As the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” movement has suffered political setbacks, so many healthcare organizations have attempted to conceal their DEI activities that reformers may find it difficult to be shocked. Still, the work of Trinity Health in this vein is notable for its cynicism.
Trinity Health is one of the largest Catholic health systems in the country, operating hospitals and clinics in 23 states and employing 133,000 people. Until at least July of last year, the system’s “The Common Good” page featured a link to a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Annual Report,” yearly versions of which “highlight[ed] notable achievements … including: diversifying our governing bodies, attracting and retaining a diverse workforce, fostering an inclusive environment, advancing health equity, and supporting diverse suppliers.”
The link to this material has now vanished. However, visiting the old “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Annual Report” URL redirects one to an almost identical page titled, simply, “Annual Report.”
The reports themselves seem not to have changed, nor has most of the page’s language. Yet a casual visitor is no longer confronted with the overt reference to DEI.
Nevertheless, there is every reason to believe that Trinity Health’s DEI operations are ongoing.
In the most recent version of Trinity Health’s annual DEI report, CEO and President Mike Slubowski stated in an embedded video that the organization’s commitment to DEI “has never been more important,” that Trinity Health is advancing DEI “at every level of the organization,” and that “the work of D-E-I won’t D-I-E at Trinity Health.”
In the same document, Senior Vice President for Health Equity and Human Impact LaRonda Haller (at that time senior vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion) stated that DEI was “paramount” to Trinity Health’s mission and that, despite “fierce opposition and backlash,” Trinity Health is “committed to staying the course” in support of DEI because it is “central to our identity, our calling, and our responsibility as a healing ministry.”
At Trinity Health’s MLK Health Equity Symposium 2025, Haller related that Trinity Health is “deeply committed to advancing health equity” (2:51). In the same video, she thanked CEO and President Slubowski and other “senior leaders” for their “relentless dedication to advancing health equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion” (16:40).
This tactic — seeming to back away from DEI while nevertheless pushing it forward — is difficult to characterize as other than intentional. In an April 2024 Catholic Health World article, Haller (at that time LaRonda Chastang) explained that, “[i]f those three letters — ‘D’ period, ‘E’ period, ‘I’ period — are causing people to trip up and I need to talk about it differently, I’ll update my language so that I can bring people along.”
Trinity Health apparently supported Haller’s statements, posting the article on Facebook and noting that Haller “continues to promote DEI in the face of backlash.”
These are not the actions of an organization that is truly backing away from its DEI activities.
At present, Trinity Health operates a Transforming Communities Initiative (TCI), a “5-year, $16 million grant to advance equity in 9 of Trinity Health communities.”
In March of last year, TCI hosted a “2025 Learning Institute” where participants were provided with an “attendee packet” containing numerous references to “racial equity” and one reference to “DEI resources.” The latter fell explicitly under the heading “TCI Expectations for use of grant dollars.”
On page 33, a three-sentence summary describing TCI refers to “health and racial equity” twice.
Participants also received a “TCI Shared Glossary,” a document that defines various DEI buzzwords and pushes a clear pro-DEI position. For example, “racism” is said to involve “one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination” against another. Members of “disadvantaged” groups thus cannot perpetrate racism by definition.
While Trinity Health is clearly deemphasizing its DEI commitment in its most public-facing materials (e.g., on its website, where a current search for DEI generates only a few hits), digging a little deeper reveals that its DEI activities have not ceased. Indeed, they are alive and well.
That may be good politics, but it is misleading nonetheless.
