Ensure accountability and increase DEI awareness among all senior leaders of the organization.

Develop measurable goals related to DEI in areas of safety, quality, and patient experience.

Baystate Health is a large integrated healthcare delivery system in Western Massachusetts. For many years we have utilized a balanced performance scorecard with the categories of safety, quality, experience, and value. We develop measurable goals each year in each area that are linked to the incentive compensation of all 250 of the most senior leaders in the organization, including the CEO, Senior VPs, VPs, and Clinical Department Chairs. In addition to these performance goals, there are typically two to three strategic organizational goals. For the last two years, we have included measures of diversity in hiring among leaders, providers, and nurses as a strategic organizational goal. This year, we have added specific measures of healthcare disparities by race and ethnicity to our performance goals in safety, quality, and experience. These include measurement of performance by race and ethnicity for adherence to sepsis protocols, control of blood pressure, screening for breast cancer, and “willingness to recommend” answers on patient experience surveys. The broadening of DEI into mainstream performance goals emphasizes the importance of dealing with healthcare disparities as part of our overall improvement efforts and holds all top leaders accountable to deliver on performance against those goals.

Incorporation of measures of race and ethnicity into goals that are linked to incentive compensation for 250 senior leaders.

Mark A. Keroack, MD, President & CEO