Developed and launched a series of diversity and inclusion-based trainings and expectations for team members. The “A Civil and Respectful Workplace”, “Mitigating Cognitive Bias” and “Cultural Humility” trainings have been well received by team members.

Added two diversity and inclusion-based survey questions to the annual employee engagement survey to assess our culture of inclusion.

Developed and launched a team member training on the importance of collecting patients’ race, ethnicity and language data, often referred to as “REaL data”.

Added a one-hour trauma informed care training to IU Health Physicians’ new provider and faculty orientation schedule. Providers will learn and identify how they can use trauma-informed approaches in their roles with patients and other team members to reduce the potential for re-traumatization, promote healing, uphold IU Health’s commitment to diversity, people, equity, learning, and inclusion, and live out our value of Compassion.

Piloted a program that sponsors English as Second Language (ESL) courses for non-English speaking team members.

IU Health developed and launched a series of diversity and inclusion-based training and expectations for team members. The “A Civil and Respectful Workplace: Building a Strong Affirmative Culture” was launched first and was received positively by team members.

IU Health elevated team members’ voices through additional and enhanced Diversity Councils.

IU Health boosted support for team members’ racial and ethnic experiences.

IU Health has increased the size and capabilities of its Office for Diversity and Inclusion and is introducing civility training/expectations for all team members.

Last year IU Health increased starting wage levels from $13/hr. to $16/hr. as a pay equity strategy to enable pathways to better jobs. In 2022 we increased team members’ starting pay from $16/hr. to $18/hr. after two years of service.

The Mosaic Center for Work, Life and Learning, a workforce-development project led by IU Health in collaboration with community partners, helped approximately 182 adults engage with programs including receiving medical assistant certifications, job offers and shadowing opportunities, as well as integrated career, financial and resource coaching.

This year, a group of 66 students became the second class of the IU Health Fellows at Crispus Attucks High School, the pilot medical magnet curriculum and career pathway program led by IU Health and Indianapolis Public Schools. After a year of classroom learning, the first class of fellows moved into the hospital setting over the summer, completed approximately 4,830 internship hours collectively, and rotated through multiple medical specialties over a six week period. Teens get a jumpstart on careers in healthcare | IU Health

IU Health Foundation held an event focusing on IU Health's commitment to health and health equity for patients and communities of color. At this event, guests learned about IU Health programs and initiatives that are actively addressing health disparities and barriers to care for Black Hoosiers in Marion County, as well as IU Health Foundation’s Racial Equity in Healthcare Fund.

IU Health’s $200 million Community Impact Investment Fund awards grants annually to support mission-based projects and programs designed to address the social determinants of health and health disparities that can impact the communities IU Health serves. In 2022 we awarded $9.5 million. In 2021, we awarded $4.3 million. IU Health grants will support housing and training needs | IU Health

IU Health was the host and sponsor of heart health community screening events (blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI) increasing awareness of personal cardiovascular health and offering referrals for medical care and social service resources to manage cardiovascular health.

Launched “We Ask Because We Care”, a public-facing marketing campaign in partnership with Eskenazi Health and Community Health Network to inform Hoosiers on REaL data. This campaign highlights the importance of healthcare organizations gathering patient information on race, ethnicity and language and how it helps ensure all patients receive the highest level of care.

IU Health’s Indianapolis Health Equity Access outreach & Treatment (iHEART) Collaborative outreach in partnership with Community Health, touched more than 3,500 community members and provided more than 150 blood pressure screenings in community settings.

Health Equity Research Collaborative was created to champion the Health Equity Advancing through Learning health system Research (HEAL-R) and will fund 12 pilot studies to improve access, experience and outcomes of care.

The Design and Construction team increased IU Health’s diversity spend from the previous year. The team also created a new procurement workflow, created a new diversity vendor survey and added 4,000 new vendors. Throughout the year, over 1,400 individuals attended a dozen D&C-lead community engagement events focused on construction opportunities. Over 155 MBE/WBE/VBE vendors were added to our design and construction network. The advisory council led focus groups that comprised of over 70 companies that make up XBE corporations, faith-based organizations, community development corporations, unions and more. IU Health engaged youth program pipelines and launched an on-site survey to ensure workforce diversity was captured.

The Supplier Diversity Team continued to improve our data and analytics foundation on community engagement and reporting, developing core business processes that will drive improvement and assessing IU Health supplier diversity spend baseline for future goal setting.

IU Health is an active contributor to the Business Equity for Indy (BEI) a joint effort of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, the Indy Chapter, in collaboration with the Indianapolis Urban League to grow a more inclusive business climate and build greater equity and economic opportunity for the Indy Region’s residents of color. IU Health’s President and CEO, Dennis Murphy, co-chairs the Impediments to Health pillar which addresses barriers to healthcare access, public health funding, and community health challenges that disproportionately affect people of color in Indianapolis. In 2022, playbooks were created for businesses to help address vaccination, mental health, maternal and infant health and healthy food issues within their business.

IU Health created the position of Chief Health Equity Officer. This team member will examine IU Health’s internal operations and clinical care through the lens of the diverse patients and communities that IU Health serves; focus on ensuring equitable levels of and access to care, treating people equitably and respectfully according to the IU Health values; and addressing long-standing public health disparities that highlight inequities in healthcare.

IU Health increased starting wage levels from $13/hr. to $16/hr. as a pay equity strategy to enable pathways to better jobs.

IU Health influenced COVID-19 protocols and equitable rollout plan. IU Health has also addressed vaccine hesitancy and adoption, especially in underserved communities.

IU Health deeply embedded diversity, equity and inclusion practices and ideals into the patient experience. Our Voice of the Customer survey panels have diversified, we are expanding our language services strategy and our patient data system gathers a wider variety of information on patients.

IU Health invested in youth and young adult initiatives such as supporting the Mosaic Center, launching a partnership with Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School and investing in the Center for Leadership Development.

IU Health selected an infant mortality program as the first recipient of the IU Health Foundation Racial Equity Fund.

IU Health developed additional supplier diversity tools to enable better decision-making capabilities. IU Health also created the position of Design & Construction Diversity and Inclusion Director to help the system become more intentional about outreach with diverse suppliers.

IU Health connected with officials on all government levels to lobby better access to healthcare, increased funding, reduced healthcare inequalities and better investments in public health.

IU Health is examining data on disparities in access to care and health outcomes both within its own health system and in communities across Indiana. Current progress includes significant work to address infant mortality in Indiana, which fell to its lowest level last year. IU Health has also identified measurable outcomes to improve access to care among underserved communities.

IU Health has increased starting pay rates, initiated a pilot program with Indianapolis Public Schools and Crispus Attucks High School to expand healthcare related jobs for high school graduates and enhanced commitments to minority, women and veteran-owned business (XBE) suppliers. On major capital construction projects, IU Health has committed that 25% of all contracts be awarded to XBE contractors, and it commits to achieving that goal during the construction of its downtown academic medical center in downtown Indianapolis.