CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Joins Partnership to Expand Representation in Health Care

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs (Photo provided by CHI)

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs announced that it will be one of seven training sites for an initiative with CommonSpirit Health and the Morehouse School of Medicine to address a shortage of diverse clinicians and the need for more equitable health care.

The announcement marks the first phase of the More in Common Alliance, a 10-year, $100 million initiative to increase cultural competency and expand representation to improve both access and quality of care patients receive, CHI said in a news release. The partnership aims to increase medical education opportunities for more Black, indigenous and people of color.

CommonSpirit, a nonprofit, is the largest Catholic hospital system in the U.S. The Morehouse School of Medicine is part of Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta.

Other first-phase sites include undergraduate training opportunities at CommonSpirit hospitals in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; and Seattle, Washington. It also includes post-graduate residencies and fellowships in California in Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and Ventura County.

“We know that, statistically and anecdotally, patients have better outcomes when treated by a clinician who comes from a similar background,” Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO of the Morehouse School of Medicine, said in a statement. “Yet, in the medical field, there are far too few providers from underrepresented groups, and the impact that has on patient care is astounding. Through the More in Common Alliance, our aim is to change the math and the face of health care in the U.S.”

CHI St. Vincent established an internal residency program in 2021. The hospital system said that with the Morehouse School of Medicine as the program’s academic sponsor, post-graduate residents and fellows will benefit from training focused on addressing health inequities and underserved patients.

“We will expand our residency program with new opportunities that will build a more diverse and dynamic workforce that reflects the communities we serve,” said Dr. Douglas Ross, president of CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and market chief medical officer for CHI St. Vincent.