/ en Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:23:31 -0500 Mon, 10 Mar 25 13:57:53 -0500 /news/headline/2025-03-10-hhs-investigating-four-unnamed-medical-schools-hospitals-workforce-discrimination <p>The Department of Health and Human Services March 7 <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2025/03/07/hhs-civil-rights-office-investigates-alleged-discrimination-health-care-workforce-training-restore-merit-based-opportunity.html" title="HHS investigation">announced</a> that it is investigating four unnamed medical schools and hospitals for workforce discrimination. The department said the investigations were in response to allegations received by the HHS Office of Civil Rights that certain medical schools and hospitals receiving HHS funding “may operate medical education, training, or scholarship programs for current or prospective workforce members that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex.” </p> Mon, 10 Mar 2025 13:57:53 -0500 Workforce Diversity /news/headline/2024-12-06-aha-podcast-right-kind-research-academyhealth-unveils-roadmap-advance-research-equity <p>In this conversation, Margo Edmunds, director of the AcademyHealth Center on Diversity, Inclusion and Minority Engagement, discusses the benefits its Roadmap for Researchers guide can provide to health care research and the difference it's already making in health systems, nonprofits and beyond. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-12-06-right-kind-research-academyhealth-unveils-roadmap-advance-research-equity">LISTEN NOW</a></p><div></div> Fri, 06 Dec 2024 13:41:40 -0600 Workforce Diversity /news/headline/2024-10-04-aha-podcast-data-helps-drive-dei-efforts-hackensack-meridian-health <p>In this Safety Speaks conversation, Hackensack Meridian Health's Avonia Richardson-Miller, senior vice president and chief diversity officer, and Rajan Gurunathan, M.D., vice president, discuss their organization's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, assistance from AHA's Health Equity Roadmap, and how advanced metric dashboards have played a pivotal role in success for the New Jersey health system. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-10-04-data-helps-drive-dei-efforts-hackensack-meridian-health">LISTEN NOW</a></p> Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:22:32 -0500 Workforce Diversity /node/694279 <p>Cultivating equity in an organization’s workforce is essential for improving health equity for the community. These key questions can help boards promote equity and inclusion for the workforce.</p> Wed, 10 Jul 2024 13:29:34 -0500 Workforce Diversity /node/694233 <p>This toolkit presents options for residency program directors to reinforce GME recruitment more consistently with regards to diversity. We direct our focus towards providing options and steps during the GME recruitment process, which can be modified and made available to UME Deans and Student Affairs representatives for transparency. Indeed, the toolkit can benefit from innovations developed during the COVID19 pandemic, such as widely implemented and piloted telecommunication. This toolkit aims to increase diversity in the GME community and addresses 2 phases of the recruitment process.</p> Tue, 09 Jul 2024 10:56:37 -0500 Workforce Diversity /news/headline/2024-05-02-aha-urges-senate-committee-support-federal-programs-promoting-workforce-diversity-maternal-health <p>Mounting pressures on the health care workforce have created a crisis with short-term staffing shortages and a long-range picture of an unfulfilled talent pipeline, and significant projected shortages of physicians and allied health and behavioral health care providers will likely be felt even more strongly in underserved communities, AHA told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a statement submitted for a <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/what-can-congress-do-to-address-the-severe-shortage-of-minority-health-care-professionals-and-the-maternal-health-crisis">hearing</a> May 2 to examine federal approaches to address the shortage of minority health care professionals and the maternal health crisis. <br> <br>"A diverse workforce recognizes that understanding the cultures, issues and needs of local patient populations can result in better decision-making about how to serve those communities and positively impact patient experience, safety and quality," AHA <a href="/testimony/2024-05-01-aha-statement-senate-help-committee-workforce-diversity-maternal-health">wrote</a>. "Yet today, people of color are vastly underrepresented across the health professions." <br> <br>AHA expressed support for federal programs and legislation that would help increase workforce diversity in health care and reduce attrition. AHA also urged the Senate to pass the Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act (S. 2415), bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize federal support for state-based maternal mortality review committees, which review pregnancy-related deaths to identify causes of — and make recommendations to prevent — maternal mortality. <br><br>Testifying at the hearing were Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif.; Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D., R-Texas; Yolanda Lawson, M.D., president of the National Medical Association; Samuel Cook, M.D., a third-year resident at Morehouse School of Medicine; Michael Galvez, M.D., co-creator of National Latino Physician Day and a surgeon at Valley Children's Hospital; Jaines Andrades, D.N.P., Baystate Health; and Brian Stone, M.D., a urologist from Jasper, Ala. </p> Thu, 02 May 2024 15:10:41 -0500 Workforce Diversity /news/headline/2024-04-15-aha-podcast-training-future-health-care-leaders-address-health-disparities <p>Former AHA Board Chair John Bluford describes how the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute, which introduces talented minority undergraduate scholars to health care administration, is training young and diverse talent to assume leadership roles. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-04-15-training-future-health-care-leaders-dei-focus?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aha-today">LISTEN NOW</a> </p> Mon, 15 Apr 2024 15:54:22 -0500 Workforce Diversity /news/headline/2024-03-20-aha-podcast-breaking-through-glass-ceiling-roxie-wells-md <p>Former AHA board member Roxie Wells, M.D., senior vice president, chief physician executive and strategy officer with Novant Health Coastal Region, discusses her long journey to the health care C-suite and the importance of mentoring young women leaders through the glass ceiling and beyond. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-03-20-breaking-through-glass-ceiling-roxie-wells-md?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aha-today">LISTEN NOW</a> </p> Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:07:40 -0500 Workforce Diversity /news/headline/2024-03-13-aha-participates-nam-event-health-workforce-well-being-dei <p>In anticipation of the first <a href="https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/health-workforce-well-being-day/">Health Workforce Well-Being Day</a> March 18, the National Academy of Medicine this week held an <a href="https://nam.edu/event/health-workforce-well-being-day-celebratory-event">event</a> to share success stories and resources to inspire action. Participants discussed the ongoing need to support the well-being of health care workers, which they said will require a team effort, and the importance of understanding the intersection of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in well-being work. The afternoon <a href="https://nam.edu/event/intersection-of-dei-with-health-worker-well-being-a-systems-approach/">session</a> on DEI included representatives from Ochsner Health, Johns Hopkins and the University of California Davis School of Medicine, who shared examples of how their teams coordinate; and Elisa Arespacochaga, AHA’s vice president of clinical affairs and workforce, who facilitated a question-and-answer session with presenters.</p> Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:25:10 -0500 Workforce Diversity <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><h3>Northern Light Health | Brewer, Maine</h3><h3><small>Collaboration Between Northern Light Health and Morehouse School of Medicine's PA Studies</small></h3><p>Nationally, health care organizations have long grappled with provider shortages, especially in rural areas. Northern Light Health leadership recognized the importance and difficulty in filling those key roles in remote areas of Maine; however, despite dedicated efforts to recruit providers with rural medicine experience, the outcome did not consistently meet the demand for a sufficient number of providers.</p><p>In 2021, Darmita Wilson joined the system as vice president of operations for the medical group. Previously, Wilson worked in Washington, D.C., mentoring medical students and allied health professionals at Howard University Hospital and Providence Hospital. In her new role, Wilson began to develop possible solutions to the issue of provider shortages, with the goal of mitigating the impact on patients. At the same time, Lynwood McAllister, MPA, MA, PhD, who had worked alongside Wilson at Howard University, reached out to discuss a new physician assistant (PA) program at the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), where he serves as the assistant clinical director. MSM was expanding their program to include a rural medicine track of studies, and Wilson advocated for a rural health care track for the PA program as a way of alleviating physician burnout, increasing patient access, and developing innovative ways to deliver health care.</p><p>Together, they developed a program for PA students interested in a rural medicine track to travel to Maine to perform their clerkship training, for up to 40 weeks in their second year of training, at Northern Light Health facilities. These master’s-prepared students would have the opportunity to join rotations in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral medicine and psychiatry, emergency medicine, and general surgery.</p><h3><small>Results, Lessons Learned and Future Outlook</small></h3><p>In November 2023, the program’s first four students completed their rotations with Northern Light Health in family medicine and internal medicine. From the beginning, the students – who volunteered for the program and none of whom had ever been to Maine before – were eager to experience the practicality of their didactic education in the clinical setting. The Northern Light Health preceptors and staff were impressed with how quickly the students acclimated to the clinical setting and their communities and are eager to expand the program to have more PAs as part of the team. The preceptors reported that they have a different outlook on the work they do, feel less burned out and more optimistic about the future of health care.</p><p>Wilson shared one of the biggest challenges to date was socializing the value of training the next generation of clinicians and imparting the skills of rural medicine. “As a system, Northern Light Health realizes the importance of proactively developing its own workforce and nurturing the next generation of practitioners. Preceptorship is one positive way to give back to those who are starting their careers, while helping preceptors reconnect to their purpose in caring for others,” Wilson said.</p><p>For students, finding their place in the community outside of work is crucial. Northern Light Health prepared them for Maine’s culture, where understanding social cues and adapting to a rural lifestyle takes time. As one student planned their travel to and from their rotations using ride-share transportation, Northern Light Health staff explained that the area only had one ride-share driver. It was an eye-opening transition for students used to an urban environment where these types of services are ubiquitous. It has also given participants a unique insight into the lack of resources in rural communities. One stated, “…during my rotation through cardiology, I noticed that it takes a few months before someone can even receive an echocardiogram. I found this to be a problem because these images provide imperative information that can be used to guide the treatment of patients.” He reflected that even despite these issues, “…it also inspires me to practice in underserved areas and be the resource people need.”</p><p>As the early adopter phase, also referred to as phase one, concludes, Wilson’s team is actively working toward the next phase to build a rural medicine hub at Northern Light Health. This expansion aims to accommodate an increased number of students from MSM for clinical rotations in their facilities. Plans for a third phase include developing additional clerkship programs, followed by a mobile unit approach similar to an approach used at MSM in rural Georgia. Northern Light aspires to extend this hub model to other medical schools and programs in rural areas nationwide.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/sites/default/files/2024-02/northern-light-health.png"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-02/northern-light-health.png" alt="Building a Diverse Rural Workforce with Northern Light Health" width="726" height="940"></a><p class="text-align-center"><a class="btn btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2024/02/workforce-cs-northern-light.pdf">Download Case Study</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div></div></div> Thu, 01 Feb 2024 11:16:08 -0600 Workforce Diversity