August 12, 2019 | Modern Healthcare 17
While tenacity can help women ascend to
leadership positions, the status quo remains a
key barrier, noted Amy Perry, CEO of the hospi-
tal division at Atlantic Health System. Although
women make up about 80% of the healthcare
workforce, they account for less than 20% of lead-
ership positions. Boards and C-suites are still
dominated by older white men, some of whom
haven’t yet bought into the idea that diversity is
important, she added. Many of those leaders are
close to retirement, but until then women in lead-
ership positions have to vouch for other women.
“We have to keep pulling each other up,”
she said.
While most healthcare organizations talk about
the importance of diversity, achieving such an en-
vironment requires purposeful actions by C-suite
leaders and board members, according to health
system leaders who focus on the effort.
“If it’s not something you talk about with the
leadership ranks it just won’t happen,” Chuck
Stokes, CEO of Memorial Hermann Health Sys-
tem in Houston, said during a panel discussion.
To make meaningful inroads on diversity,
organizations have to invest in programs and
training, which requires buy-in from leadership.
For example, Memorial Hermann allocated
$50,000 to start a program four years ago that supports
women in the organization interested in advancement.
The participants are mentored by members of the lead-
ership team and provided leadership training. The pro-
gram, called Women Leaders of Memorial Hermann, has
grown to include 650 women, up from 400 in 2015. Ad-
ditionally, women now hold half of the organization’s 22
top leadership positions.
“We are working hard to make sure the diversity in that
group mirrors the diversity of our community,” Stokes said.
At City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., department heads are
involved in the work to increase diversity in leadership. The
cancer center is about to launch a five-year diversity and in-
clusion strategy that involves a dashboard allowing every-
one in the organization to see the breakdown of race and
gender in each department.
“We can hold people accountable, set goals and ask them
to meet those goals,” said Kety Duron, chief human re-
sources and diversity officer at City of Hope.
Inroads are also only made if the organization doesn’t
tolerate staff who refuse to abide by priorities involving di-
versity and inclusion.
“It’s pretty well known in our organization that if you don’t
appreciate diversity and inclusion at any level, this isn’t
the organization for you and you aren’t going to stay,”
Memorial Hermann’s Stokes said.
Boards are also feeling the pressure to become more
diverse as awareness continues to grow, said Keith Pitts,
co-vice chairman of Tenet Healthcare Corp.
“While there hasn’t been a whole lot of turnover
on boards, you are going to see more turnover in the
next several years” as boards try to enhance diversity,
he said.
This awareness means it’s a good time for women to
apply for board positions, said Nancy Schlichting, for-
mer CEO of Henry Ford Health System. Few women
currently serve on boards and Schlichting said she has
been on boards where she is the only woman. One way
to persuade boards to increase diversity is to show the
breakdown of the staff, which the board should reflect.
“It’s not about you. It’s not about being a woman. You
should have a board that represents what the group
(employees) looks like,” Schlichting said. lSUSAN DEVORE,
CEO of Premier, turned
a brief stint outside
of healthcare into a
confidence-booster.
It’s valuable to see
things from a different
perspective, she said.AMY PERRY,
CEO of the hospital
division at Atlantic
Health System, said
women leaders
need to “keep
pulling each other
up,” especially
since most boards
are still dominated
by men.