January marks new beginnings. A time to recommit to our goals with new hope and energy. As your professional society, we also look to new beginnings as we launch our 2023–2025 Strategic Plan with new vigor. Most importantly, we are reminded of the need to be ever so vigilant in our quest to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, including growing the diversity of our leadership workforce. Under the vision and guidance of ACHE Board Chair Anthony “Tony” A. Armada, FACHE, the Board has elevated its commitment to do more.
DEI is woven into the fabric of who we are as an organization, and we express our commitment to it in many ways. Those expressions include national and local educational programs, scholarships for students and executives, and online communities for Asian and LGBTQ healthcare leaders. Our partnerships with others are key to leveraging our individual and collective impact.
Yet we know that boardrooms and management teams throughout our field do not reflect the communities we serve. ACHE data show that only about 16% of C-suite healthcare executives are racial minorities, even though racial and ethnic minorities make up 32% of U.S. hospital patients and 36% of the population. This stubborn reality requires prioritizing DEI and strengthening our commitment to it in 2023 and beyond.
In executing our Strategic Plan, ACHE’s Board of Governors has identified a “next level” DEI strategy to drive progress. Here is a preview of what that looks like as we activate our roles as Catalyst, Connector and Trusted Partner.
As a Catalyst, we look to drive safe and equitable care for all by identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for leaders and organizations to be successful. The thought driving this focus is that the competencies required to lead toward equity in a wholistic, inclusive way may require personal insights and skills not evident in traditional paradigms. We want to drive toward a profession that integrates and advances our leadership DEI acumen alongside the core tenets of leading well to create a consolidated view of modern leadership. By identifying the learning path, we can be more intentional about our programming and curricula to advance the leadership needs of a diverse and equity-driven workforce to achieve more equitable patient care.
As a Connector, we are strengthening our commitment to our diversity partners—the National Association of Health Services Executives, the National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives, the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, the Better Together Collaborative, The Equity Collaborative, and other associations—by specifying how we can optimize our organizational resources and events for the benefit of our individual and collective members. Our chapters are key to connecting people to people. By strengthening support in creating an inclusive interprofessional leadership community, we gain new perspectives and more informed insights to advance ourselves and all leaders across the continuum of care.
As a Trusted Partner, we prioritize investing in our members and others through our ongoing programs, products and services, such as those available through our Learning Center and Career Resource Center available on ache.org. By continuing our commitment to scholarships and other resources, we remain dedicated to cultivating a diverse workforce.
Those investments also include a new column in this magazine focusing on DEI from a thought-leadership perspective. Tony Armada writes the inaugural edition of our “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” column and we look forward to the viewpoints our contributors will share in that space. We remain committed to helping others reach their highest potential and to fostering inclusive environments, and the core of that commitment continues to be advancing the best health outcomes for all.
Efforts to advance equity in care are gaining momentum, but still much more is needed. By being intentional about prioritizing DEI in everything we do and who we are as leaders, we can accelerate our progress in ways that matter most for patients.
Stay tuned for the ACHE survey Comparing Career Attainments of Healthcare Executives by Race/Ethnicity. Issued every six years, the survey compares the experiences and opinions of leaders of different races and ethnicities and offers data-based recommendations for them to consider as they address racial/ethnic relations in their own organizations. Results from the latest edition will be released soon.
Deborah J. Bowen, FACHE, CAE, is president/CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives (dbowen@ache.org).