Healthcare Equity Campaign: Raising awareness of healthcare disparities among employees of a large, urban, tertiary health system through a system-wide campaign

Background: Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) is a non-profit organization in the metro-Detroit region consisting of 6 hospitals, 25 medical centers, and over 23,000 employees. HFHS is in the process of implementing a 3-year Healthcare Equity Campaign aimed at ensuring that healthcare equity is understood and practiced by all Henry Ford employees and at linking healthcare equity as a key, measurable aspect of clinical quality. The president and CEO of the health system serves as honorary chair with system vice presidents for Quality and Community Health serving as co-chairs. The first phase, launched in 2009, focused on raising awareness about racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. Methods: In order to capture a baseline measure of employees' awareness of healthcare disparities, the AREA Survey was disseminated across the system. A 6.5-hour CME/CEU workshop and accompanying toolkit were developed to raise awareness of disparities and to cultivate “ambassadors” to then spread awareness among their colleagues. The documentary, Unnatural Causes, was shown in “Brown Bag” lunch sessions, at departmental meetings, and at System events. An internal communications team developed and rolled out a comprehensive communications plan. Finally, an online awareness-raising course was developed for employees titled, “Healthcare Equity 101: Social Determinants of Health.” Results: Six hundred ninety-one (691) employees completed the AREA survey. Four CME/CEU awareness-raising workshops were held, with 82 employees completing the course. With the assistance of Campaign ambassadors, over 3,387 awareness-raising contact hours were logged through the showing of the documentary and through Healthcare Equity Campaign presentations. The communications team released an article in the system newsletter, created a “Manager's Toolkit” focused on the campaign, produced two vodcasts with the System president, developed a Facebook page for employees, as well as a tabletop display, and “Ask me about healthcare equity” buttons for graduates of the workshop. The effectiveness of the online course will be determined by pre- and post-course evaluations. Conclusions: Support from System leadership has been crucial to the success of the first phase of the Healthcare Equity Campaign. Many employees are engaged in spreading awareness of disparities and working to eliminate them. Still much work needs to be done. In 2010 a follow-up AREA survey will be distributed to assess change in employees' awareness of healthcare disparities. Also in 2010, Phase Two of the campaign will be implemented, focusing on improving individual and organizational cultural competency at Henry Ford Health System.