Diversity and Inclusion in Hospice

From our deep experience in hospice – from both the provider side and now on the side of delivering hospice software and services to local independent agencies across America, hospice agencies are built by people who are professional, altruistic, caring, and compassionate.

When we talk about diversity and inclusion, especially in hospice, it’s easy for people to think ‘this doesn’t apply to me or my agency – we treat every patient equally and we deliver com passionate and individualized care regardless of race, color, creed, and gender’

It’s true that your team delivers awesome care to every population, because most hospices do exactly that, day in and day out.

The issue with diversity and inclusion doesn’t start and end with delivering patient care.

Delivery of patient care is the last stage. Working backwards, some hospice organizations focus on diversity and inclusion from a community outreach perspective – such as, how do you educate and attract patient and referral sources from diverse communities.

NHPCO has an inclusion toolkit to help increase access to hospice and palliative care services within diverse communities: https://www.nhpco.org/education/tools-and-resources/diversity/

Super-important work, but still a later stage in the process.

Everything flows from the top.

We published a series of articles on Hospice Staff and Retention that details how having the right mission and values creates alignment that flows through your agency. A Clear mission and aligned values impacts every facet of your organization, from staff hiring and retention through all your strategic and functions businesses and operational decisions. You can read part 1 of our 5 part series series here: https://www.hospicetools.com/hospice-staff-retention-patient-care-chaps-more-part-1-alignment/

Diversity and inclusion in hospice must be a top-level focus that is aligned with your mission and values. While do an awesome job with patient care and community outreach, when you start the process higher up in your agency culture, the business benefits are extraordinary.

What is diversity and inclusion?

Diversity means your team is made up of people who bring a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds into your agency.

Inclusion means empowering those people within your organization. Allowing their diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences to help shape and influence your agency’s culture.

Inclusion without diversity creates a stale organization.

Diversity without inclusion creates a culture of negative hierarchies.

3 D&I Business Stats You Can’t Afford to Ignore

3. McKinsey’s research shows that, “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile.” – https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
4. Deloitte’s study shows that, “Ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform their peers.” – https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/human-capital/deloitte-au-hc-diversity-inclusion-soup-0513.pdf
5. A study by Josh Berson found that diverse and inclusive companies generated “3 times higher cash flow per employee over a three-year period. The smaller companies had 13 times higher mean cash flow from operations. 1.8 times more likely to be change-ready and 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market. 3.8 times more likely to be able to coach people for improved performance, 3.6 times more able to deal with personnel performance problems, and 2.9 times more likely to identify and build leaders.” https://joshbersin.com/2015/12/why-diversity-and-inclusion-will-be-a-top-priority-for-2016/

The data is in and it is conclusive.

The best businesses have diversity and inclusion from the top of their funnel as part of their culture. When you have D&I aligned with your mission and values, community outreach, patient care for diverse populations are not bolt-on projects that you work on as separate strategic initiatives within your agency, they become holistic elements of your healthy growing agency.

 

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