so patients can bring their extended family as
well as bilingual providers, to take away for health care.
Assisting culturally competent care looks at the social determinants of
health and addresses all of them, including how patients want
to receive care and what will make them the most
comfortable city block. Another disruptor in the space provides medical
(29:49):
care and additional support to help increase favorable outcomes. City
Block says, quote, Count on us for the things in
your life that affect your well-being. Such as child care support,
setting up checkups and appointments, even getting groceries and finding
a place to live. End quote. Wrapping up here, it's
more important than ever that traditional health care is proactively
(30:10):
reporting gaps in a care and addressing them in a
360 degree way, taking into account the patient's life outside
the clinic, looking to and collaborating with the disruptors will
go a long way and starting the journey to a
more equitable health care system. We'd like to give a
big thank you to our guest, Karen, and of course,
the consumers who share their thoughts with us today. If
(30:33):
you are looking for more information on this topic, you
can subscribe to our four part Empathy Whitepaper series. We
will be releasing the fourth and final whitepaper this month
and have covered empathy in the workplace as well as
how empathy can drive more equitable health care. You can
go to our show notes for a link to that content.
End Speaker (30:52):
All right, you guys, thanks so much for tuning in.
If you like what you heard, please share rate and
review on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform. For
more content about simplifying health care, visit Inc.com. That's Inc.com.
This show is produced by Shift Forward Health, The Channel
for Change Makers. Subscribe to Shift Forward Help on your
(31:13):
favorite podcast app and you'll be subscribed to our entire
library of shows. See our full lineup at Shift Forward
Health one subscription all the podcasts you need and it's
all for free. We'll see you next time on what
Consumers want.
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