Stanford Medicine Partners journey in creating an IDHE strategic plan

Abstract

Inclusion, Diversity, and Health Equity (IDHE) are important strategies that healthcare organisations must address to ensure that the communities they serve are heard, well represented and cared for in the most appropriate way. At Stanford Medicine Partners (SMP), a medical foundation founded by Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Health Care (SHC), we embraced and committed to having a diverse workforce through creation of a culture of inclusion, professional fulfilment and respect. In caring for a diverse population throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, we are unified by excellence as the standard of care, and, together, we are healing humanity through science and compassion one patient at a time. We recognised the importance of creating a clear roadmap and development of a strategic plan to set the foundation, practical vision and strategies needed to advance IDHE initiatives. This paper will share our strategies of elevating IDHE as a Strategic Priority; Positioning the Organisation as an IDHE Thought Partner; Investing in Our People; and Measuring for Accountability and Success and in Creating New Ways to Seek a Balanced Input on Solving IDHE Matters and Developing Mechanisms to Measure the IDHE Culture. These four strategies have guided us in co-creating an action plan with specific measurable accomplishments related to each strategy. Learnings have centred around developing progressive, inclusive processes; advancing continuous, comprehensive learning and development; providing effective and meaningful IDHE events and activities; implementing an IDHE dashboard tool; creating IDHE leadership programmes for under-represented staff; and forming strategic partnerships to address medical disparities. And we have seen the value and benefit of incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion into the organisation’s values through a creative strategic planning process and three-year plan.