In healthcare, bias can ultimately affect life and death decisions for patients. While artificial intelligence (AI) can help recruitment professionals streamline hiring processes, it must be used responsibly and with health equity in mind. At the recent SHRM Inclusion conference, Tamiko Stanley, Chief Diversity officer & Managing Partner of Elite Executive Strategies and Liz Mahan, AAPPR Director of Professional Development & Solutions, shared their insights on recruitment professionals’ roles in advancing health equity and how they can find a balance between human connection and AI for a more equitable healthcare system.
The Importance of Developing a Diverse Workforce
A diverse workforce in healthcare institutions is essential for addressing the unique needs and experiences of different patient populations and promoting cultural competence in care delivery. Diverse organizations are better positioned to grow, innovate, and to advance along with ever-evolving healthcare demands and emerging medical conditions.
The impact of a representative clinical workforce is significant. In fact, the most diverse organizations are the most successful ones. According to McKinsey, companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity show an average 27% financial advantage over others, and companies with representation of women exceeding 30% are significantly more likely to financially outperform those with 30% or fewer.
In healthcare, a diverse workforce can improve patient experiences and health outcomes and foster a culture of respect and collaboration. Data shows that there is a significant equity gap in both access to care and quality of care. For example, Black patients received lower quality care than White patients for about 40% of health equity measures in most recent studies. Recruitment professionals have a significant role to play in addressing these disparities by developing a diverse workforce within their organization.
How To Attract Diverse Talent
Building a diverse healthcare system starts with recruitment professionals, their strategies and their processes. Technology can’t replace people, or the soft skills needed for healthcare. It’s up to recruitment professionals to find the right people with the soft skills needed to build a workforce that truly represents the diversity of their community.
Recruitment professionals can do this by providing clear paths for career advancement to all employees, establishing a reputation for genuinely supporting diversity as well as building strong connections – not only within the organization but in the broader community as well. Other powerful ways to attract diverse talent include developing diverse and inclusive sourcing and screening strategies, being an active advocate for proactive recruitment and retention strategies and understanding your candidate through active listening and asking the right questions.
Benefits and Challenges of AI
Although AI comes with some challenges, it also has some benefits when used responsibly. It can help physician and provider recruitment professionals streamline the hiring process through resume screening, candidate matching, predictive analytics, automated scheduling and more.
To use AI responsibly and avoid bias, recruitment professionals should:
- Set DEI goals for AI processes
- Engage diverse communities and stakeholders in the process
- Create a recruitment review board to assess ethical/ DEI issues
- Partner to monitor and correlate health disparities and recruitment design
- Target specific roles for diverse talent and suspend AI processes
- Conduct long-term success comparisons
- Follow-up AI engagements when necessary
Teaching AI how to be human is an impossible task, so it’s essential you incorporate AI into your organization responsibly, using it to supplement, rather than to replace, human expertise and intentionality.
Effective DEI is heavily rooted in intentionality. As long as your organization prioritizes DEI in all aspects and incorporates AI in responsible ways, you are on the right path to ensuring equity for any patient that walks through your doors. Because after all, healthcare is all about humanity. To grow in your DEI journey and become aware of your own bias, check out AAPPR’s DEI Virtual Resource Center and DEI Micro-Certification. This topic will also be one of the sessions at the 2025 Annual Conference, Advancing Connections, in Phoenix, Arizona. Registration opens Dec. 3, so be sure to secure your spot for the opportunity to hear from and network with industry professionals.