Violet Benchmarks measure an individual provider’s ability to deliver culturally competent care to patients in three distinct communities (LGBQ, TGNC, and BIPOC). Your initial Benchmarks should be viewed as a snapshot of cultural competence at the time you accept your invite and complete your profile. Violet Benchmarks are dynamic, and increase as you add additional training and education (including those completed outside of Violet!), or experiences that are relevant to LGBQ, TGNC, and BIPOC communities.

Violet determines your Benchmarks using a proprietary framework that was designed by clinical experts. Our benchmarking methodology is derived from countless research sources including, patient and clinician user interviews, as well as clinical models including Culturally Competent Community Care (CCCC) Model (Kim-Godwin, et al., 2001), 3-Dimensional Puzzle Piece Model of Culturally Congruent Care (Schim, et al., 2007), The Process of Cultural Competence in Delivery of Healthcare Services (Campinha-Bacote, 2002) among others.

Using decades of existing research and provider and patient interviews, we developed our benchmarking framework to include five core elements of cultural competence – education and training, work experience, lived experience, communities of interest, and self-efficacy. 

We validated our methodology with partnering organizations by using their providers’ Benchmarks to facilitate better patient-provider matches. Our results showed increased retention and adherence to treatment among patients who were paired with inclusive providers.

The five elements of your cultural competence Benchmarks:

Lived experience.

Your lived experience information comes from the attestations of race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality entered in the competencies section for each individual community. Being a part of a community, unsurprisingly, impacts your Benchmark more heavily than having a family member or other kin that identifies as a member of a community, however, both are instrumental in contributing to your Benchmarks.

Work experience.

As your work experience is one of the most important indicators of your level of cultural competence, it is weighted the highest. In addition to the nature of the position, we take into account; years spent in the role and percentage of each community represented within your patient population.

Education.

Education history is the other most impactful factor on your Benchmarks. We take into account any specific educational experiences, courses, and trainings that enrich your understanding of and increase your ability to support BIPOC, LGBQ, and/or TGNC communities. These may include general courses on cultural competence or health equity — or a specific focus on one of these communities. Your education history contributes to your Benchmarks based on the course topic, number of credits, and year the course was taken. We recommend including education from the past five years, as cultural competence research and best practices are continuously evolving.

Communities of interest.

Your communities of interest calculation is based on the self selection in the Let us know more about your experience module that appears when you are indicating your competencies within each specific community. A desire to work more with a specific community impacts your Benchmark, though less so than other factors.

Self-efficacy. 

For each community, you’re asked to rate your level of confidence delivering care to each community. This self-attestation contributes to your Benchmark. While these responses impact your Benchmarks less than work experience, we still consider it important to include, as self-efficacy allows providers to approach culture-specific considerations with confidence. We recommend updating your levels of confidence as you see fit, as you progress through education or complete any external training.

Borchum (2002) described cultural competence as "a non-linear dynamic process that is never-ending and ever expanding. It is built on increases in knowledge and skill development related to its attributes." 

Improving cultural competence requires ongoing and adaptive learning through Violet e-learnings, continuing medical education, workshops and more. These initiatives ideally create opportunities for self-reflection and allow you to actively apply your learnings to your clinical practice. It is unlikely that any provider will reach excellence through Violet education alone. We recommend reviewing your profile every 6 months to make sure your information is current and adding relevant work or education experience. As you add new entries, your Benchmark will update accordingly.

Your Benchmarks will give you a better understanding of your level of cultural competence delivering care to a specific community, relative to your peers in the same specialty.  Equipped with that knowledge, you’ll be able to expand your skill set with Violet’s CE/CME accredited course library.

Provider organizations and networks use Benchmarks for a variety of reasons including to:

• Gain a better understanding of how well a care delivery team or network meets the needs of culturally diverse patients. 
• Collect aggregate SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) and REaL (Race, Ethnicity, and Language capabilities) data for regulatory reporting.
• Connect BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ patients with culturally appropriate care.
• Inform strategies for organization-wide quality improvement programs.
• Incorporate inclusivity into reimbursement rate structure.

As part of our partnership with your organization, in many cases, we have collected the following information up front: first and last name, role/title, email address, and NPI number.

We understand details about your identity are very personal and we’re committed to making sure the information you share is private. The personal information you enter after you’ve accepted Violet’s invitation — your race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity is only viewable by you. We collect this data and display it in the aggregate to your sponsoring organization’s administrator so they have greater insights into the diversity of their team or network. The only information your sponsoring organization is able to access on an individual basis are the Benchmarks you’ve received, and your education progress.

Overall guidance:

• Add any clinical work experience in which you provided care to the BIPOC, LGBQ, and TGNC communities, including your current position.
• Work experiences may include clinical practice, internship, practicums, patient or health coordination, or supervisory roles. 

Examples of work experiences that are relevant to your Benchmarks.

Examples of work experiences that are not relevant to your Benchmarks.

Further experience includes work and activities that may contribute to the understanding of BIPOC, LGBQ and TGNC communities which may be relevant to healthcare. From volunteering at community-specific organizations, to serving on boards advancing care for communities, this experience demonstrates dedication to the health and wellbeing of the communities served.

Includes:

• Volunteering: Community service, mutual aid work.
• Advocacy: Policy, grassroots organizing, community engagement.
• Teaching: Continuing education courses, college classes, didactics.
• Research: Principal investigator, academic research, publications, clinical trials.
• Leadership: Board membership, ERG leadership, committees.

Doesn't include:

• Clinical work experience.
• Lived experience — self, family, or friends.
• Traveling or study abroad.