Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Shannon Bradley, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Keck Medicine of USC

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Shannon Bradley, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Keck Medicine of USC · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  This is Laura Dear with the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Shannon Bradley,
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  chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Keck Medicine of U usc. Shannon,
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  it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  Thank you. It's nice to be here.
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  Now, I know we have a lot to talk about. I,
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  there's so much happening in healthcare right now,
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  and especially thinking about diversity and inclusion is such an important space
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  and topic for us. But before we dive into my questions,
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  can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background?
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  Sure, sure. Um, I am serving as the inaugural, uh,
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  chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer of Kec Medicine of usc. Um,
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  we are one of only two university based medical systems in the Los Angeles area,
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  uh,
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  providing highly specialized world-class patient care within our four hospitals
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  and over a hundred clinics. So my entry into diversity,
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  equity and inclusion really started, uh, from a non-traditional standpoint.
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  I was a non-traditional student, um, entered college, uh,
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  later on in life and was a single parent at the time. Um, so, uh,
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  during my journey, um, I did not have access to, uh, healthcare. Uh,
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  my daughter had access to Medicaid, uh, but I did not. And so, uh,
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  had an opportunity to really understand, uh,
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  firsthand some of the challenges of accessing, uh,
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  healthcare here within the United States, um, particularly, uh, when you are,
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  um, experiencing low income. And so it really drove, uh, certainly a,
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  a more of an interest in really getting into healthcare, uh,
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  to figure out how from the business side of things,
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  I could make more of an impact. Um, I also, uh,
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  was blessed with the opportunity to win a scholarship with the Executive
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  Leadership Council, which is an organization that focuses on Fortune 500, uh,
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  black leaders in, uh, um, organizations.
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  And, uh,
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  really was able to learn a little bit more about how organizations really focus
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  on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the benefits, the value add,
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  why they were focused on, uh, de and I, and it sparked, uh,
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  an additional interest, um, that really has played itself out in, um,
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  my current work.
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  What are the valuable perspective that is that you have and just really bringing
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  that experience to your current role?
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  Because I know that a lot of health systems are trying to navigate, um,
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  you know, what the healthcare journey looks like for patients across the board.
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  Um, so, you know, I,
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  I can imagine that perspective really makes a difference for you and for tech
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  medicine. You know,
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  when you look at where the health system is headed and especially diversity and
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  inclusion, how do you see that evolving and changing over the next few years?
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  What's the growth strategy and how are you really leading into making an impact
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  for patients in the community at large?
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  Yeah, I,
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  I think it is an approach that focuses on really having a better understanding
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  of what the community needs are, understanding our internal demographics.
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  We know that nationally, um, certainly within the Los Angeles area,
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  the patient demographics continue to shift.
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  And so having the ability to not only attract the
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  best and brightest employees and colleagues to work with,
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  but also looking at how we can incorporate, again, the feedback of our patients,
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  making sure that we're providing culturally, uh, intelligent and welcoming care,
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  uh, for patients.
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  And also looking at what are the service lines and things that we need to be
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  invested in that we don't have our, our, uh, finger on the pulse up, right?
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  How do we better understand what's coming in the future, um, and continue to be,
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  um, proactive in building out the services and experience that patients,
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  um, really want to, to have. So I think, uh, for us, it really, uh, again,
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  focuses on kind of evaluating our demographics, uh, in particular, um,
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  and across not just race ethnicity, um, but age language,
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  um, certainly socioeconomic status and the, the social determinants of health,
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  uh, looking at how we can provide, uh, specialized, uh, care,
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  even more specialized care based on, uh, patient population needs.
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  And then providing the care environment that contributes to, um, uh,
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  equitable, uh, outcomes for all patients that we serve.
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  Absolutely. I think that's such a great point. And, you know,
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  I definitely love the idea of incorporating feedback from the community and,
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  and then really trying to understand what they're gonna need next and be
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  proactive about how you're developing the service lines and,
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  and what you're doing.
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  Could you tell us a little bit about an exciting and impactful initiative or
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  project that you're working on right now and you know,
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  what you're really hearing from the ground level?
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  Yeah, so our, I think most significant, uh,
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  focus area right now is really around building our health equity framework.
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  Um, and so that is a lot of, uh, collaboration on our part,
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  really digging into to the data to see, uh, what opportunities we have,
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  um, certainly what our, our patient population, um,
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  is reflective of in terms of demographics, um, and the, again,
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  the services that we need to be putting into place, um, to help move us forward.
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  Um, currently, uh, we're working with our quality team, our university,
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  uh, research team, uh, our four hospitals and our clinics, uh,
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  to really build out a comprehensive approach that considers, uh,
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  not only the compliance aspects of DE and I, but also, uh, again,
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  our outcomes from a quality standpoint.
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  What's the financial impact of the efforts that we're undertaking? Um,
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  how do we, uh, ensure that there is appropriate, uh,
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  feedback from the communities that we serve,
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  so that there's also that voice incorporated in, uh, what they'd like to see.
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  And so it's a, a, a massive, uh, puzzle for us. But I think one that,
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  um, certainly every healthcare, uh, system should be undertaking, uh,
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  in terms of figuring out how to advance health equity. It's a, I think a core,
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  uh, component of what we should be doing is healthcare organizations.
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  That's certainly really meaningful, and like you said, you know, a,
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  a a huge undertaking, but, um, important for,
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  for the improvement of care in, in bridging any health equity gaps.
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  And I can imagine too, you know,
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  when you are trying to get the feedback and trying to connect and understand
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  what the community needs, you have to do that in a few different ways or,
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  or not everybody is responsive to one particular method. How are you doing that?
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  How do you really connect and gather feedback and really, um,
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  get yourself to a place where you feel like you are understanding what the
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  community is telling you,
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  and they're really able to open up to you with some great feedback?
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  Sure. Uh, one of the,
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  the things that we're focusing on right now is our community, uh,
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  engagement and community benefit strategy.
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  So we're really taking a look at how historically we've engaged with, um,
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  specific communities, uh, to ensure that there's, uh, again,
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  that representation across the board when we're looking at, um,
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  what we're going to focus on from a community benefits standpoint. Uh,
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  but we're also trying to be a little bit more strategic. And so it's, uh,
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  continuing to build those relationships, uh, through our university relations,
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  uh, relations team, uh,
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  is looking at how we leverage our employee resource groups for, uh, again,
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  a better sense of awareness. Uh, a lot of our, uh,
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  workforce and colleagues are members of, uh, the community,
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  and so having them also inform us on organizations that we could or should be
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  partnering with as well. Um, and being able to make those introductions and, uh,
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  being actively involved in the communities that we serve helps to build that
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  trust that then lends itself to us having, uh,
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  more in-depth conversations about what the needs are and how we can be
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  responsive to them, but also, um, certainly, uh, help equip our communities,
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  uh, to also advance, uh, their own, uh, health as well.
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  That's so helpful to know. Thank you so much, Shannon,
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  for going through those methods with us and really, um,
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  helping us understand what that looks like. Now,
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  before we wrap up our conversation,
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  I'm wondering what is the most important thing that healthcare executives should
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  do now to make sure they're on a path for success in the future?
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  Especially as they're trying to be more diverse and,
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  and inclusive within their policies, both internally, uh,
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  from the workforce standpoint,
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  as well as how they connect with their communities, um, you know,
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  in really becoming, uh,
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  more focused on delivering the services that their communities need?
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  Yeah, I think investing in the, the lens of diversity, equity,
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  and inclusion, um, I,
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  I think certainly having the infrastructure to, uh, continue to,
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  to build, uh, the maturity in our de and i efforts is important.
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  But I think at, at a minimum, really taking an opportunity to look at,
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  uh, what your, uh, outcomes are by, uh, real and sogi data.
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  Uh, taking an opportunity to,
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  to really dive into what your patient demographics are. Um, we know that, again,
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  the workforce is, is changing. Um, we are,
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  no matter whether you're looking at race, ethnicity, language, uh,
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  et cetera, uh, we know that the, the patient population is aging. Um,
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  and so that in and of itself comes with some additional, um,
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  opportunities for us to really look at how we provide care internally,
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  but also the socioeconomic needs that are going, going to, um, arise,
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  uh, based on, uh, that patient population as well.
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  And so I think really taking that first step, um, to, to look at things, um,
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  and look at the data, uh, specifically will be helpful. Um,
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  I think secondarily or, or maybe second, uh,
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  I'd say would be looking at, uh, the service line opportunities.
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  Um, so really understanding where we, um, must be equipped,
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  uh, internally from a, uh, cultural intelligence standpoint, uh,
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  to accommodate and welcome patients in the ways that they desire, um,
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  and really continue to be able to build trust to ensure that folks feel
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  comfortable coming to our organizations and receiving the services that they're
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  interested in. Uh, we know, I think, uh, that, for instance here, we,
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  we've been able to focus on a gender affirming care program. Um,
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  and so those are the types of activities that really introduce additional
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  revenue streams, but also speak to a very specific need for, uh, patients.
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  And so it's opportunities like that,
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  that I think we can really take advantage of to help strengthen our financial
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  impact, but also again, provide, uh, better patient care and services for, uh,
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  the communities that we serve.
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  Wow, that's amazing. And Shannon, you know, what great opportunities, um, to,
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  to really help on all fronts, whether it's the patients and, um,
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  understanding what they need, and then two, from the organization at large,
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  just con having that diversity and I, I love the new service line opportunities,
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  um, you know, really makes a difference, especially during the,
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  the tough times that we're going through right now.
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  So thank you so much for sharing that with us.
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  I really have appreciated our conversation today,
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  Thank you very much. It's a pleasure. Have a great day.