Main Line Health Hosts 10th Annual Healthcare Disparities Colloquium

On Friday June 11, Main Line Health hosted its 10th annual (second virtual) Healthcare Disparities Colloquium. Each year, employees from across Main Line Health join community leaders and our health care partners to discuss research, initiatives, and ideas that will allow us to address disparities in care and better serve our patients and community members.

“Every day we make it our mission to eliminate disparities in care and provide a safe and respectful environment for our patients, visitors and employees regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion or sexual orientation,” says Jack Lynch, FACHE, President and CEO, Main Line Health. “Hosting the 10th Colloquium is a true demonstration of Main Line Health’s collective dedication to identifying and addressing disparities in care and our commitment to advancing an environment of cultural competence and universal respect.”

This year’s event focused on the problem of systemic racism with a panel discussion of five prominent regional healthcare CEOs, moderated by Jack Lynch. The key topic was “What have we learned about systemic racism through the pandemic, and what will we do about it?”

Dr. Barbara Wadsworth, DNP, RN, Chief Operating Officer/ Chief Nursing Officer, Dr. Rosangely Cruz-Rojas, Director Performance Measurement, Improvement and Analytics and Dr. Gregory Churchill, Senior Resident in Internal Medicine started the presentation by exploring the data, breaking down the various demographics Main Line Health has recorded while also discussing the vaccine distribution challenges Main Line Health overcame and continues to face.

Additionally, leaders from hospitals in our region participated in the discussion about the healthcare disparities faced at each of their organizations, including Dixie P. James, President and COO of Einstein Medical Center; Stephen Klasko, President and CEO of Jefferson Health; Kevin Mahoney, MD, MBA, CEO of Penn Medicine; Dennis Pullin, FACHE President and CEO of Virtua Health; Michael Young, CEO of Temple University Health. This was followed by a session focused on disparities in health across the nation, with perspective from speaker Dwight Evans, Representative (D-PA 3rd District).

Representative Dwight Evans demonstrated his continued support of Main Line Health and Together for West Philadelphia through his closing remarks of this year’s Colloquium.

“Jack questioned the CEOs on how their health systems will work towards equity measures internally in their systems and what they feel needs to be accomplished in the Philadelphia region to rid healthcare institutions of policies that set up roadblocks to access for people of color,” Barry Mann, MD, Chief Academic Officer, Main Line Health said. “The CEO panel assembled was a highly influential group and Jack challenged them as to whether their heightened collaboration during the pandemic will continue. All the CEOs responded affirmatively, which could potentially usher in a new era of cooperation with a significant positive impact on the regional community.”