Diversity Partners
EDCN is a collaborative project of six national healthcare organizations dedicated to advancing executive diversity:
The MOA recognized several critical issues, including:
- The Equity of Care (EOC) collaborative initiative created a national call to action to eliminate healthcare disparities and improve quality of care for all patients. One of three focus areas for EOC recognizes the necessity of increasing diversity in healthcare leadership.
- ACHE’s 2014 research on demographic diversity in healthcare indicates representation of racially and ethnically diverse executives has not significantly improved since ACHE released its first racial/ethnic study in 1992.
- Minorities represent 31% of the patient population, but only 14% of hospital board members and 12% of healthcare executive leadership positions are held by minorities, according to a 2013 study by the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity/Health Research & Educational Trust.
- Achieving sustainable progress in diversifying the ranks of healthcare executives requires parallel paths of preparing healthcare organizations to build inclusive cultures and equipping diverse healthcare executives to flourish in senior positions.
In June 2016, the MOA participating organizations convened their senior leaders to explore a common critical issue and propose a practical way to address the issue: