Dedicated to eliminating structural racism in healthcare, University of Pennsylvania Health System CEO Kevin Mahoney linked the salaries of 600 health system and medical school executives to improving Black birthing outcomes during the fiscal year beginning September 1, 2020. 

Penn Medicine leaders created a composite quality metric that includes measures for hemorrhage, infection, and embolism; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention severe maternal morbidity metrics; and medical record codes related to preeclampsia.

All five Penn Medicine hospitals with labor and delivery services identified a physician, nurse, and quality leader to participate in a monthly learning collaborative to share their progress toward the system-wide goal. The health system also worked to build a broader anti-racist workforce culture by: 

• Launching a mentorship program for executives to learn from community health workers about responding to patients’ needs
• Establishing a diversity, equity, and inclusion chair within every clinical department
• Requiring unconscious bias training for clinicians, faculty, and staff 

In the initiative’s first year, Penn Medicine saw a 29% reduction in severe pregnancy complications.

Mahoney expects the formal goal to continue for several years. “We want to get it to a point where it’s hardwired in and [the health equity work] is happening regardless of whether it’s in the printed goals,” he said.