Roundtable on Community Health and Advancing Health Equity
This Roundtable supports partnerships between payer, provider and life sciences companies that can improve community health and advance health equity among racial groups and vulnerable populations. Special attention will be given to automating health data capture and assessment at the community level and addressing structural barriers to management of social determinants of longer-term population health. The goal of this Roundtable is to accelerate adoption of new models for improving the health of a community and promoting health equity for and among local populations. A crucial part of this work will include engaging with and listening to community members and partnering with key community organizations.
Each Forum Roundtable strikes a balance between near-term COVID-related challenges and long-term impact on major issues in the post-pandemic world through professional facilitation and deep subject matter expertise. The groups will develop and widely disseminate recommendations that will make an impact on provider, payer and life sciences CEOs, policymakers and thought leaders collaborating for industry-wide change.
Co-Chairs
Mandy Cohen, MD, Secretary, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Pat Geraghty, President & CEO, GuideWell & Florida Blue
Rod Hochman, MD, President & CEO, Providence
Wright Lassiter, III, President & CEO, Henry Ford Health System; Chair-Elect of AHA
Mark Smith, MD, Founding President & Former CEO, California Health Care Foundation
Industry Adviser
Tim Suther, SVP & General Manager, Data Solutions, Change Healthcare
Roundtable Partner
Roundtable Fellows
Toyin Ajayi, MD, Cityblock
Tayo Akins, Cascade Comprehensive Care
George Barrett, Formerly of Cardinal Health
Pat Basu, MD, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Inc.
Jennifer Bazante, Humana, Inc.
Donald Bobo, Edwards Lifesciences LLC
Tosan Boyo, John Muir Health
Bruce Broussard, Humana, Inc.
Carrie Byington, UC Health (California)
Christopher Chen, MD, ChenMed
Mandy Cohen, MD, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Alan Cohn, AbsoluteCARE Medical Centers and Pharmacies
David Dill, LifePoint Health
Scott Doniger, DaVita Inc.
Alex Drane, ARCHANGELS
Liz Dunne, PeaceHealth
Matt Eyles, America's Health Insurance Plans, Inc
Kathy Feeny, Florida Blue Medicare
Clive Fields, MD, Village Family Practice
Tina Freese Decker, Spectrum Health
Pat Geraghty, Florida Blue & GuideWell
Julie Gerberding, MD, Merck & Co.
Denise Gonick, formerly of MVP Health Care
Russ Gronewald, Bryan Health
Patrice Harris, MD, eMed; formerly of American Medical Association
Nzinga Harrison, MD, Eleanor Health
Cain Hayes, Gateway Health Plan
Raymond Hill, Corrona
Rod Hochman, MD, Providence
Karen Ignagni, EmblemHealth
Nimesh Jhaveri, McKesson Corporation
Barbara Joers, Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare
Mary Ann Jones, PhD, Westside Community Mental Health Center
Barsam Kasravi, MD, Anthem, Inc.
Kim Keck, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Alexa Kimball, MD, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicans
Wright Lassiter, III, Henry Ford Health System; Chair-Elect of AHA
Brian Lobley, Independence Blue Cross
Anish Mahajan, Harbor - UCLA Medical Center & David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Stephen Mette, MD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center
Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement
Lawrence Moss, MD, Nemours Children's Health System
Alan Murray, Empire BlueCross BlueShield
John Naylor, Medica
Felicia Norwood, Anthem, Inc.
Steve Page, SUN Behavioral Health
Divya Paliwal, MD, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Aaron Perry, Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association
Corbin Petro, Eleanor Health
Aimee Quirk, innovationOchsner
Jennifer Schwartz, MD, ChristianaCare
Richard Seidman, MD, L.A. Care Health Plan
Scott Serota, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Terry Shaw, Advent Health
Richard Shinto, MD, InnovaCare Health
Puneet Singh, Anthem, Inc.
Mark Smith, MD, California Health Care Foundation
Tunde Sotunde, MD, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
Todd Suntrapak, Valley Children's Healthcare
Tim Suther, Change Healthcare
Steven Szebenyi, Gateway Health Plan
Michael Uchrin, Monogram Health
Michael Weissel, SecureSeniorConnections
David Wennberg, MD, Quartet Health
Laurie Zephyrin, MD, The Commonwealth Fund
Work Groups
Work Groups are chartered by Roundtables to go deep on a key issue over a three-year period, and to make recommendations to Roundtable Fellows for pronouncements or actions that should be taken by the Roundtable, the Forum or by all CEOs. Work Groups are focused on:
- Developing specific mechanisms that advance access to high-quality, affordable health care for all people
- Identifying best practices and developing strategies for wide dissemination so observable results can be realized within 3 years
- Addressing issues that CEOs and boards of payer, provider and life science companies would consider top priorities
- Driving changes where the voice of payer, provider and life science CEOs and their actions matter, where private sector leaders can make progress without regulatory change and which do not require endorsement of specific products or solutions
Chartered Work Groups
Leveraging Data to Improve Health Equity
Disparities in care exist throughout the healthcare system, but many payer, provider and life science organizations have not segmented their own health outcomes data by race and socioeconomic class so as to analyze the specific situations in which those disparities are occurring among their patients or members. Until they do so, they will not be able to understand the breadth and depth of the disparities or to develop strategies to address those disparities at the patient or population level. The goal of this Work Group is to enable payer, provider and life science CEOs to identify, track and manage the impact of race on prevention and clinical care.
Building Scalable Models and Community Partnerships to Address Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of health—including food, housing, and transportation—have a significant impact on health outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations. With recent Medicare Advantage payment for some social determinants, many payer, provider and life science organizations are expanding their focus on social determinants interventions. However, these organizations have struggled to identify specific, evidence-based actions they can take internally and have largely not sought to form meaningful partnerships with community organizations that can deliver results that reduce the total cost of care and improve outcomes. Furthermore, a lack of proper infrastructure and incentive structures often impedes health care organizations from taking meaningful action. The goal of this Work Group is to identify specific scalable, replicable, and efficient best practices for payer, provider and life science CEOs to implement to address social determinants of health in collaboration with community organizations in order to meaningfully drive down the total cost of care and improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations.
Increasing Diversity and Reducing Implicit Bias in Health Care Organizations
While nearly every company in health care celebrates and emphasizes diversity, payer, provider and life science company leadership, including executive teams and boards, rarely reflect their gender, racial or other characteristics of their employees and members or patients. Furthermore, implicit bias among healthcare company employees leads to incorrect assumptions and suboptimal health outcomes. Increasing diversity and reducing unconscious bias in the healthcare community can lead to improved health outcomes for all populations and reduce race-related health disparities. The goal of this Work Group is to reduce racism and bias within the healthcare community through greater leadership diversity and effective unconscious bias training.
Thought Leadership
Increasing Vaccine Uptake in Diverse Communities: A Working Guide for Health Care CEOs. Although data around vaccine distribution in America is sorely limited and scattered, one pattern is becoming increasingly clear – those who have been affected by COVID-19 the most are getting vaccinated the least. The working guide outlines 10 emerging best practices for creating an action plan that increases confidence and accessibility to the vaccine among the diverse communities you serve. Download the guide now.
This guide has been developed with significant input from Fellows of the Roundtable on Community Health and Advancing Health Equity.
