On Oct. 27, the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), under the leadership of President J. Thornton Kirby, assembled diversity management champions from hospitals across the state. The one-day symposium attracted more than 20 hospital leaders, who began the work of developing the infrastructure to support a membership affiliation with SCHA. The end goal is equal access, enhanced care delivery and improved medical outcome for South Carolina patients.

SCHA Vice President Jim Head opened the meeting with an affirmation of the importance of this first-in-the-country initiative.

"The collaboration among leaders to improve patient care from a diversity management perspective will allow SCHA to weave the concepts of cultural competency, inclusion, and the elimination of disparities into the total fabric of health care in our state," he said. "We are proud of our innovative approach to increase participation in the work of SCHA and we are proud of those leaders who stepped up to plan the implementation."

Following a brief networking lunch, several of those leaders responded to questions about diversity initiatives currently underway in various South Carolina hospitals and future plans for the new membership group as part of a panel discussion. Elizabeth Wood of Spartanburg Regional, Willis "Trip" Gregory of Palmetto Health in Columbia, Nichole "Kay" White from Marion County Medical Center, Kinneil Coltman of the Greenville Hospital System and Juana Slade from AnMed Health responded to questions from Deborah May, assistant vice president for diversity at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY, who moderated the session.

Guest speakers Fred Hobby of the Institute for Diversity and Amy Wilson-Stronks of The Joint Commission provided an historical overview of diversity management initiatives in South Carolina, along with a national overview of potential standards and regulatory expectations for hospitals in 2011.

Slade acknowledged that most of the diversity practitioners in the state held previous roles in the hospital management field, and they understand the culture and infrastructure of the field. "This gives us a tremendous advantage when working internally with our CEOs to move the needle on equity. In fact, my chief executive officer, John Miller, created the term 'differentiology' to uniquely describe diversity perspective at AnMed Heatlh and has been a champion from the outset of our efforts," said Slade. "We are using the simplicity of 'differentiology' to enhance cultural competence at all levels of the organization, to advance our commitment to equal employment opportunities at all levels of the organization, and to better utilize diversity management as a strategy to improve patient safety and quality of care."