Overview:
America’s healthcare organizations are working hard to ensure that every person in every community receives high-quality, equitable and safe care. To do that, we must eliminate health care disparities that continue to exist for far too many diverse individuals. Recognizing the hard work and focus that organizations are putting into meeting diversity, inclusion and equity goals, ACHE of Massachusetts annually presents an award to recognize the achievements and innovations so that others can be aware of emerging best practices and successes.

ACHE of MA initiated this award in 2018 to assess and highlight the efforts and progress that Massachusetts healthcare organizations have made to be as broadly diverse and inclusive as possible. We encourage all healthcare organizations in Massachusetts to apply for the 2022 award by informing us on how they have created/initiated strategies and are implementing the following key criteria. Please note, success in all areas is not required in order to be considered for the award.

  • Collection and use of diversity data (e.g.: race, religion, gender, nation of origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, language preference).
  • Cultural competency training.
  • Diversity in governance and leadership.
  • Improving and strengthening community partnerships
  • Inclusive health/wellness resources
  • Incorporation of DEI lens into other business areas? (e.g. supplier diversity, investment portfolio etc.)

Award Focus:

  1. Collection and use of DEI data: Increasing the collection of DEI related data. Some examples include race, religion, gender, nation of origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, language preference, etc. Please describe the strategy your organization is taking to collect and utilize your DEI data.  What measures of success can you highlight thus far?
  2. Increasing cultural competence: In what ways is your organization increasing cultural competence? We are interested in internal as well as external related initiatives. In your journey, what have been the key learnings and what creative strategies did you use to make these training modules most effective?
  3. Increasing diversity in governance and leadership: What is the current status of the diversity of your organization’s governance and leadership? What steps has your organization taken to shift the make-up of your board/governance and leadership team? What is your long-term plan to sustain diversity for your board/governance and leadership team?
  4. Communication, outreach and community partnerships: What forms of communication does your organization use to reach out to the community? In what ways has your organization improved and strengthened partnerships with diverse communities? Please explain and provide examples and/or metrics.
  5. Providing resources that accommodate diverse and fair treatment to a variety of employees: Does your organization provide its staff with a range of resources at both the individual level as well as an organizational level? We are particularly interested in the following:

    Mental health    : Knowing that diverse patients and employees are under resourced in the mental health support realm, what steps did the organization take to reduce the gap in mental health support for diverse people? What steps has the organization taken to ensure equal access for diverse people to the available mental health support programs?Access to other individual resources: Does your organization provide staff with any other resilience resources? These can include access to oral health services, vision/hearing screening and/or services related to social determinants of health.

    How have you evolved your resources from an organizational standpoint to accommodate your staff? Are the resources you provide your employees with, in multiple modes/language? Do you provide your staff with flexible scheduling opportunities, telecommuting options, etc.?

  6. Incorporation of DEI lens across the business: Please describe how your organization incorporates a DEI focus throughout your business. How is your organization innovating in this area? What measures of success can you highlight? Please include any other information that would distinguish your organization’s commitment to DEI.

 

TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THE 4th ANNUAL ACHE OF MA DIVERSITY LEADER AWARD, KINDLY SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION BY DESCRIBING HOW YOUR ORGANIZATION HAS CREATED/INITIATED STRATEGIES RELATING TO THE AWARD CRITERIA.

DEADLINE: MONDAY OCTOBER 3, 2022
EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSION TO: info@massache.org

 

THE AWARD WILL BE PRESENTED AT THE ACHE FALL EVENT IN BURLINGTON, MA ON NOVEMBER 1, 2022.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND REGISTER FOR THAT DAY BY GOING TO WWW.MASSACHE.ORG