With the merging of all three hospitals and the preliminary
observation, it was discovered that all the hospitals need to be
trained to enhance the efficiency of the HIM department. a St.
Catherine's staff and patients are from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds and are linguistically diverse. St Luke's is known for
having the most diverse patient population in the city but its staff
diversity is low in the area of age diversity while Hickman has the
lowest diversity rate. It has historically served predominantly low-
income caucasian patient population, mainly of Medicaid and
Medicare. Some of the recommended training for Gateway Health
System are:
• Religious difference awareness: Varying background comes
with various religious beliefs and affiliations, creating awareness
will enable staff respects each other's unique beliefs.
• Recruit and retain minority staff while also providing training to
increase cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Gateway
healthcare should also provide an interpreter service for this
training.
• HIPAA training: Gateway should mandate HIPAA compliance
training and certification for all HIM employees. The training
can be taken in both Spanish and English and once the
employee passes the training, they get to earn a HIPAA
certificate, which is valid for two years.
The goal is to create a culture where individual differences are
respected and all employees are treated equally and receive the same
opportunities for growth and advancement while upholding the
vision of the organization by serving the community and protecting
their health information. It's important for all employees to feel
inclusive. Inclusion increases collaboration, higher employee
engagement, reduced turnover, improves profits and creates a
stronger brand identity.
References
11 ways to increase workplace diversity. ASME. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/11-ways-to-
increase-workplace-diversity
