Enhancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace and our CME/CE Program

We recognize the importance of cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace, as well as reflecting those same values throughout all aspects of our CME program.

 As part of our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Pri-Med partnered with a UK-based technology provider and consultancy, Clusivity. They helped us to implement a fully anonymous internal employee survey to measure inclusion from a holistic and equity lens, covering gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background and disability/health condition. 93% of our workforce participated in the survey, providing great insights for improvement. In response to the Clusivity survey results, we set a goal of increasing our workforce representation of underrepresented groups from 12% to 20% across the US and Canada by the end of 2024, so that we can better represent the populations that we serve.

This commitment also impacts our CME/CE program management including faculty and content.  Since 2020, Pri-Med has made a concerted effort to not only diversify our faculty speakers and CME/CE Advisory Board, but also to incorporate discussions around health equity into the content itself.

Educational Strategy:

To ensure that we took an approach to DEI that targeted the right areas and made a meaningful impact in our workplace, our first step was a data-gathering exercise with Clusivity. Clusivity’s methodology is based on academic research on labor market inequalities. The results take an equity lens to identify where we maintain equitable and inequitable practices within our organization.

We have used this data to implement a multi-faceted DEI strategy. To encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to apply to Pri-Med, we highlight our commitment to DEI. We introduced an internship program for employees from non-dominant groups including minoritized racial and ethnic communities, the LGBTQIA+ community, and those with disabilities.

We partner with a Black woman owned and led DEI training provider to facilitate workshops on diversity, equity and inclusion companywide.

We created an internal DEI Committee which consists of 16 employees. They encourage staff to add pronouns to their email signatures to ensure we are respecting people’s gender identities, both internally and externally.

To carry our DEI efforts into our CME/CE program, Pri-Med launched a re-occurring web-series aimed at educating PCPs on different aspects of African American health. Additionally, Pri-Med has developed education on topics such as health inequalities, microaggressions, implicit bias, identification of dermatologic conditions on skin of color, and strategies to overcoming cost and access barriers among minority populations. 

Patient-Level Outcome(s) Measured:

We believe cultivating a diverse, inclusive organization is directly linked to our ability to create a CME/CE program representative of the communities we serve.

As of June 2023, our workforce representation of minoritized ethnic employees has increased from 12% to 18% across the US and Canada.  We foster an inclusive environment with a turnover rate of < 10%. All Pri-Med employees report feeling safe, respected, and valued, driving above average Clusivity scores for every group for “Cultivating an Inclusive Culture”. Our Clusivity partnership resulted in a multi-faceted DEI strategy, including recruitment, our new internship program focused on minority candidate development, and introducing Management by Objectives to promote equitable, transparent progression opportunities.

 DEI efforts have also resulted in positive outcomes within our CME/CE program. This year, we’ve collaborated with more faculty who are new to our program, resulting in a greater percentage (+17% over 2022) that are diverse. This metric isn’t exact, given “diversity” isn’t a checkbox and can’t necessarily be seen. A Black physician who is an expert in Black American health and healthcare  recently joined our Advisory Board to provide a more diverse perspective to that group; another member is Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at their institution, also providing great insights.

With the support of our Leadership Team, we look forward to continued progress led by our DEI Committee. Given this implementation is in early phases, we look forward to having additional outcomes to share by the Alliance Conference.