Addressing Health Equity by Improving Outreach  

Challenge

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rios Partners provided rapid response and expedited program management to coordinate a federal agency’s COVID-19 response in research and clinical trials. Part of this work included leading minority recruitment and other critical DEI efforts to facilitate representation among historically underrepresented groups. 

Discovery & Design

Our team functioned as a Program Management Office in support of DEI outreach and recruitment efforts. We conducted 35 interviews and surveyed 250 principal investigators to assess the effectiveness of clinical trial communications and made recommendations for improvement. Based on the survey results and insights, we developed communications strategies such as Public Service Announcements and campaign toolkits to drive engagement and increase participation. Additionally, we developed a process and dashboard that included detailed data monitoring and report the success of DEI outreach efforts.

Driving Impact

  • Achieved goal of over 25% minority representation in clinical trials, enabling long-term health equity efforts 
  • Developed a dashboard to track minority representation in clinical trials across client sites nationwide, to help inform regional recruitment focus areas

Capabilities