Newsroom > People & Purpose > Diversity, Equity and Inclusion > VSP Vision Partners with HUED to Provide Elevated Cultural Competency and Humility Training for Network Doctors at No Cost
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. – VSP Vision™, the leader in delivering access to health-focused vision care, and HUED, a learning and development company that creates equitable and inclusive healthcare content, announce a partnership to offer Cultural Competency and Humility Training at no-cost for VSP® network doctors. Optometrists that complete the training will receive a continuing education credit (CE), council on optometric practitioner education (COPE) accreditation, and placement on the HUED Directory of Increased Visibility as a Culturally Competent and Humbled Provider.
“Cultural competency and cultural humility set the stage for inclusive patient communication and improved treatment in healthcare settings – especially for communities in need,” said VSP Vision Chief Diversity Officer Marvin Davenport. “Offering best-in-class Cultural Competency and Humility Training from HUED has the potential to both strengthen and differentiate providers in the VSP network and improve member and patient experiences.”
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, cultural competency training improves health care professionals’ knowledge, understanding, and skills for treating patients from culturally and socio-economically diverse backgrounds. In fact, improving cultural competence has been proven to help reduce health disparities and achieve patient satisfaction. In addition, many states are beginning to make this training mandatory for health professionals.
“At HUED, our mission is to advance health equity and improve overall patient outcomes for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people. We are doing that by educating healthcare professionals on how to better care for communities that have been typically overlooked and underserved,” said HUED CEO Kimberly Wilson. “We’re thrilled to work with VSP Vision to offer our customized and elevated training to their network of doctors who are among the first optometrists to be featured in our practitioner directory, making it more accessible for our patient community to find culturally informed and inclusive providers.”
In 2023, the VSP Vision Global Innovation Center partnered with HUED to offer HUED’s customized training to a select optometrist audience. While VSP Vision requires all network doctors to complete annual training in accordance with state and federal guidelines, this partnership tapped into a new educational platform to unlock additional certifications, offer an even deeper understanding of cultural competency, and provide new ways to further differentiate participating practices.
Of the 1,000 providers who participated in the initial limited offering, 98 percent said they gained valuable insights on how to better interact with patients and there was a 99 percent increase in providers that said they can now ‘implement and articulate’ the strategies needed to help close the health equity gap. Based on the feedback from providers in the pilot, the customized HUED training is now being rolled out network wide1.
“This unique training is customized specifically for optometry and allows us to deliver even more opportunities for providers to learn and strengthen patient care to better serve our VSP Vision Care clients and members,” said VSP Vision Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs Dr. Valerie Sheety-Pilon. “The feedback we received from our network doctors who participated in the initial course was overwhelmingly positive and we’re proud to roll this out network wide.”
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About VSP Vision At VSP Vision™, our purpose is to empower human potential through sight. As the first national not-for-profit vision benefits company, this is what drives everything we do. For nearly 70 years, VSP has been the leader in health-focused vision care. Every day, the people that power our complementary businesses—VSP® Vision Care, Marchon Eyewear, Inc., Visionworks®, Eyefinity®, Eyeconic®, VSP® Optics, and VSP® Ventures—work together to create a world where everyone can bring their best vision to life. That means providing affordable access to eye care and eyewear for more than 85 million members through a network of more than 41,000 doctors. It also means expanding access to vision care to those disadvantaged by income, distance, or disaster through VSP Vision™ Eyes of Hope®. To date, more than 4 million people in need have received access to no-cost eye care and eyewear through one of our Eyes of Hope programs. Learn more about how we’re reinvesting in greater vision, health, and opportunities for all at vspvision.com.
About HUED HUED’s mission is to advance health equity and improve overall patient outcomes for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people. We are doing that by educating healthcare professionals on how to better care for communities that have been typically overlooked and underserved. We replace outdated implicit bias training that passively "checks a box" with content and courses that train providers on cultural competency, how to be cognizant of health conditions that are largely missed on patients of color, and ways to provide culturally sensitive and humble care. Our best-in-class CE/CME accredited education system will measure, track, and train healthcare providers with transformative and evidence-based health equity content to ensure their ability to deliver culturally affirming care.
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[1] Results from VSP Vision survey of doctors post-training.