Forbes on Tuesday released its list of "America's Best Employers for Diversity," recognizing 36 health systems and 54 other health care organizations for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

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Methodology

For the list, Forbes and statistics firm Statista surveyed 60,000 Americans who work for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. Surveys were conducted from September to October 2021.

Respondents were asked to rate their organizations on several criteria, including age, gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation equality. They were also asked to rate the organization's general diversity. Then, Statista asked respondents who belong to underrepresented groups to nominate organizations outside of their own.

The final list ranks the 500 employers that received the highest number of recommendations, as well as the most diverse boards and executive ranks, and the most proactive DEI initiatives. Forbes noted that the health care industry is under particular pressure to improve DEI-related outcomes in light of the stark racial disparities across health outcomes.

Overall, insurance company Progressive ranked number one.

The best health systems for diversity

In total, the list recognized 36 health systems for their commitment to DEI, including:

19. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center* (Dallas, TX)

40. ChristianaCare* (Newark, DE)

41. University of Utah Health Care* (Salt Lake City, UT)

46. Cincinnati Children's (Cincinnati, OH)

55. UCLA Health* (Los Angeles, CA)

57. University Health, Kansas City* (Kansas City, MO)

74. Henry Ford Health System* (Detroit, MI)

77. Cleveland Clinic* (Cleveland, OH)

90. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia* (Philadelphia, PA)

94. Baptist Health Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL)

95. Duke University Health System* (Durham, NC)

102. MD Anderson Cancer Center* (Houston, TX)

113. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center* (New York, NY)

118. Nationwide Children's Hospital* (Columbus, OH)

124. Johns Hopkins Medicine* (Baltimore, MD)

129. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta* (Atlanta, GA)

142. Mayo Clinic* (Rochester, MN)

147. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center* (Columbus, OH)

161. Cook Children's Health Care* (Fort Worth, TX)

163. Moffitt Cancer Center* (Tampa, FL)

175. Deaconess Health System* (Evansville, IN)

184. University of Rochester Medical Center* (Rochester, NY)

199. WakeMed* (Raleigh, NC)

202. Parkland Health & Hospital System (Dallas, TX)

215. Legacy Health* (Portland, OR)

221. Penn Medicine* (Philadelphia, PA)

222. Methodist Health System* (Dallas, TX)

242. Novant Health* (Winston-Salem, NC)

243. NYU Langone Health (New York, NY)

252. SSM Health* (Saint Louis, MO)

259. Aurora Health Care* (Milwaukee, WI/Downers Grove, IL)

260. Vanderbilt University Medical Center* (Nashville, TN)

274. CHRISTUS Health* (Irving, TX)

305. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute* (Boston, MA)

317. Boston Children's Hospital (Boston, MA)

417. JPS Health Network* (Fort Worth, TX)

Other health care honorees

Forbes also recognized 54 other health care organizations for their commitment to DEI, including:

14. Mutual of Omaha (Omaha, NE)

15. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina* (Durham, NC)

28. Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine)

34. Pfizer* (New York, NY)

39. Unum (Chattanooga, TN)

66. YMCA of the USA (Chicago, IL)

67. Genentech* (South San Francisco, CA)

69. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan* (Detroit, MI)

96. Highmark Health* (Pittsburgh, PA)

104. United Nations (New York, NY)

108. Lockton Companies (Kansas City, MO)

110. BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee (Chattanooga, TN)

114. DexCom (San Diego, CA)

116. Johnson & Johnson* (New Brunswick, NJ)

138. AbbVie* (North Chicago, IL)

171. Boston Scientific* (Marlborough, MA)

172. Florida Blue* (Jacksonville, FL)

179. Stryker* (Kalamazoo, MI)

181. Sevita* (Boston, MA)

183. Bristol Myers Squibb* (New York, NY)

189. Gilead Sciences (Foster City, CA)

190. Cigna* (Bloomfield, CT)

191. Merck & Co.* (Kenilworth, NJ)

195. Phillips (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

210. Medtronic* (Dublin, Ireland)

218. Teladoc Health* (Purchase, NY)

228. Anthem (Indianapolis, IN)

232. Roche Holding (Basel, Switzerland)

238. Cardinal Health* (Dublin, OH)

263. Humana* (Louisville, KY)

266. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions* (Chicago, IL)

288. Health First* (Rockledge, FL)

289. Cerner* (North Kansas City, MO)

296. Eli Lilly (Indianapolis, IN)

313. UnitedHealth Group* (Minnetonka, MN)

327. Health Care Service Corporation (Chicago, IL)

340. Medical Mutual of Ohio* (Cleveland, OH)

349. Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA)

360. Abbott Laboratories (Chicago, IL)

362. Delta Dental of California and Affiliates (San Francisco, CA)

365. ARUP Laboratories (Salt Lake City, UT)

381. Bio-Techne (Minneapolis, MN)

403. McKesson (Irving, TX)

416. ICON (Dublin, Ireland)

418. CareCentrix (Tampa, FL)

424. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Boston, MA)

426. Baxter International (Deerfield, IL)

429. Help at Home (Chicago, IL)

434. BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina* (Columbia, SC)

444. Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, NJ)

462. Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA)

466. Teleflex (Wayne, PA)

483. Boehringer Ingelheim* (Ridgefield, CT)

492. Zimmer Biomet* (Warsaw, IN)

*Denotes Advisory Board member

(Daily Briefing is published by Advisory Board, a division of Optum, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.)

(Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/27; Forbes, "America's Best Employers for Diversity," 4/26; Council, Forbes, 4/26)