DHEI (Diversity, Health Equity and Inclusion)

About DHEI (Diversity, Health Equity and Inclusion)

Disparate health outcomes for minorities, individuals experiencing homelessness, and other subsets of California’s population are the result of historic and systemic inequalities that persist today, and it has risen to the level of a public health crisis in California. Unequal access to health care and health resources, as well as unequal and damaging environmental conditions due to race, socioeconomic status, and other factors is untenable in a just and healthy society. Some facts*:

Black Californians have the highest rates of new prostate, colorectal, and lung cancer cases, and the highest death rates for breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer.

About one in five Latinx Californians report not having a usual source of care and difficulty finding a specialist.

Californians who are Native American and Alaska Native, as well as Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, are less likely to report having a checkup within the past year than other racial/ethnic groups.

*Source: California Health Care Foundation

Ensuring every Californian receives equitable, high-quality care requires long-term systemic solutions. California’s hospitals are on the front lines of mitigating health inequities. Within their communities, hospitals examine and address social determinants of health — factors such as housing instability, access to healthy foods, and community violence — that significantly affect health risks and outcomes.

Hospitals also continually work to improve patient experience and outcomes through a variety of initiatives, including a statewide maternal health quality collaborative; data collection and analysis on race, ethnicity, language preference, and other sociodemographic data; cultural competency training; increasing diversity in leadership and governance; and improving and strengthening community partnerships.

But hospitals alone cannot eliminate health disparities. It will take systemic reform, paired with broad partnerships across all segments of California’s communities, to break from the status quo.

HASC Partners with AffirmedRx, PBC, to Enhance Health Care Access and Affordability

Contact:  Katie Marks, [email protected] HASC is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with AffirmedRx, PBC, a leading provider of transparent pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services, to further its mission of improving health care access and affordability for the communities it serves. This partnership between HASC and AffirmedRx underscores their shared vision of a health care […]

Hospital Supplier Diversity Initiative Podcast, Part 3

Overview Part 3 of the Supplier Diversity podcast series features Audrey Chang, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and Flora Mayer, City of Hope. Our guests discuss how they’re helping their companies develop more inclusive purchasing practices by building relationships with diverse-owned businesses. Chang and Mayer are active in Communities Lifting Communities and HASC’s Hospital Supplier […]

Samantha Calvin on Human Trafficking and Health Care

In this edition, Samantha Calvin, PhD(c), co-leader of HASC’s Essential Human Trafficking Training in Health Care workshops, speaks with HASC’s Teri Hollingsworth. Calvin, an anti-trafficking leader in Arizona and the United States, oversees the Human Trafficking Awareness Program at Arizona State University’s Edson College of Nursing and Innovation. Here, she discusses the intersections between human […]

Give to CLC Today and Triple Your Impact

Today, on Giving Tuesday, Cedars-Sinai and Kaiser Permanente will each match donations to Communities Lifting Communities (CLC) dollar for dollar. A nonprofit affiliate of HASC, CLC works to build partnerships between hospitals and health systems, health care plans, public health agencies, and community stakeholders to advance health equity in the HASC region. Your donation will […]

Supplier Diversity Initiative Aims to Advance Health Equity

HASC is committed to fostering a health care environment that mirrors the diverse communities we serve. To that end, I’m excited to share about a pivotal initiative that promises to advance health equity in Southern California. Our recent endeavor, the Hospital Supplier Diversity initiative, is a significant stride towards achieving this vision. Health disparities persist, […]

Hospital Supplier Diversity Initiative Podcast, Part 2

Overview In part 2 of our Supplier Diversity podcast series, HASC’s Adam Blackstone spoke with Gus Escutia, Quality Environmental, Inc., and Chico Manning, PIH Health. The two described how they met and have formed a successful purchasing relationship over the past few years. Escutia and Manning are involved with Communities Lifting Communities (CLC) and HASC’s […]

CLC, HASC Announce First Diversity Scholarship Winners

Communities Lifting Communities and HASC are pleased to award seven health care scholarships through the Diversity in Health Care Scholarship and Stipend Program. Launched in 2023, the program was created to help reduce health disparities and improve community health throughout Southern California by fostering a more diverse workforce. It aims to achieve this goal by […]

El Camino College Offers Workforce Literacy Training

HASC is pleased to partner with El Camino College to offer the Workforce Literacy Training Program for hospital employees. This grant-funded initiative is designed to remove barriers to advancement by increasing language and math literacy for workers with limited English communication skills. The program has three primary components: English and math literacy, digital literacy and […]

Hospital and Health System Place-based Investing

Overview Join Communities Lifting Communities (CLC) and HASC for Place-based Investing, the final workshop in our Anchor Mission virtual series. Guest speakers Eddie Salvador, CommonSpirit Health, and David Zuckerman, Healthcare Anchor Network, will present case studies on. They’ll discuss how anchor institutions can leverage resources to invest in their communities and improve overall health and […]

Hospital Supplier Diversity Initiative Podcast, Part 1

Overview In this segment of In the Spotlight, hospital members speak with HASC about their efforts to increase procurement with diverse-owned businesses, and the best practices and lessons learned along the way. The three hospitals are involved with the Hospital Supplier Diversity Initiative, launched by HASC and Communities Lifting Communities after AB 962 (Burke) passed […]