Ahead of the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit 2022, Mark Behl discusses how having a more diverse and inclusive workforce can help address social injustices in the community and improve access to healthcare.

1. Interview with: Mark Behl, MHA,
MBA, EVP and COO, Froedtert
Health
“The time has come for healthcare
leaders to understand what barriers
people within their community are
facing, and to formulate a plan to
address them. In healthcare, we tend to
focus on taking care of the patients who
actually show up, but there are different
populations who have been underserved
and neglected for years, who lack equal
access to healthcare. Organizations
must close gaps in health disparities by
focusing on diversity, equity and
inclusion (DE&I) in their own work-
force,” says Mark Behl, MHA, MBA, EVP
and COO, Froedtert Health.
Behl is a speaker at the marcus evans
National Healthcare CXO Summit
2022.
What are some of the gaps in
healthcare that need to be ad-
dressed? What can healthcare
leaders do to advance DE&I?
Healthcare systems have a unique role
within the community. We can leverage
our partnerships and affiliations with
other entities to eliminate healthcare
disparities and address social determi-
nants of health, such as transportation,
food and security and access to care. As
one of the largest employers in one of
the most racially-segregated communi-
ties in the country, here in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, it is important for us to be a
leader in this area.
Hospital leaders tend to focus on
patients that come to their ERs,
hospitals or clinics, without really
thinking about removing some of the
disparities. If they go below the surface
and really look at the data, they will get
a better understanding of where the
disparities exist. It is a very eye-
opening experience. Throughout Covid,
disparities surfaced in different ways, in
terms of which patients actually
contracted Covid, who had more
complex conditions, and of course
vaccine hesitancy from different race
and ethnic groups, etc.
If they really want to make a difference,
they need to look at their data, and try
to understand where they have
disparities including within their staffing
and leadership teams. It has to start
with really wanting to learn and educate
the system.
What challenges do they face when
trying to implement such initia-
tives?
On our journey, we began by under-
standing where the disparities are and
the unconscious biases that exist within
the organization. We are all products of
how we were raised, educated and our
social surroundings. The first step is
tough, because many people do not
believe it is the healthcare system’s role
to address this. But we see people who
have been neglected for years, who end
up in ER because of those disparities.
One of the biggest barriers is just
educating the system and being willing
to have dialogue around it. When you
start to educate your teams about
addressing the imbalances, many
people will question why this is the
health system’s problem to address.
However, once they use data to connect
the dots they start thinking differently.
The next step after informing employees
of our plan is influencing our work
environment. We have to lead by
example, throughout not only our
workforce and how we engage them,
but also our community. We have
invested a significant amount of time on
campaigns to not only condemn racism,
but to actually “eradicate” racism. When
you set the goal that high, it definitely
sends a message. This term “eradicate
racism” is a point of emphasis – we
display this in our facilities and
incorporate it as part of our mission,
vision, and values. We use our position
and brand within the market to
influence and educate people. It is a
journey that we ask our team members
to take a leadership role on.
How does having a more diverse
and inclusive workplace impact
patient outcomes and the organiza-
tion’s bottom line?
We believe that we can do good by
doing good. By focusing on where some
of the disparities exist, we can better
track gaps in care. Traditionally we
would look at what percentage of the
general population was getting
mammograms, for example, but when
we looked at the data we found that the
percentage of African American women
getting mammograms was much lower.
That allowed us to intentionally focus on
it and raise awareness. As a result, we
have seen an increase in the volume of
screenings.
Healthcare systems should also think
about the staffing issues we are facing.
How do we address some of the gaps,
whether it is in nursing, ICU care or
clinic staffing? Because we have taken a
leadership position, the diversity within
our staff has increased as well. We are
attracting populations into healthcare
that were traditionally on the outside or
not thinking about it. When they see us
taking a position of leadership, it starts
to circulate within those different ethnic
communities that our organization
would be a good place to work as we
take this so seriously. We are seeing an
increase not only in the number of
diverse candidates but also the
employee engagement among our
diverse staff. This has helped differenti-
ate us in the market and attract new
employees.
Any final words of advice?
It is not enough to be aware of these
barriers. We have to develop strategies
to really make a difference. It has to
start at the top. The organizational
goals and strategic goals should really
put a stake in the ground, and then
measure the initiatives and tactics used
to close the gaps in health disparities.
Closing Gaps in Health Disparities by
Having a More Diverse Workforce
It has to
start at
the top

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