BJC's Steven Player Honored as a Chief DEI Officer to Know
Steven Player, PharmD, MBA, CDM, vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at BJC Health System, was named by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of “111 hospital and health system chief diversity, equity and inclusion officers to know” for 2024.
Player, who began his career with BJC as a pharmacy intern in 1995 and became a staff pharmacist in 1998, was named vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2020. At the time it was a newly created role for BJC’s Eastern Region, BJC HealthCare, established to advance BJC’s mission to improve the lives of the people and communities it serves. Additionally, Player and his team support the advancement of BJC’s culture, policies, and clinical and business practices by leveraging diversity, ensuring equity, and establishing belonging for everyone we serve.
A few accomplishments under Player’s leadership include:
- Increasing equitable leadership representation across BJC
- Enhancing language access support for patients and families in more than 110 different languages, including for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Establishing more inclusive processes for medical decision-making and inpatient bed assignments, bringing it in line with the system’s non-discrimination policies
- Updating the hospitals’ registration systems so patients have the ability to indicate their preferred name along with their legal name associated with their insurance
- Growing team member participation within the nine Connections employee resource groups in the East Region
- And establishing a process to assess and improve belonging among all team members
“I am proud to work for an organization that strives to be a national leader in health care and is also just as committed to ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion are embedded in our values, honored in our daily practices, and experienced by everyone we serve,” says Player. “This commitment continues to be championed across our most senior team members, including our board, and throughout our entire enterprise. To know that I have the fortune of helping BJC deliver extraordinary care that is inclusive and equitable for all is an amazing feeling!”
Player and his team also supported the build-out of enhanced health, wellness and inclusion benefits for employees. This included recognition and inclusion of same sex partners, as well as establishing a guide for Human Resources to support transitioning team members and to provide leaders and co-workers with insights on creating and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive environment as the team member undergoes and completes a transition.
“These chief DEI officers are instrumental in addressing health disparities, promoting inclusive workforce cultures, establishing business resource groups and providing essential educational training,” Becker’s said in announcing this year’s honorees. “Their efforts are pivotal in transforming the health care landscape.”
The recognition for Player is one several recent honors for both regions of BJC on our commitment to an inclusive workplace. Earlier this year, both regions were named among Newsweek’s “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity” and “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women.” Additionally, in 2023, BJC HealthCare was awarded the Corporate Ally designation in the St. Louis Business Journal’s “Business of Pride” awards. And in the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2024 Business of Pride awards, Christopher Fan, director of Language Services and Accessibility for BJC Health System, was honored as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.
“Our 44,000 caregivers represent every part of our community, bringing diversity of thought and experience so that we can meet our patients where they live,” says Jackie Tischler, executive vice president and BJC Health System chief people officer. “Steven is an incredible ambassador for that commitment and deserves this recognition. And even as we always strive to learn and improve, these awards and lists reaffirm what we already know — that BJC is a great place to work and receive care for everybody.”