Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/665044
52 trust those that look, live and believe like them, is it beneficial for a hos- pital in a relatively homogenous area like Burlington, Vt., to prioritize diversified leadership? Oliver Tomlin says yes. Mr. Tomlin is a senior partner at Witt/Kieffer and an author of the firm's 2015 study on diversity. "In the old days, I would have said, 'Maybe not. Maybe [diversifying leadership teams in homogenous areas] wouldn't have value,'" he says. "e reality is that healthcare is no longer local or regional. It's becom- ing more national." Mr. Tomlin points to organizations like Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, which has sites of care in smaller markets throughout the coun- try and overseas. Dr. Mieres has a different approach. She says an organization that serves a homogenous population may not have as urgent of a need to formalize diversity and cultural competency strategies and policies. She emphasizes placing the patient at the center of the care matrix and being culturally competent to the patient's needs. Building the diverse workforce of the future e divide between diversity in healthcare leadership and the popula- tions they serve persists. Even at CHI, whose 15-member board includes seven women and three racially diverse members, Ms. Carpenter says attracting and retaining leadership that reflects the system's communities is an ongoing effort. Northwell Health's Dr. Mieres, too, says her health system has progress to make. She estimates about 60 to 70 percent of staff and leaders accu- rately represent the patients they serve. But one silver lining is that the healthcare workforce is already more diverse than many other professional industries. Analyzing data from the Census bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 2015 report from e Atlantic found 72.3 percent of healthcare employees are white, less than the legal profession (80.9 percent are white), education (78.2 percent), and business and finance (74.3 percent). What's more, healthcare appears to be making a concerted effort to em- body diversity, as the chief diversity officer role is becoming more com- monplace. Witt/Kieffer's Mr. Tomlin says many medical schools and academic medical centers are starting to search for CDOs, oentimes as an inaugural position. Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., is seeking its first CDO, and Boston-based Partners HealthCare named Dani Monroe its first chief diversity and inclusion officer in January. Dr. Mieres is Northwell Health's first CDIO, a position she assumed five years ago. She is also a professor of cardiology and population health at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine and is still actively involved in clinical research about gender disparities in heart disease. Speaking about her CDIO duties, Dr. Mieres says, "It's a harder job than being a cardiologist, but it's going from touching one life at a time to im- pacting policies and procedures that will really foster a patient-centered partnership with the diverse communities served by Northwell Health." n 12 Healthcare Companies Named 'World's Most Ethical' By Tamara Rosin A dozen healthcare organizations were listed among "The World's Most Ethical Companies" by Ethi- sphere Institute. Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, has named its 2016 list of "The World's Most Ethical Compa- nies." The honor recognizes companies that go beyond making statements about doing business "ethically" and translate words into actions by promoting ethical busi- ness standards internally and exceeding legal compliance minimums through best practices. The complete list includes 131 honorees from 21 coun- tries and five continents across 45 industries. Eleven of the healthcare companies that made the list this year are from the U.S and one is from Canada. • Premier — (Charlotte, N.C.) • BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina (Durham, N.C.) • CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield — (Baltimore and Washington, D.C.) • Health Care Service Corporation — (Chicago) • Henry Schein — (Melville, N.Y.) • Covenant Health (Edmonton, Alberta in Canada) • Baptist Health South Florida — Miami • Cleveland Clinic • Hospital Corporation of America (Nashville, Tenn.) • Northwell Health — (Great Neck, N.Y.) • Sharp HealthCare — (San Diego) • University Hospitals — Cleveland To comprise Ethisphere's list of the "World's Most Ethical Companies," the institute uses a proprietary rating system called the corporate Ethics Quotient. The framework of the EQ is comprised of a series of multiple choice ques- tions that represent a company's ethical performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. n