Multi-Prong Program Launching in 2021 is Supported by an Educational Grant from the Johnson & Johnson Institute* to Educate Healthcare Providers and Offer Real-World Solutions to Address Unconscious Bias and Disparities in Care
BETHESDA, Maryland (March 4, 2021) – CME Outfitters (CMEO), a leading accredited provider of continuing medical education (CME), today announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to educate clinicians on unconscious bias and healthcare disparities and provide actionable steps to improve health outcomes among all patients, including underserved and marginalized populations. This initiative is supported by an educational grant from the Johnson & Johnson Institute* as part of the company’s commitment to invest in and promote health equity solutions. CMEO is a division of KnowFully Learning Group, which is backed by NexPhase Capital, LP, a thematic and operationally focused private equity firm.
— View a video overview of the initiative here.
This new initiative, which includes the creation and delivery of a comprehensive set of outcomes-driven educational activities, is titled: Addressing Unconscious Bias and Disparities in Healthcare: A Call to Action. The initiative will kick off with an educational roundtable meeting that brings together diverse viewpoints from a wide range of thought leaders, multidisciplinary clinicians, and patients. The key learnings from the roundtable will inform the subsequent educational activities, including a whitepaper, webcasts, podcasts, and clinical case series. The instructional design will include real-world scenarios, solutions, best practices, and actionable steps healthcare providers can use in their own practices to recognize and combat bias and disparities in care.
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare, most clinicians believe that healthcare disparities have more to do with the systems of care than their own decisions on when and how to provide care. This initiative focuses on helping healthcare providers recognize, inform, act, and assess how changes in their daily practice can improve care and outcomes for their patients.
Jan Perez, Senior Vice President of CME Outfitters, said, “The instructional design model reflects a proven method of first clarifying the issues at hand, and then designing interactive and engaging educational formats that not only arm healthcare providers with the knowledge to recognize these issues, but also empower them with tools to drive change in their clinical practice. CMEO delivers innovative evidence-based educational activities to thousands of clinicians each year and we are pleased to be bringing these important topics to the forefront.”
Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of CME Outfitters’ mission. 85% of CMEO employees are women, and the Company has increased the number of women serving as national physician faculty by 250% since 2018. Over the past two years, CMEO has also successfully enhanced racial, ethnic and age diversity of faculty across its educational catalog.
“We know that Black and Brown patients are often subjected to inequitable care, including access to providers, medicines and follow-up, as well as delays in treatment,” said Shari Tordoff, Senior Vice President of CME Outfitters and mentor of the Latinx Female Entrepreneur Program. “This initiative is an important step in helping providers understand and address the barriers and stigma that can create these types of inequities and ultimately impede quality care for underserved patients.”
“KnowFully Learning Group is proud of the work CMEO is doing to address healthcare disparities and unconscious bias as a CME organization and is honored to partner with the Johnson & Johnson Institute* on such a critically important healthcare initiative,” said Eric Cantor, CEO of KnowFully Learning Group. “Perhaps the most important thing we can do as an education provider is to support and advance initiatives like this that not only educate clinicians about a dire need in healthcare today, but also make a difference for a significant number of patient groups who need advocacy.”
All educational activities will be hosted on the CMEO website and offer CME/CE credit for three years. Clinicians who participate in three or more activities will receive a “certificate of commitment” in addressing unconscious bias and racial disparities. Visit www.cmeoutfitters.com to stay current on the latest content and updates regarding this initiative.
About CME Outfitters
CME Outfitters develops, distributes and certifies continuing education activities that focus on the integration of the multidisciplinary care team to ensure the best care of patients. CME Outfitters’ educational interventions include interactive webcasts, live symposia, medical simulations, clinical case series and other innovative formats that leverage the latest in technology to optimize the learning environment and promote clinician and patient behavior changes. CME Outfitters also offers expert accreditation, outcome and logistics services for non-accredited organizations. In July of 2020, CME Outfitters became part of KnowFully Learning Group, a leading provider of continuing professional education and exam preparation courses to the healthcare and financial services sectors. For more information, visit www.cmeoutfitters.com.
About KnowFully
Founded in 1985 as Surgent McCoy CPE, LLC, the KnowFully Learning Group is now a leading provider of end-to-end professional education in the accounting, finance and healthcare sectors. KnowFully’s brands enable students and professionals to more efficiently prepare for and pass professional licensure exams, satisfy required credit hours to maintain credentials and leverage the comprehensive, practical, in-depth continuing education they need to remain at the forefront of their industries thereafter. For more information, please visit www.knowfully.com.
About NexPhase
NexPhase Capital, LP is a thematic and operationally focused private equity firm that invests in lower middle market growth-oriented companies within three distinct sectors: consumer, healthcare, and software & services. The firm partners with companies that have reached a growth inflection point and are seeking a value-added partner to help navigate the company’s “next phase.” The NexPhase team has extensive industry and operational experience and NexPhase’s partners have invested together for nearly a decade. The firm has completed over 75 investments including add-ons and targets control equity investments between $25 million and $200 million. For more information, please visit www.NexPhase.com.
*Grant funding provided by the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies
