June 16, 2021 • 51 mins
The interview with our featured guest, Dr. Kyu Rhee, was conducted in April ’21. Data referenced during this conversation will have changed since the recording.
So, we know that inequality exists. But, do we think the government can fix it? Or can private enterprise step in to lend data, insights and financial muscle toward the problem? This week’s episode of Contakt World dives into the hot button issues of data collection, medical trends, big business, and minority populations, as well as the politics of public health – all viewed through the lens of Kyu Rhee, Senior Vice President of CVS Health, and Chief Medical Officer for Aetna, which are two of the biggest medical forces in the United States. Join our hosts Justin Beck, Catherine Delcin and Deepti Pahwa, as they speak with Rhee, and discuss the challenges faced by doctors, data collectors, private enterprises and public officials as they work together toward a better future. As always, we’ll talk about how to help our local health departments – and encourage innovation and technology integration – all while remaining empathetic, plus keeping an eye toward health equity for all.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Everything in health and healthcare is fundamentally about people in relationships.
It's about that dynamic between a patient and a provider
and the trust that occurs. As I think about the
role we have. We are trusted in these communities and
these nearly ten thousand sites across the country. We also
have pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who represent the populations we're
(00:26):
looking to serve. That's Dr q Ree, Senior Vice president
of CDs Health and chief Medical Officer of ETNA. He
and his team lead the innovation, design, and implementation of
new health care management and population health solutions. As a
longstanding public health advocate, Dr Ree believes in transforming health
(00:46):
equity through the use of data to better predict, personalize,
and prevent some of the greatest health challenges of our times.
So fifty of our pharmacy technicians are minorities, and of
our pharmacists are minorities, and so one of the most
fundamental parts of addressing health equity is, in my opinion,
(01:08):
the making sure your workforce represents the populations that you're
meaning to serve. And so once you think about pieces
like that, then so much of it is about the
conversations and the ability to better personalize the connections with
people to help them address something like vaccine hesitancy. Once again,
(01:29):
the role of the pharmacists, the role the pharmacy technician,
the role of the doctor, the nurse, the nurse practitioner
is such an important part of building that trust. I'm
Justin Beck, founder and CEO of Contact World. I'm here
with my co host Katherine Nelson and DT Pava and
over the coming months, we'll be talking to scientists, researchers, celebrities, experts,
(01:53):
anyone who's been affected by COVID and getting to the
bottom of how we can improve public health together. We
may not have all the answers, but you deserve to
understand what goes on in your neighborhood and the decisions
that will affect you and your family's health. Welcome back
to Contact World, Truth and Health everyone. So we're entering
a new phase of the pandemic. It's a phase that's
(02:16):
going to take adjustments in the way that we live
our lives, and it's really going to test our humanity.
It's going to test our concept of civil liberty for
the sake of keeping other people safe, and it's going
to test the way that employers and businesses conduct themselves,
especially so we don't actually create more disparities or inequities
that we've talked about during this show. So deep t
(02:37):
In this our last episode of season one, you had
the incredible opportunity to speak with Dr Rei, Senior vice
president for CVS Health and chief Medical officer for ETNA.
CVS operates about ten thousand pharmacies and ETNA services more
than twenty million members in the United States, so this
is pretty cool opportunity. It felt to me like this
discussion captured all of the themes from season one, namely
(03:00):
health equity, data, and the importance of public and private partnerships.
Can you tell us more about what you learn? Absolutely?
Justin I mean talking to Dr Rie was really about
prioritizing equity in the light of current pandemic and also
how private companies like CBS health Care place such an
important role in targeting social problems such as health equity.
(03:22):
We talked about the role of data, the collection of data,
the predicting and trends and outcomes, as well as how
that should be converted into insights make them more intelligent
than actionable. Also how important it is in the first
place to collect that data and identifying these health and
equities and their drivers is essential for achieving success with
(03:46):
the most common problems in the world. So I would
just say monitoring the health and equities, which is very,
very crucial, but also to find out who is being
left behind? How do you find that out? How do
you inform health wall to these programs practices that aim to,
you know, closing the existing gaps. That is only possible
once we collected or we have did it and we
(04:08):
can work up talent insights. And I know justin that
we have been ourselves also working a lot in this direction.
I would love to have your take on the rout
of data. Well. I love how you and Catherine tend
to have such an optimistic view of the way that
the systems work, and as you guys know, I'm an optimist,
but I actually think that what we've learned this year
(04:29):
together with our listeners, is that a lot of the
data is actually deliberately eliminated from the system because you
can't fix what you don't know. I think that one
powerful term that really stuck out to me was when
Abigail echo Hawk called it data genocide, and that's a
really harsh term, which I understand, you know, she uses
for maximum impact because that's what it really is. But
(04:51):
what I think about the role of data, I'm really
excited to be partnered with SAT, your Health Leadership Institute,
and the Health Equity Tracker project, which is a multi
month initiative involving numerous stakeholders from people in Congress to
membership of a bunch of organizations at the highest levels,
and trying to figure out how to fix the system
the way that we collect data around health equity. And
(05:14):
I think that the broad theme is that we can't
rely exclusively on government to do this. It has to
be something that from our perspective and what contact world
is doing, it has to be almost forced and installed.
So what I see is working with local health agencies
and working with private organizations to install ways that they
record the health equity data and then we get the insights. Yeah.
(05:37):
And I also think as much as we talk about
you know, the government peace and our part in finding
and sourcing for solutions, it's also good to see a
big company like CBS being vested in that and having
a stake in seeing that there are inequities out there
and that it's not just a burden or responsibility of
the government to settle that absolutely, Just and Catherine, but
(06:00):
you both are actually saying, is that what is the
result of this pandemic. Maybe it's been accelerated a little bit,
but what we've actually come to realize is that what
we need is a collaborative and a public facing data platform,
which is exactly what Health Equities Record Project is all about,
which is completely devoted to addressing certain societal issues which
(06:22):
have been always there, like healthy quicky implications for vulnerable populations,
but also they would eventually help in population health in
general for everybody. And to that extent, we also talked
a little bit about data philanthropy. What we talked about
was that how important it is in terms of data
donation in the pursuit of helping others. I was reading
(06:44):
a report that said that today approximately half of all
the deaths in the world go unrecorded, and health policy
decisions are often based on inadequate information. And we do
talk about a lot of data being generated, at least
in the private sector because of the big data and
all the other technological advances, but society as such has
(07:04):
not yet fully embraced the remarkable benefits that databased predictions
can contribute to the global prosperity and resilience at the
times of crisis like this one. And I definitely agree
with the fact that it is amperative that private and
public sector organizations work together to construct ways to safely
and productively utilize data for the benefit of communities around
(07:26):
the world. What is your take on that, Catherine, I
think collaboration is the key, and unfortunately it's how does
it happen. How do we mend the communication gap between
the public and the private sector so that they do
work hand in hand. But definitely we need to have
those conversations and really emerging because at the end of
the day, we all have the same interests and that
(07:48):
is to see things equalized across the board for everyone.
Smart Health r m R core software with contact World
is actually focused on the bridge between local health agencies
and in the community, and namely Dr Allen, who you
remember we have interviewed earlier this year, the chief of
Programs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials,
(08:09):
talks about how the other stakeholders in public health include schools, employers,
healthcare providers, long term care facilities, mental health and drug
treatment facilities, and the corner store slash pharmacies. You know.
So it takes people like Dr Ree, It takes people
like Daniel Dawes, It takes people like Dr Allen at Nature,
(08:32):
you know, beyond just the companies, it takes the people
that are carrying this torch to fix the system. It
takes people like us too, that are looking at all
of the issues that exist and actually just saying, like
you said, Katherine, what are we gonna do about it? Well,
we're going to implement systems and local health agencies and
these stakeholders that help enable the use of data and
(08:56):
collection of data. But we also have a big job
to do because while we're trying to talk about data philanthropy,
one of the issues we face is the abusive data
from social media companies and other companies like that. That's
like a big challenge because on one hand, we're talking
about why it's important that we're not going to use
data like our company isn't even allowed to our charter
(09:16):
restricts our use of commercializing personal data like that. We
don't talk about that enough. But when we think about
data philanthropy, we're swimming against abuse of data by a
lot of multinationals, and it's hard to cut through that. Yeah,
very interesting justin and in that spirit, we had also
talked about a little bit on the data privacy and
(09:38):
how trust and transparency are such an important part of it.
There are ways rising new techniques where companies and governments
should be thinking about privacy by design to understand what
is the data that you need to collect, how do
you minimize the data for the insights you need to generate.
You don't need to collect everything you know, because that's
when you start very in lots of data that may
(10:01):
or may not be used in the end, and that
may be also used not in the right ways. So
I think we all equally need to start working on
privacy by design and ethics when it leads to data
based strategies. I totally agree with that, and I also
think another piece is to add some accountability for the outcomes.
(10:23):
Right when we're collecting the data, how is the public
being made aware that this is how it's being used
and how it's being used to benefit them in the
long haul? I promise you if they're really fully aware,
then they will become more vested in the outcome, and
that's why they will be more willing to share about
how it's going to help them help their community and
make things better across the board. But when we take
(10:45):
the data and we do god knows whatever happens to it,
and then the person gets more reluctant. Why should I
allow you to have access to my data when you're
going to use it for you know, other things and
not necessarily for the benefit of the public as it
should be used, right. And then there was one other
thing that we touched on earlier we talked about, like
(11:05):
the other larger initiatives that might spring forth as a
result of the pandemic. I learned this morning about something
called the Driving Public Health Forward Plan, which is what
is being kind of shaped as a five year plan
that is kind of building on everything we've learned from
the pandemic and making a more concerted effort to resource
public health agencies and implement things like we're doing with
(11:28):
the Health Equity Tracker project. So the stakeholders involved National Association,
the County and City Health Officials with whom we're aligned,
the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials, the Big
Cities Health Coalition, and the Public Health Accreditation Board, and
what we learned from this is that this consortium is
going to be working on data and technology, including integration,
(11:51):
which again touches on a lot of the things we're
talking about, expanding workforce capacity, health equity, governance to support
public health agency finance to provide services, and then public
private partnerships and community engagement. I thought it was really
cool to see because if there's something good that came
out of the pandemic, especially for public health, it's that
(12:12):
this has caused such a disaster that nobody can ignore
the problems that occurred at the point of care and
at the community level. Ever again, right, so it's exciting
to just be a part of this movement and be
a part of creating the solutions to fix things instead
of just talking about them. Yeah, absolutely true. I mean
I think it actually boils down to social determinants of
(12:35):
health that we actually often talk about and strongly propagated
by all soo Daniel DAOs who is the co founder
of Contact World, where we talk about the social determinant
of health being not just health, but also where people
are born, there grow, they live, they work, the age
and all sorts of socio economic factors and education, et cetera. Catherine,
(12:56):
what do you think about social determinants of health as
it ties into healthcare and etiquity. Just going back to
what Justin was talking about first, is I think it's
important to realize that there are so many different solutions
that can be generated, and as time goes on, we're
always gonna see more and more people get involved. And
(13:16):
I am impressed with the level of creativity and not
just what we do and the solutions that we provide
here at Contact, but also to be able to see
that people will put things together that will address issues
in the future. So I applaud those efforts, and I
also want to caution people that just because one thing
is being done in one end doesn't mean there are
(13:37):
other things that can be done to make things better.
So I'm glad to hear about what you've learned, Justin,
and it's amazing, and I hope we get to be
a part of that in some way, shape or form.
But as far as what you were saying earlier, DT,
I loved when you said that we should make health
a shared value. How about that? Right? It sounds so basic,
(13:58):
but it's not. It's gonna require some adjustment for people
to actually see that, because there's always gonna be people who,
because of their backgrounds, because of socio economics, who are
always going to see healthcare as a privilege and not
something that's like a necessity or something that they should
have access to. On an ongoing basis, you know, five
(14:21):
years from now when we're talking, it's gonna be hey,
this has been normalized. This is our new normal, that
healthcare is a shared value. So for this tenth and
final episode of Contact World, Truth and Health Season one,
it's fitting that we feature another public health and health
equity icon and Dr q Ree. Building on what we've
learned from Daniel Dawes and the newly launched Health Equity
(14:43):
Tracker project, Q brings a unique perspective of putting health
equity into practice at massive scale since his role influences
operations for about ten thousand CDs pharmacy locations and more
than twenty million ETNA insurance members. So let's dive into
this discussion between DT and Q. Hello, doctor Ee, it's
(15:14):
a pleasure to have you on your show today and
thanks for making the time. So first of all, congratulations
on assuming your new role as the Senior vice president
for CBS Health and chief Medical Officer at ETNA, where
I believe you will be leading the innovation and design
and implementation of integrated health care management strategies and population
(15:35):
health solutions. As a start, would you like to talk
a little bit about your new role and the transition
you recently made. I've been interested in committed to health
equity in my whole career, so I'm excited for this
extraordinary opportunity to work with nearly three thousand amazing people
across this country who are looking to address, especially during
(15:58):
this pandemic health equity. Just a little bit about my
personal history and my personal background is I'm a primary
care physician by training, so internal medicine and pediatrics. My
first job right out of residency was actually in Washington,
d C. In Columbia Heights at the corner of fourteenth
and Irving, where I served mostly underserved populations, many immigrant
populations from El Salvador in Ethiopia, and right across the
(16:21):
street was the CBS Pharmacy, and at that time, you know,
you can clearly recognize that health and healthcare as a
team effort. The pharmacists across the street played a very
important role in the care that we delivered in our
community health center. We generally focus on health equity as
the foundational element of this show, and it's also a
major focus for our company. I mean you already mentioned
(16:43):
about you know how close you are to health equity
as a cause. How does your new rule at CBS
Health and now provide you the opportunity to pursue it.
We at CVS Health are playing a very important role
in addressing health equity and everything we do, particularly during
this pandemic. So as I reflect on the extraordinary team
(17:04):
of health and healthcare professionals at CVS Health, over fifty
thousand pharmacists, pharmacy texts, doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners. During this pandemic,
we've been able to deliver over fifteen million tests for COVID.
Over half of those are in underserved communities. We've also
(17:26):
delivered over ten million vaccinations, so nearly a third of
those are representing underrepresenting minorities who are being vaccinated. Of course,
we know that this pandemic has impacted disproportionately those populations
African Americans, Hispanics, and it's such an important responsibility for
(17:46):
us to make sure we vaccinate those populations, to address
health disparities and promote health equity. So, as you rightly
said that, you know CVS has been involved with the
testing of COVID nineteen and more recently, you know the
administration of vaccine is received directly from the federal government,
and vaccine equity being one of the most important areas
of attention at this point in time. In that context,
(18:08):
what lessons have you learned in improving access to as
well as trust in vaccine, for let's say, much in
less populations with limited access to internet as well as
limited access to quality health care for instance, I actually
reflect on once again my experience as a community health
center physician and how everything in health and health care
(18:29):
is fundamentally about people in relationships. It's about that dynamic
between a patient and a provider and the trust that occurs.
And so as I think about the role we have,
we are trusted in these communities. In these nearly ten
thousand sites across the country, we also have pharmacists and
(18:50):
pharmacy technicians who represent the populations we're looking to serve.
So fifty percent of our pharmacy technicians are minorities and
of our pharmacists or minorities, and so one of the
most fundamental parts of addressing health equity is, in my opinion,
the making sure your workforce represents the populations that you're
(19:11):
meaning to serve. And so once you think about pieces
like that, then so much of it is about the
conversations and the ability to better personalize the connections with
people to help them address something like vaccine hesitancy. You know,
an individual might be afraid of side effects, or they
might have read something online that gave them a certain impression.
(19:34):
And so once again, the role of the pharmacists, the
role the pharmacy technician, the role of the doctor, the nurse,
the nurse practitioner, and the broad range of health professionals
that we have across our enterprise, across those nearly ten
thousand sites, either in person or virtually, is such an
important part of building that trust. I also think the
(19:54):
role we have in public private partnerships. I think we
can see during this pandemic the role of companies like
Fiser and Maderna and CBS Health and how we partner
with state, local and federal government agencies is so important
to partner together to serve those communities, particularly communities of color. Right,
it's important that you highlight how CBS has such a
(20:16):
diverse population and serious locations. I mean, I was hearing
one of your interviews where you said that they are
in places which are actually identified by CDC Vulnerability Index
as socially vulnerable. Right. And I believe like what you're
saying is about fifty of non white population is actually
serving the communities which are actually being served by the
same community. So definitely has a great rule to play
(20:38):
in terms of trust. And I also believe that during
the spandemic, more than ever, marginalized communities or communities of
color are aware of disparities in healthcare systems and that
they're receiving low quality of care. And I think that's
the reason that they need to be addressed from trusted
partners ad trusted messengers. So that's a great work that
you're doing there. At the same time, according to you, que,
(21:00):
which role do you think does data and analytics play
in achieving equitable access to care? And also let's say
equitable data collection for instance from goments. The principle of
data in my view, and I'm also reflecting on my
past decade at IBM, where we looked at the role
of data and analytics and artificial intelligence and in supporting
(21:21):
and advancing and transforming health and healthcare, and we're applying
many of those same principles here at CVS Health. So
the concept that I want to highlight for the listeners
is it's not just about the data, but it's about
the insights you get from the data. And so the
piece that I want to highlight as it relates to
data is that it's important to have trust as you
(21:42):
collect data. And so, once again going back to the
principles that you want your workforce to represent the populations
you serve, you want them to also be represented of
those populations because of the sensitivity. That's important as it
relates to collecting what I would call health disparity relevant data,
so race and ethnicity, for example. We're very proud of
(22:03):
the fact that we collect that data in a very
sensitive and trusted way, and so data trust is important.
But then, as you stated, the next piece is how
you translate that data into insights that are actionable, that
are relevant, and that help address help disparities. And so
the ability to translate those insights, I like to say
(22:25):
you need to use the data and the analytics and
the artificial intelligence to predict, personalize, and then ultimately prevent
the outcome like COVID hospitalization that you're looking to address.
And so our ability to leverage our nearly seven data
scientists to play a role in translating that data into insights.
(22:48):
They're a big part of the team. I mentioned the
pharmacists and the pharmacy text. The seven data scientists play
a very important role in translating that data into insights.
And one great example that is we learned quite a
bit as it relates to the flu, and you can
imagine there's a lot of retrospective data related to flu
vaccination rates that have historically been delivered at and through
(23:11):
a CVS pharmacy and so our ability to use that
data and then apply predictive analytics with those data scientists
and then personalize with accuracy the individuals who are likely
not to get vaccinated. Then the next piece of that
is personalizing an intervention that we know will close that gap,
(23:32):
Because it's one thing to know, it's another thing to
figure out how to reduce the gap and get someone
who normally wouldn't get vaccinated to be vaccinated. And some
people it's the mode of communication, it's the manner in
which that communication is brought. It might be issues of
vaccine efficacy or safety that need to be communicated effectively
to that individual to have him or her address that
(23:54):
vaccine hesitancy. That might play a role. I also think
in the age of the pandemic, convenience and access. The
fact that Americans are within ten miles of the CBS
plays a very important role. You know, my experience as
a primary care physician is that many people spend a
lot of time in waiting rooms to see their doctor
and hospital settings, and especially in the age of the pandemic,
(24:17):
many people are looking for the access and convenience of
their local pharmacy and the trusted broker of a pharmacists
to deliver that vaccine very quickly. So I think those
are very important factors. But as I wanted to emphasize,
leveraging data isn't sufficient. You have to translate it into insights,
and the team of data scientists that we have play
(24:37):
a very important role working with our healthcare professionals. Absolutely,
I mean I'm hearing three things. Of course, one is
collection of data itself, which you know I was also
reading a federal study that said that, you know, race
and ethnicity data is missing for nearly half of cornavirus
vaccine recipients, and this lack of data is actually leading
to inequatable response to the pandemic. So collecting that data
(25:00):
and making sense of the data. At the same time,
when you talk about the transparency and trust right and
you mentioned about AI and technology, which is going to
be actually not just in health, every sphere of every
industry is going to be very omnipresent. And I myself
actually worked during the pandemic or with m I T
on one of the largest contact tracing solutions and realize
(25:21):
that how important it is to have privacy by design
integrated into the systems in terms of collecting it. And
at the same time, when you talk about converting that
into insights, you know, how do you use it. Would
you like to shed some light on how do we
balance privacy and at a collection when implementing technology to
deal with public health crisis like this or even otherwise.
(25:43):
Once again, everything in health and health care is about trust.
It's about those teams that play a role healthcare professionals,
data scientists and ultimately for the the citizens, the consumer,
the patient, the member. I can't under emphasize the importance
of trust and transparency as you apply technology. And so
(26:04):
there is an extraordinary volume of data that exists. As
you suggested, many industries, retail, financial industries are leveraging big
data and big volumes of data to apply AI algorithms,
machine learning algorithms to better predict, personalize, and serve their customers.
There's also a variety of data sets, so once again
(26:25):
that's really important too. Connecting different data sets is also important.
The volume, the variety, the velocity of that data is important.
And then I would also suggest the veracity of that data.
We all know we've been in situations where perhaps we
felt that someone had the wrong data on us. You know,
I've seen patients were like, no, that's not accurate, doctor E.
I don't know where that came from. I'm not on
(26:45):
that met And so this ability to make sure we're
putting those four vs in. But the last V is
the value. And so I do think we live in
an age as it relates to big data, where many
people are more willing to share their data in a trusted,
in transparent way when they see value back to them
and they see those insights are actual and that they
(27:08):
help them. As I just suggested, our ability with a
high level of accuracy to be able to personalize interventions
for people who normally wouldn't get the flu shot and
then have them experience getting the flu shot is to
me an important example of that. And so the broader
concept that I want to highlight is that we all
have this extraordinary data that is associated with us, and
(27:33):
the concept of data privacy is important, but even the
concept of data philanthropy is important. Individuals can consider how
they could donate their data. The last decade IBM, I
had so many experiences where people would send me emails,
people from all over the world and saying, you know,
I want to donate my data to Watson of multiple scross,
(27:53):
as I have cancer. I know that if I donate
this it might help others if we're able to provide
that database where actionable insights and AI could be applied
to better predict and prevent you know, the consequences of
these conditions. So we have to focus on the trust
and the teams that build that trust, and ultimately that's
(28:14):
what health care is about. But data privacy, data trust
could lead us to principles of data philanthropy. If there's
ever a time I would highlight part of the challenges
of expediting or accelerating science and going from discovery to
delivery revolves around issues of data trust and also recruiting
(28:34):
people into clinical trials. If you can imagine a new
model where you empowered individuals to participate and donate their
data and be an active participat in clinical trials, there's
extraordinary opportunities to also transform science and accelerate discovery to delivery.
(29:00):
Let me switch gears here a bit and talk about
as we understand your new rule at CBS Health includes
commitment to health housing, equitable access to care, and one
of the key initiatives and current pandemic are definitely linked
to vaccine equity. Can you talk to us a bit
about the initiative of CBS Health with Lift and y
m c A. When you come out as a physician
(29:21):
and you've done all this training in wonderful academic centers
like Cedar Sina or u C l A, and then
you come out into practice and you're there taking care
of patients in a waiting room, you realize that health
is so much more than just health care. So I'd
like to use the acronym health actually to help me
explain not only CVS Health commitment, but my own commitment
(29:42):
to believing that health is so much more than health care.
So h is connected to housing. Our commitment to affordable
housing in the communities where we serve is so important because,
as we all know, issues of homelessness and housing play
a very important role to be healthy and manage your
health conditions. And so we've commit did more than a
billion dollars in affordable housing since nine and in alone,
(30:05):
we invest in more than a hundred fourteen million dollars
to lead to the construction and rehab of twenty d
affordable housing units in thirty cities and twelve states. Education
is also important, As I mentioned, when you serve populations,
the people who serve should represent those populations. And I'm
proud of the fact that our health and healthcare professionals,
(30:27):
of the health and healthcare professionals at work at CVS
Health represent minorities, and so part of me wants to
highlight this minority health is becoming majority health in the US.
There are still challenges though, For example, amongst physicians, only
five percent of physicians are African American and five percent
of physicians are Hispanic, despite the fact that the broader
(30:48):
population represents much more in terms of those groups. So
our commitment to partnering with the United Negro College Fund
and thinking about how we can bring more Black and
Hispanics into healthcare careers is another commitment we make. So
that's the e and education as access to healthy choices.
And I'm very proud of the fact that I'm part
(31:09):
of a company that over five years ago quit the
sale of tobacco and and there's a great study in
the American Journal of Public Health that showed that that
intervention and that decision reduced smoking rates for individuals and
customers of CBS and also those communities in which CVS
was in had lower rates of smoking. And so this
(31:30):
idea that we're leveraging our influence to improve access to
healthy choices is another example. The other one is labor.
I'm very proud of this one as well. Like if
you think about our five workforce and innovation centers and
the fact that we've transitioned a hundred and fifteen thousand
people from public assistance two careers at CVS Health is
(31:53):
a demonstration of our commitment to really thinking about labor
and employment and the role we play in communities, because
of course, I mean I would say one of the
best things I can do for your health is make
sure you have a job. And so once again another
important piece. Now, transportation, as you highlighted, is really important
as well, and our partnership would LIFT. We've seen that
(32:14):
nearly half of all LIFT pickups are in underserved communities,
and so of course this idea of getting a vaccine
and if you happen to have challenges with transportation, that
you can use LIFT to get you two a CVS
and get you vaccinated. I'm very proud of the fact
that many of our sites that were vaccinated are already
in underserved communities. But once again, as we know, in
(32:36):
these communities, public transport is challenging. People often don't own
a car, you know, it's hard to get from place
to place not only for their job, but for their healthcare.
And so we're very committed to that with our partnership
with LIFT. The only other piece side ad is, as
you mentioned y m c A, is that issue of
healthy choices. We know the why plays a very important
(32:58):
role in trust for promoting things like as of activity
and social connectiveness, particularly in communities that are underserved. And
so the partnership of the Y extends to thinking about
health and healthcare and helping people get vaccinated. And I'm
very proud of that. The last ages healthcare, and we
could talk a lot about healthcare, but you know, proud
of our health hubs and our many clinics, and our
(33:18):
pharmacies and our pharmacy text and our pharmacists and our
nurse practitioners that are delivering care every day in our
nearly ten thousand sites. What I'm really hearing is that
CVS Health is very much connected and very much committed
to the social determinants of health to improve health equity, right.
I know that personally that you've also been associated and
facilitated the Culture of Health initiative with Robert Johnson Foundation
(33:42):
to build the culture of health. So that's definitely a
great cause also, and I think kind of ties in
so well with where this country needs to go at
this point in time and so much is needed. Thanks
for sharing those thoughts. I know there are like four
areas that you kind of focus upon, like consumer employer
environment and community health and that's what you kind of
talked about. But for the next question, I just want
(34:04):
to focus a bit on companies as employers and CBS
as employer for instance, And we see during the pandemic
that companies need to build a culture of trust not
just with customers but with employees. So in that context,
what measures do you see companies investing in as it
relates to getting the workforce back to work. There are
(34:24):
a couple of principles I like to talk about here.
One is that every business is a health business. I
think if there's ever a time we recognize during this
pandemic this concept of culture of health, and also that
businesses have an important role to play from those four
pillars of consumer, employer, environment, and community. And I'm very
(34:46):
proud in our Corporate Social Responsibility Report we talk about
each of those four areas healthy people, healthy business, healthy communities,
and healthy planet. There's another principle I like to say,
I personally felt it was a little uncomfortable. You know,
there's some what I would call essential workers and non
essential workers as we've applied during this pandemic. But I'm
(35:07):
a big believer we're all essential, right. I Mean, there's
in some ways. You know, we all are essential, and
companies have an important responsibility as this pandemic and as
we vaccinate America to be very thoughtful about the health
and well being of their workforce. And of course, I
think broader than that, we often have to think holistically
(35:29):
about our efforts to bring people back to work, to
be very adaptive in terms of work policies as well. Right,
how companies are very sensitive about their work policies are
also important. So I'm very proud of the fact that
we've been very proactive as you can imagine, not only
the health and safety of our customers who go through
our stores, but we're relentlessly focused on the health and
(35:50):
safety of our workforce as well. The basics of you know,
washing your hands, and it used to be a badge
of courage when you go to work when you're sick,
you know, you have your your sniffles, or you'd be like,
I'm okay, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm like that age
is gone. I believe, I think people when their sex
should stay at home, and obviously you need sick policies
to support that. You know, it's really exciting to see
(36:13):
the role of playing We're practicing what we preach. As
we're delivering this care in communities all across this country,
we're also you know, making sure it applies to our
own workforce as well. What I'm really hearing is more
about the education that is involved, you know, to get
the employees back as well as well as thinking about
their families and you know, protecting them and also maybe
installing systems within your locations as well right to kind
(36:36):
of manage those populations. Well, this is something that is
happening overall during the pandemic, and the companies are taking
care of all of these things that also because they
want workforces to come back and also come back healthy.
But how do you see those measures evolving as the
pandemic is managed more effectively in the US, as we
achieve broader vaccinations, for instance, in the long run, how
(36:59):
do that lay out in the change in the mindsets.
So in the same way we talked about trust between
a pharmacists and you know, someone citizen who's getting vaccinated,
or nurse practitioners seeing a patient who's got to maybe
be an acute illness in one of our many clinics,
the trust between an employer and an employee is really
essential right that trust. And so one of the things
(37:23):
I'm as I suggest that I'm proud of is our
focus on that as an employer, but also our efforts
to deliver that for other employers. And so we have
this program called return Ready with over a hundred clients
that serve one point five million individuals, and so early
in this pandemic, we recognize, I mean, you can imagine
there are certain workforces that don't have some of the
(37:46):
luxuries that you and I have that we could work
from home, right manufacturing plants or retail settings, healthcare settings.
You know, it's very important that we thought about how
we can leverage our technology or capabilitalities, are testing capabilities
to deliver solutions at the work site so that you
could return ready, you could return safe. Think about that
(38:09):
trust between an employer and an employee and preserving that,
and so we've been leveraging analytics, and we've been leveraging
abilities to do on site testing. And you can imagine
now as the supply will surpass the demand and we're
going to now address more issues of vaccine hesitancy, and
there are is going to be a lot of interest
in having employers leverage solutions like return ready to maintain
(38:33):
that trust and bring people back to the workplace, right,
I mean, very powerful concept of return ready and also
really thinking about building that trust, which is the most
important thing, and I think this is the word which
is most important that has turned out in the entire
pandemic building trust with communities, trust with government, trust with
employers employees. So definitely a lot of good work that
(38:55):
you guys are doing in that direction. As we are closing,
I would love to have your thoughts on how do
you think the rule of public health agencies will evolve
based on the lessons that we've learned from the pandemic,
and also maybe if there is any intersection with the
private sector at all. I'm just a public health professional
in the private sector. So as you were suggesting, most
(39:17):
of us think about public health agencies as governmental public
health it's you know, agencies like the CDC, federal agency,
state agencies, as well as local health department agencies. And
so that's a very important part in some people's state.
It's the backbone of a public health system. But as
this pandemic has taught us, all the other stakeholders academia,
(39:38):
research providers, payers or health plans, life science companies, companies
like fires are in Maderna, CVS Health, you know, with
our pharmacies, with our retail locations, with regards to care
Mark in ETNA. We all play an important role and
we all have to work to trust each other, you know,
(39:58):
assure that the prior ality, which is keeping our communities,
those populations healthy and safe, is the goal and partner
you know, across those different agencies, the public, the private sector,
life science companies and payers, you know, providers and health plans.
It's so important. It's really exciting to see how this
(40:20):
pandemic has brought us all together. And my hope and
belief is that we need to keep this momentum going,
these partnerships, these collaborations in communities, especially communities of poverty
and color across our country. I wrote a piece in
Fortune at the beginning of the pandemic to stay therefore
curves to COVID. So we all got this public health
literacy about the curve of COVID that we have to flatten.
(40:43):
The other three curves I believe are mental illness, chronic disease,
and inequities. And so the other thing I'd call out
is we all have this broader responsibility not only to
focus on this infectious disease that we need to prevent,
to bring our communities to work and to take care
of our communities and our families, but we have to
(41:03):
recognize that this pandemic has made us realize things like
inequities that have been long standing in our communities, and
mental illness, as you can imagine, this pandemic has impacted
that even more than ever, but that has always been
an issue as well. And then the fourth are of
chronic diseases. People are actually afraid to go back to
the doctor. I talked to a lot of my colleagues
(41:25):
in hospitals and health systems are saying that they're having
challenges bringing people back into the office to manage their
chronic conditions. And so that's gonna be another important pandemic
that we have to address. So we need to flatten
all four curves of COVID with public private partnerships and
with all these stakeholders and the trust we've built during
this pandemic to go beyond. I think the two statements
(41:47):
I take away from here are really very powerful and
very compelling statements I find Boston needs. We are all
in public health and all businesses are in healthcare business.
I mean, I think both of them are such true
statements that people we should be actually really working towards.
Thanks a lot for your time today, and we also
know that it's CBS the mission is to make health
(42:08):
care more accessible, more affordable, and simply better. And um
certainly expertise and leadership you are bringing to the table
throughout your career, but especially right now, throughout the pandemic
and going forward it has certainly held the cause and
will do so also in future. And I just want
to emphasize that we really value your vision and the
(42:28):
thought leadership you bring and wish you all the success
in your new role. Thank you, Thank you so much.
Thank you to all your listeners as well, and all
my partners at CBS Health. Thank you so Catherine and
Deep as key team members of Contact World. What have
you learned about the way that Contact World is poised
(42:48):
to improve public health systems? What I learned from this
season is the sense of humanity and community required to
really change systems. I think a lot of times when
you look at inequalities and deficiencies and systems, and public
health system in particular, you think, well, the government needs
(43:10):
to do something, somebody needs to do something, and we
take away the level of accountability for the human connections
that we must have in order to address those issues.
In looking at how these issues affect people, not just
(43:31):
financially but emotionally mentally, there's so many components. People talk
about what's happened with the virus and COVID nineteen, but
people also miss out on the human level affectations. And
there's also the resiliency and the level of creativity and
(43:58):
enterprising spirit of p Pole who took on the challenges
to address them, to speak out to set the standard,
and people like Daniel Dawes who led the Health Equity Project,
people that we've spoken to throughout the season of the
(44:19):
podcast shedding much needed light on the disparities. Those are
the heroes, the courageous warriors who stood as really the
activism frontline to lend their time, their credibility to the
issues and really state the reputation to really let us
(44:40):
know how to address these issues that we're facing. So,
although the season has been about the pandemic, I think
I would choose to rephrase it and say that it
has been about how a community, a community of activists
(45:01):
or credential professionals choose to lend themselves to helping shed
light to helping us in seeing the bigger picture and
solving for the solutions that we need. I think it's
that community of people with a sense of humanity who
(45:23):
wanted to see the systems change for the better, who
wanted to shed light on the stories that needed to
be heard. Like Fionas so, I hope listeners when they
hear this season, I hope they can put themselves in
the shoes of the people who have been affected by
this pandemic. I hope that they will in turn be
(45:50):
moved and have their sense of activism activated. This podcast
and the season entirely has been such an eye opener.
I've learned personally so much from it. The number one
thing that I've really learned here is the root cause
of health disparities typically occur outside of the four walls
(46:12):
of a hospital or a health system. Almost every guest
on this show highlighted how the communities of color in
minority populations have been disproportionately affected during the pandemic. COVID
nineteen has not been the great equalizer at all. The
social factors such as where you live, where you work,
where you play, have actually led to what you've experienced
(46:35):
during this pandemic. And secondly, the barriers and the roots
of COVID nineteen and the disparities that we see are
in systemic and institutional racism that is not just historic phenomenon,
it's real. The coronavirus has let bear the existing inequities
in the infrastructure and in the health ecosystem. Throughout the season,
(46:57):
we enable discussions to get to the bottom of what's
happening with these disparities. As in one of our episodes,
we talked about residential segregation and how it is a
key factor that leads to other forms of segregation, including
educational segregation and the limiting of employment opportunities and growth opportunities.
And although we do know that residential segregation is not
(47:21):
an easy one that we can fix, but we do
have the opportunity for other downstream fixes in terms of
educational opportunity and also the economic opportunity. At the same time,
what we learned is that to treat disease and better
yet to prevent it, we must understand that having great
health care and even providing access to healthcare does not
(47:43):
guarantee public health and a good population health. What we
really need is that everyone in the population must know
about their health care options, know how to use it,
and have transportation and have paid time off and child
care so that they can use their health care. Another
important thing which we've constantly talked about is a way
(48:08):
of bringing these conversations forward and also by way of
the coinciding projects that I lead personally, get contact world
as well in terms of relating it to bottom up
innovations and public health, and that a targeted and a
thoughtful application of design and global public health systems is
one of the ways to take real action which a
(48:30):
lot of us are actually able to do in order
to improve projects, programs, organizations and also save lives. As
we're applying human centered design to understanding communities and public
health perspectives and contact world, we understood that a broad
set of community side barriers need to be brought into focus.
(48:52):
These barriers include awareness about science and why and how
it works, cultural and social beliefs, access to right information,
and affordability of health measures. These challenges and these lack
of strategic communications often ignored. What they actually do is
they prevent populations from listening to public health even if
(49:13):
the resources are sometimes are available to them. And last,
but not the least, what we've really learned here is
as well, what gets measured gets improved. There is a
need to capture essential health equity data, the lack of
which major lye contributed to the unequal Code nineteen outcomes.
I do hope that the listeners enjoyed our conversations with
(49:35):
the ten guests that we have had in the last
few months, and for the first time we all know
that everyone, the lay pub blake, the politicians, the health experts,
the citizens, globally, everyone is thinking about the pandemic and
also the iniquities and systemic infrastructure failures, and these common
shared moments and feelings and time offer us an opportunity
(50:00):
to collectively act now to build better. I do want
to thank everybody listening because the fact that you even
listened and got to the end of this podcast show
or even the cities, it shows how much you care
and it shows how much you want to be part
of this change. There is always a way for you
to get engaged and make a difference in your communities,
(50:23):
and I would just challenge each one of you to
take advantage of that. Thank you. It's hard to believe
that we've completed ten shows for Contact World, Truth and Health.
Thank you so much for spending your time with us.
We started this company in March to help health agencies
and employers improve health within their communities. We've since learned
(50:46):
that the issues were addressing with our technology have actually
existed for more than a hundred and fifty years. Along
the way, we've been humbled by awards from Fast Company,
Stevie Awards and Big Innovation Awards for our technology platform,
and a the awards for this podcast, and we're really
just scratching the surface like you. I've been learning along
(51:07):
the way from experts and then regular folks like you
and me. I think the most important thing I've learned
though through this podcast and through developing our company, you
cannot fix anything if you don't try. Innovation is not
for the timid, and we all possessed within us a
special power to create change. But it starts with just
a first step. So thank you for taking the first
(51:30):
step with us and for believing in us. We're trying
to save the world, so who knows what we'll accomplish together.
Listen to Contact World the podcast on the I Heart
Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Everything in health and healthcare is fundamentally about people in relationships.
It's about that dynamic between a patient and a provider
and the trust that occurs. As I think about the
role we have. We are trusted in these communities and
these nearly ten thousand sites across the country. We also
have pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who represent the populations we're
(00:26):
looking to serve. That's Dr q Ree, Senior Vice president
of CDs Health and chief Medical Officer of ETNA. He
and his team lead the innovation, design, and implementation of
new health care management and population health solutions. As a
longstanding public health advocate, Dr Ree believes in transforming health
(00:46):
equity through the use of data to better predict, personalize,
and prevent some of the greatest health challenges of our times.
So fifty of our pharmacy technicians are minorities, and of
our pharmacists are minorities, and so one of the most
fundamental parts of addressing health equity is, in my opinion,
(01:08):
the making sure your workforce represents the populations that you're
meaning to serve. And so once you think about pieces
like that, then so much of it is about the
conversations and the ability to better personalize the connections with
people to help them address something like vaccine hesitancy. Once again,
(01:29):
the role of the pharmacists, the role the pharmacy technician,
the role of the doctor, the nurse, the nurse practitioner
is such an important part of building that trust. I'm
Justin Beck, founder and CEO of Contact World. I'm here
with my co host Katherine Nelson and DT Pava and
over the coming months, we'll be talking to scientists, researchers, celebrities, experts,
(01:53):
anyone who's been affected by COVID and getting to the
bottom of how we can improve public health together. We
may not have all the answers, but you deserve to
understand what goes on in your neighborhood and the decisions
that will affect you and your family's health. Welcome back
to Contact World, Truth and Health everyone. So we're entering
a new phase of the pandemic. It's a phase that's
(02:16):
going to take adjustments in the way that we live
our lives, and it's really going to test our humanity.
It's going to test our concept of civil liberty for
the sake of keeping other people safe, and it's going
to test the way that employers and businesses conduct themselves,
especially so we don't actually create more disparities or inequities
that we've talked about during this show. So deep t
(02:37):
In this our last episode of season one, you had
the incredible opportunity to speak with Dr Rei, Senior vice
president for CVS Health and chief Medical officer for ETNA.
CVS operates about ten thousand pharmacies and ETNA services more
than twenty million members in the United States, so this
is pretty cool opportunity. It felt to me like this
discussion captured all of the themes from season one, namely
(03:00):
health equity, data, and the importance of public and private partnerships.
Can you tell us more about what you learn? Absolutely?
Justin I mean talking to Dr Rie was really about
prioritizing equity in the light of current pandemic and also
how private companies like CBS health Care place such an
important role in targeting social problems such as health equity.
(03:22):
We talked about the role of data, the collection of data,
the predicting and trends and outcomes, as well as how
that should be converted into insights make them more intelligent
than actionable. Also how important it is in the first
place to collect that data and identifying these health and
equities and their drivers is essential for achieving success with
(03:46):
the most common problems in the world. So I would
just say monitoring the health and equities, which is very,
very crucial, but also to find out who is being
left behind? How do you find that out? How do
you inform health wall to these programs practices that aim to,
you know, closing the existing gaps. That is only possible
once we collected or we have did it and we
(04:08):
can work up talent insights. And I know justin that
we have been ourselves also working a lot in this direction.
I would love to have your take on the rout
of data. Well. I love how you and Catherine tend
to have such an optimistic view of the way that
the systems work, and as you guys know, I'm an optimist,
but I actually think that what we've learned this year
(04:29):
together with our listeners, is that a lot of the
data is actually deliberately eliminated from the system because you
can't fix what you don't know. I think that one
powerful term that really stuck out to me was when
Abigail echo Hawk called it data genocide, and that's a
really harsh term, which I understand, you know, she uses
for maximum impact because that's what it really is. But
(04:51):
what I think about the role of data, I'm really
excited to be partnered with SAT, your Health Leadership Institute,
and the Health Equity Tracker project, which is a multi
month initiative involving numerous stakeholders from people in Congress to
membership of a bunch of organizations at the highest levels,
and trying to figure out how to fix the system
the way that we collect data around health equity. And
(05:14):
I think that the broad theme is that we can't
rely exclusively on government to do this. It has to
be something that from our perspective and what contact world
is doing, it has to be almost forced and installed.
So what I see is working with local health agencies
and working with private organizations to install ways that they
record the health equity data and then we get the insights. Yeah.
(05:37):
And I also think as much as we talk about
you know, the government peace and our part in finding
and sourcing for solutions, it's also good to see a
big company like CBS being vested in that and having
a stake in seeing that there are inequities out there
and that it's not just a burden or responsibility of
the government to settle that absolutely, Just and Catherine, but
(06:00):
you both are actually saying, is that what is the
result of this pandemic. Maybe it's been accelerated a little bit,
but what we've actually come to realize is that what
we need is a collaborative and a public facing data platform,
which is exactly what Health Equities Record Project is all about,
which is completely devoted to addressing certain societal issues which
(06:22):
have been always there, like healthy quicky implications for vulnerable populations,
but also they would eventually help in population health in
general for everybody. And to that extent, we also talked
a little bit about data philanthropy. What we talked about
was that how important it is in terms of data
donation in the pursuit of helping others. I was reading
(06:44):
a report that said that today approximately half of all
the deaths in the world go unrecorded, and health policy
decisions are often based on inadequate information. And we do
talk about a lot of data being generated, at least
in the private sector because of the big data and
all the other technological advances, but society as such has
(07:04):
not yet fully embraced the remarkable benefits that databased predictions
can contribute to the global prosperity and resilience at the
times of crisis like this one. And I definitely agree
with the fact that it is amperative that private and
public sector organizations work together to construct ways to safely
and productively utilize data for the benefit of communities around
(07:26):
the world. What is your take on that, Catherine, I
think collaboration is the key, and unfortunately it's how does
it happen. How do we mend the communication gap between
the public and the private sector so that they do
work hand in hand. But definitely we need to have
those conversations and really emerging because at the end of
the day, we all have the same interests and that
(07:48):
is to see things equalized across the board for everyone.
Smart Health r m R core software with contact World
is actually focused on the bridge between local health agencies
and in the community, and namely Dr Allen, who you
remember we have interviewed earlier this year, the chief of
Programs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials,
(08:09):
talks about how the other stakeholders in public health include schools, employers,
healthcare providers, long term care facilities, mental health and drug
treatment facilities, and the corner store slash pharmacies. You know.
So it takes people like Dr Ree, It takes people
like Daniel Dawes, It takes people like Dr Allen at Nature,
(08:32):
you know, beyond just the companies, it takes the people
that are carrying this torch to fix the system. It
takes people like us too, that are looking at all
of the issues that exist and actually just saying, like
you said, Katherine, what are we gonna do about it? Well,
we're going to implement systems and local health agencies and
these stakeholders that help enable the use of data and
(08:56):
collection of data. But we also have a big job
to do because while we're trying to talk about data philanthropy,
one of the issues we face is the abusive data
from social media companies and other companies like that. That's
like a big challenge because on one hand, we're talking
about why it's important that we're not going to use
data like our company isn't even allowed to our charter
(09:16):
restricts our use of commercializing personal data like that. We
don't talk about that enough. But when we think about
data philanthropy, we're swimming against abuse of data by a
lot of multinationals, and it's hard to cut through that. Yeah,
very interesting justin and in that spirit, we had also
talked about a little bit on the data privacy and
(09:38):
how trust and transparency are such an important part of it.
There are ways rising new techniques where companies and governments
should be thinking about privacy by design to understand what
is the data that you need to collect, how do
you minimize the data for the insights you need to generate.
You don't need to collect everything you know, because that's
when you start very in lots of data that may
(10:01):
or may not be used in the end, and that
may be also used not in the right ways. So
I think we all equally need to start working on
privacy by design and ethics when it leads to data
based strategies. I totally agree with that, and I also
think another piece is to add some accountability for the outcomes.
(10:23):
Right when we're collecting the data, how is the public
being made aware that this is how it's being used
and how it's being used to benefit them in the
long haul? I promise you if they're really fully aware,
then they will become more vested in the outcome, and
that's why they will be more willing to share about
how it's going to help them help their community and
make things better across the board. But when we take
(10:45):
the data and we do god knows whatever happens to it,
and then the person gets more reluctant. Why should I
allow you to have access to my data when you're
going to use it for you know, other things and
not necessarily for the benefit of the public as it
should be used, right. And then there was one other
thing that we touched on earlier we talked about, like
(11:05):
the other larger initiatives that might spring forth as a
result of the pandemic. I learned this morning about something
called the Driving Public Health Forward Plan, which is what
is being kind of shaped as a five year plan
that is kind of building on everything we've learned from
the pandemic and making a more concerted effort to resource
public health agencies and implement things like we're doing with
(11:28):
the Health Equity Tracker project. So the stakeholders involved National Association,
the County and City Health Officials with whom we're aligned,
the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials, the Big
Cities Health Coalition, and the Public Health Accreditation Board, and
what we learned from this is that this consortium is
going to be working on data and technology, including integration,
(11:51):
which again touches on a lot of the things we're
talking about, expanding workforce capacity, health equity, governance to support
public health agency finance to provide services, and then public
private partnerships and community engagement. I thought it was really
cool to see because if there's something good that came
out of the pandemic, especially for public health, it's that
(12:12):
this has caused such a disaster that nobody can ignore
the problems that occurred at the point of care and
at the community level. Ever again, right, so it's exciting
to just be a part of this movement and be
a part of creating the solutions to fix things instead
of just talking about them. Yeah, absolutely true. I mean
I think it actually boils down to social determinants of
(12:35):
health that we actually often talk about and strongly propagated
by all soo Daniel DAOs who is the co founder
of Contact World, where we talk about the social determinant
of health being not just health, but also where people
are born, there grow, they live, they work, the age
and all sorts of socio economic factors and education, et cetera. Catherine,
(12:56):
what do you think about social determinants of health as
it ties into healthcare and etiquity. Just going back to
what Justin was talking about first, is I think it's
important to realize that there are so many different solutions
that can be generated, and as time goes on, we're
always gonna see more and more people get involved. And
(13:16):
I am impressed with the level of creativity and not
just what we do and the solutions that we provide
here at Contact, but also to be able to see
that people will put things together that will address issues
in the future. So I applaud those efforts, and I
also want to caution people that just because one thing
is being done in one end doesn't mean there are
(13:37):
other things that can be done to make things better.
So I'm glad to hear about what you've learned, Justin,
and it's amazing, and I hope we get to be
a part of that in some way, shape or form.
But as far as what you were saying earlier, DT,
I loved when you said that we should make health
a shared value. How about that? Right? It sounds so basic,
(13:58):
but it's not. It's gonna require some adjustment for people
to actually see that, because there's always gonna be people who,
because of their backgrounds, because of socio economics, who are
always going to see healthcare as a privilege and not
something that's like a necessity or something that they should
have access to. On an ongoing basis, you know, five
(14:21):
years from now when we're talking, it's gonna be hey,
this has been normalized. This is our new normal, that
healthcare is a shared value. So for this tenth and
final episode of Contact World, Truth and Health Season one,
it's fitting that we feature another public health and health
equity icon and Dr q Ree. Building on what we've
learned from Daniel Dawes and the newly launched Health Equity
(14:43):
Tracker project, Q brings a unique perspective of putting health
equity into practice at massive scale since his role influences
operations for about ten thousand CDs pharmacy locations and more
than twenty million ETNA insurance members. So let's dive into
this discussion between DT and Q. Hello, doctor Ee, it's
(15:14):
a pleasure to have you on your show today and
thanks for making the time. So first of all, congratulations
on assuming your new role as the Senior vice president
for CBS Health and chief Medical Officer at ETNA, where
I believe you will be leading the innovation and design
and implementation of integrated health care management strategies and population
(15:35):
health solutions. As a start, would you like to talk
a little bit about your new role and the transition
you recently made. I've been interested in committed to health
equity in my whole career, so I'm excited for this
extraordinary opportunity to work with nearly three thousand amazing people
across this country who are looking to address, especially during
(15:58):
this pandemic health equity. Just a little bit about my
personal history and my personal background is I'm a primary
care physician by training, so internal medicine and pediatrics. My
first job right out of residency was actually in Washington,
d C. In Columbia Heights at the corner of fourteenth
and Irving, where I served mostly underserved populations, many immigrant
populations from El Salvador in Ethiopia, and right across the
(16:21):
street was the CBS Pharmacy, and at that time, you know,
you can clearly recognize that health and healthcare as a
team effort. The pharmacists across the street played a very
important role in the care that we delivered in our
community health center. We generally focus on health equity as
the foundational element of this show, and it's also a
major focus for our company. I mean you already mentioned
(16:43):
about you know how close you are to health equity
as a cause. How does your new rule at CBS
Health and now provide you the opportunity to pursue it.
We at CVS Health are playing a very important role
in addressing health equity and everything we do, particularly during
this pandemic. So as I reflect on the extraordinary team
(17:04):
of health and healthcare professionals at CVS Health, over fifty
thousand pharmacists, pharmacy texts, doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners. During this pandemic,
we've been able to deliver over fifteen million tests for COVID.
Over half of those are in underserved communities. We've also
(17:26):
delivered over ten million vaccinations, so nearly a third of
those are representing underrepresenting minorities who are being vaccinated. Of course,
we know that this pandemic has impacted disproportionately those populations
African Americans, Hispanics, and it's such an important responsibility for
(17:46):
us to make sure we vaccinate those populations, to address
health disparities and promote health equity. So, as you rightly
said that, you know CVS has been involved with the
testing of COVID nineteen and more recently, you know the
administration of vaccine is received directly from the federal government,
and vaccine equity being one of the most important areas
of attention at this point in time. In that context,
(18:08):
what lessons have you learned in improving access to as
well as trust in vaccine, for let's say, much in
less populations with limited access to internet as well as
limited access to quality health care for instance, I actually
reflect on once again my experience as a community health
center physician and how everything in health and health care
(18:29):
is fundamentally about people in relationships. It's about that dynamic
between a patient and a provider and the trust that occurs.
And so as I think about the role we have,
we are trusted in these communities. In these nearly ten
thousand sites across the country, we also have pharmacists and
(18:50):
pharmacy technicians who represent the populations we're looking to serve.
So fifty percent of our pharmacy technicians are minorities and
of our pharmacists or minorities, and so one of the
most fundamental parts of addressing health equity is, in my opinion,
the making sure your workforce represents the populations that you're
(19:11):
meaning to serve. And so once you think about pieces
like that, then so much of it is about the
conversations and the ability to better personalize the connections with
people to help them address something like vaccine hesitancy. You know,
an individual might be afraid of side effects, or they
might have read something online that gave them a certain impression.
(19:34):
And so once again, the role of the pharmacists, the
role the pharmacy technician, the role of the doctor, the nurse,
the nurse practitioner, and the broad range of health professionals
that we have across our enterprise, across those nearly ten
thousand sites, either in person or virtually, is such an
important part of building that trust. I also think the
(19:54):
role we have in public private partnerships. I think we
can see during this pandemic the role of companies like
Fiser and Maderna and CBS Health and how we partner
with state, local and federal government agencies is so important
to partner together to serve those communities, particularly communities of color. Right,
it's important that you highlight how CBS has such a
(20:16):
diverse population and serious locations. I mean, I was hearing
one of your interviews where you said that they are
in places which are actually identified by CDC Vulnerability Index
as socially vulnerable. Right. And I believe like what you're
saying is about fifty of non white population is actually
serving the communities which are actually being served by the
same community. So definitely has a great rule to play
(20:38):
in terms of trust. And I also believe that during
the spandemic, more than ever, marginalized communities or communities of
color are aware of disparities in healthcare systems and that
they're receiving low quality of care. And I think that's
the reason that they need to be addressed from trusted
partners ad trusted messengers. So that's a great work that
you're doing there. At the same time, according to you, que,
(21:00):
which role do you think does data and analytics play
in achieving equitable access to care? And also let's say
equitable data collection for instance from goments. The principle of
data in my view, and I'm also reflecting on my
past decade at IBM, where we looked at the role
of data and analytics and artificial intelligence and in supporting
(21:21):
and advancing and transforming health and healthcare, and we're applying
many of those same principles here at CVS Health. So
the concept that I want to highlight for the listeners
is it's not just about the data, but it's about
the insights you get from the data. And so the
piece that I want to highlight as it relates to
data is that it's important to have trust as you
(21:42):
collect data. And so, once again going back to the
principles that you want your workforce to represent the populations
you serve, you want them to also be represented of
those populations because of the sensitivity. That's important as it
relates to collecting what I would call health disparity relevant data,
so race and ethnicity, for example. We're very proud of
(22:03):
the fact that we collect that data in a very
sensitive and trusted way, and so data trust is important.
But then, as you stated, the next piece is how
you translate that data into insights that are actionable, that
are relevant, and that help address help disparities. And so
the ability to translate those insights, I like to say
(22:25):
you need to use the data and the analytics and
the artificial intelligence to predict, personalize, and then ultimately prevent
the outcome like COVID hospitalization that you're looking to address.
And so our ability to leverage our nearly seven data
scientists to play a role in translating that data into insights.
(22:48):
They're a big part of the team. I mentioned the
pharmacists and the pharmacy text. The seven data scientists play
a very important role in translating that data into insights.
And one great example that is we learned quite a
bit as it relates to the flu, and you can
imagine there's a lot of retrospective data related to flu
vaccination rates that have historically been delivered at and through
(23:11):
a CVS pharmacy and so our ability to use that
data and then apply predictive analytics with those data scientists
and then personalize with accuracy the individuals who are likely
not to get vaccinated. Then the next piece of that
is personalizing an intervention that we know will close that gap,
(23:32):
Because it's one thing to know, it's another thing to
figure out how to reduce the gap and get someone
who normally wouldn't get vaccinated to be vaccinated. And some
people it's the mode of communication, it's the manner in
which that communication is brought. It might be issues of
vaccine efficacy or safety that need to be communicated effectively
to that individual to have him or her address that
(23:54):
vaccine hesitancy. That might play a role. I also think
in the age of the pandemic, convenience and access. The
fact that Americans are within ten miles of the CBS
plays a very important role. You know, my experience as
a primary care physician is that many people spend a
lot of time in waiting rooms to see their doctor
and hospital settings, and especially in the age of the pandemic,
(24:17):
many people are looking for the access and convenience of
their local pharmacy and the trusted broker of a pharmacists
to deliver that vaccine very quickly. So I think those
are very important factors. But as I wanted to emphasize,
leveraging data isn't sufficient. You have to translate it into insights,
and the team of data scientists that we have play
(24:37):
a very important role working with our healthcare professionals. Absolutely,
I mean I'm hearing three things. Of course, one is
collection of data itself, which you know I was also
reading a federal study that said that, you know, race
and ethnicity data is missing for nearly half of cornavirus
vaccine recipients, and this lack of data is actually leading
to inequatable response to the pandemic. So collecting that data
(25:00):
and making sense of the data. At the same time,
when you talk about the transparency and trust right and
you mentioned about AI and technology, which is going to
be actually not just in health, every sphere of every
industry is going to be very omnipresent. And I myself
actually worked during the pandemic or with m I T
on one of the largest contact tracing solutions and realize
(25:21):
that how important it is to have privacy by design
integrated into the systems in terms of collecting it. And
at the same time, when you talk about converting that
into insights, you know, how do you use it. Would
you like to shed some light on how do we
balance privacy and at a collection when implementing technology to
deal with public health crisis like this or even otherwise.
(25:43):
Once again, everything in health and health care is about trust.
It's about those teams that play a role healthcare professionals,
data scientists and ultimately for the the citizens, the consumer,
the patient, the member. I can't under emphasize the importance
of trust and transparency as you apply technology. And so
(26:04):
there is an extraordinary volume of data that exists. As
you suggested, many industries, retail, financial industries are leveraging big
data and big volumes of data to apply AI algorithms,
machine learning algorithms to better predict, personalize, and serve their customers.
There's also a variety of data sets, so once again
(26:25):
that's really important too. Connecting different data sets is also important.
The volume, the variety, the velocity of that data is important.
And then I would also suggest the veracity of that data.
We all know we've been in situations where perhaps we
felt that someone had the wrong data on us. You know,
I've seen patients were like, no, that's not accurate, doctor E.
I don't know where that came from. I'm not on
(26:45):
that met And so this ability to make sure we're
putting those four vs in. But the last V is
the value. And so I do think we live in
an age as it relates to big data, where many
people are more willing to share their data in a trusted,
in transparent way when they see value back to them
and they see those insights are actual and that they
(27:08):
help them. As I just suggested, our ability with a
high level of accuracy to be able to personalize interventions
for people who normally wouldn't get the flu shot and
then have them experience getting the flu shot is to
me an important example of that. And so the broader
concept that I want to highlight is that we all
have this extraordinary data that is associated with us, and
(27:33):
the concept of data privacy is important, but even the
concept of data philanthropy is important. Individuals can consider how
they could donate their data. The last decade IBM, I
had so many experiences where people would send me emails,
people from all over the world and saying, you know,
I want to donate my data to Watson of multiple scross,
(27:53):
as I have cancer. I know that if I donate
this it might help others if we're able to provide
that database where actionable insights and AI could be applied
to better predict and prevent you know, the consequences of
these conditions. So we have to focus on the trust
and the teams that build that trust, and ultimately that's
(28:14):
what health care is about. But data privacy, data trust
could lead us to principles of data philanthropy. If there's
ever a time I would highlight part of the challenges
of expediting or accelerating science and going from discovery to
delivery revolves around issues of data trust and also recruiting
(28:34):
people into clinical trials. If you can imagine a new
model where you empowered individuals to participate and donate their
data and be an active participat in clinical trials, there's
extraordinary opportunities to also transform science and accelerate discovery to delivery.
(29:00):
Let me switch gears here a bit and talk about
as we understand your new rule at CBS Health includes
commitment to health housing, equitable access to care, and one
of the key initiatives and current pandemic are definitely linked
to vaccine equity. Can you talk to us a bit
about the initiative of CBS Health with Lift and y
m c A. When you come out as a physician
(29:21):
and you've done all this training in wonderful academic centers
like Cedar Sina or u C l A, and then
you come out into practice and you're there taking care
of patients in a waiting room, you realize that health
is so much more than just health care. So I'd
like to use the acronym health actually to help me
explain not only CVS Health commitment, but my own commitment
(29:42):
to believing that health is so much more than health care.
So h is connected to housing. Our commitment to affordable
housing in the communities where we serve is so important because,
as we all know, issues of homelessness and housing play
a very important role to be healthy and manage your
health conditions. And so we've commit did more than a
billion dollars in affordable housing since nine and in alone,
(30:05):
we invest in more than a hundred fourteen million dollars
to lead to the construction and rehab of twenty d
affordable housing units in thirty cities and twelve states. Education
is also important, As I mentioned, when you serve populations,
the people who serve should represent those populations. And I'm
proud of the fact that our health and healthcare professionals,
(30:27):
of the health and healthcare professionals at work at CVS
Health represent minorities, and so part of me wants to
highlight this minority health is becoming majority health in the US.
There are still challenges though, For example, amongst physicians, only
five percent of physicians are African American and five percent
of physicians are Hispanic, despite the fact that the broader
(30:48):
population represents much more in terms of those groups. So
our commitment to partnering with the United Negro College Fund
and thinking about how we can bring more Black and
Hispanics into healthcare careers is another commitment we make. So
that's the e and education as access to healthy choices.
And I'm very proud of the fact that I'm part
(31:09):
of a company that over five years ago quit the
sale of tobacco and and there's a great study in
the American Journal of Public Health that showed that that
intervention and that decision reduced smoking rates for individuals and
customers of CBS and also those communities in which CVS
was in had lower rates of smoking. And so this
(31:30):
idea that we're leveraging our influence to improve access to
healthy choices is another example. The other one is labor.
I'm very proud of this one as well. Like if
you think about our five workforce and innovation centers and
the fact that we've transitioned a hundred and fifteen thousand
people from public assistance two careers at CVS Health is
(31:53):
a demonstration of our commitment to really thinking about labor
and employment and the role we play in communities, because
of course, I mean I would say one of the
best things I can do for your health is make
sure you have a job. And so once again another
important piece. Now, transportation, as you highlighted, is really important
as well, and our partnership would LIFT. We've seen that
(32:14):
nearly half of all LIFT pickups are in underserved communities,
and so of course this idea of getting a vaccine
and if you happen to have challenges with transportation, that
you can use LIFT to get you two a CVS
and get you vaccinated. I'm very proud of the fact
that many of our sites that were vaccinated are already
in underserved communities. But once again, as we know, in
(32:36):
these communities, public transport is challenging. People often don't own
a car, you know, it's hard to get from place
to place not only for their job, but for their healthcare.
And so we're very committed to that with our partnership
with LIFT. The only other piece side ad is, as
you mentioned y m c A, is that issue of
healthy choices. We know the why plays a very important
(32:58):
role in trust for promoting things like as of activity
and social connectiveness, particularly in communities that are underserved. And
so the partnership of the Y extends to thinking about
health and healthcare and helping people get vaccinated. And I'm
very proud of that. The last ages healthcare, and we
could talk a lot about healthcare, but you know, proud
of our health hubs and our many clinics, and our
(33:18):
pharmacies and our pharmacy text and our pharmacists and our
nurse practitioners that are delivering care every day in our
nearly ten thousand sites. What I'm really hearing is that
CVS Health is very much connected and very much committed
to the social determinants of health to improve health equity, right.
I know that personally that you've also been associated and
facilitated the Culture of Health initiative with Robert Johnson Foundation
(33:42):
to build the culture of health. So that's definitely a
great cause also, and I think kind of ties in
so well with where this country needs to go at
this point in time and so much is needed. Thanks
for sharing those thoughts. I know there are like four
areas that you kind of focus upon, like consumer employer
environment and community health and that's what you kind of
talked about. But for the next question, I just want
(34:04):
to focus a bit on companies as employers and CBS
as employer for instance, And we see during the pandemic
that companies need to build a culture of trust not
just with customers but with employees. So in that context,
what measures do you see companies investing in as it
relates to getting the workforce back to work. There are
(34:24):
a couple of principles I like to talk about here.
One is that every business is a health business. I
think if there's ever a time we recognize during this
pandemic this concept of culture of health, and also that
businesses have an important role to play from those four
pillars of consumer, employer, environment, and community. And I'm very
(34:46):
proud in our Corporate Social Responsibility Report we talk about
each of those four areas healthy people, healthy business, healthy communities,
and healthy planet. There's another principle I like to say,
I personally felt it was a little uncomfortable. You know,
there's some what I would call essential workers and non
essential workers as we've applied during this pandemic. But I'm
(35:07):
a big believer we're all essential, right. I Mean, there's
in some ways. You know, we all are essential, and
companies have an important responsibility as this pandemic and as
we vaccinate America to be very thoughtful about the health
and well being of their workforce. And of course, I
think broader than that, we often have to think holistically
(35:29):
about our efforts to bring people back to work, to
be very adaptive in terms of work policies as well. Right,
how companies are very sensitive about their work policies are
also important. So I'm very proud of the fact that
we've been very proactive as you can imagine, not only
the health and safety of our customers who go through
our stores, but we're relentlessly focused on the health and
(35:50):
safety of our workforce as well. The basics of you know,
washing your hands, and it used to be a badge
of courage when you go to work when you're sick,
you know, you have your your sniffles, or you'd be like,
I'm okay, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm like that age
is gone. I believe, I think people when their sex
should stay at home, and obviously you need sick policies
to support that. You know, it's really exciting to see
(36:13):
the role of playing We're practicing what we preach. As
we're delivering this care in communities all across this country,
we're also you know, making sure it applies to our
own workforce as well. What I'm really hearing is more
about the education that is involved, you know, to get
the employees back as well as well as thinking about
their families and you know, protecting them and also maybe
installing systems within your locations as well right to kind
(36:36):
of manage those populations. Well, this is something that is
happening overall during the pandemic, and the companies are taking
care of all of these things that also because they
want workforces to come back and also come back healthy.
But how do you see those measures evolving as the
pandemic is managed more effectively in the US, as we
achieve broader vaccinations, for instance, in the long run, how
(36:59):
do that lay out in the change in the mindsets.
So in the same way we talked about trust between
a pharmacists and you know, someone citizen who's getting vaccinated,
or nurse practitioners seeing a patient who's got to maybe
be an acute illness in one of our many clinics,
the trust between an employer and an employee is really
essential right that trust. And so one of the things
(37:23):
I'm as I suggest that I'm proud of is our
focus on that as an employer, but also our efforts
to deliver that for other employers. And so we have
this program called return Ready with over a hundred clients
that serve one point five million individuals, and so early
in this pandemic, we recognize, I mean, you can imagine
there are certain workforces that don't have some of the
(37:46):
luxuries that you and I have that we could work
from home, right manufacturing plants or retail settings, healthcare settings.
You know, it's very important that we thought about how
we can leverage our technology or capabilitalities, are testing capabilities
to deliver solutions at the work site so that you
could return ready, you could return safe. Think about that
(38:09):
trust between an employer and an employee and preserving that,
and so we've been leveraging analytics, and we've been leveraging
abilities to do on site testing. And you can imagine
now as the supply will surpass the demand and we're
going to now address more issues of vaccine hesitancy, and
there are is going to be a lot of interest
in having employers leverage solutions like return ready to maintain
(38:33):
that trust and bring people back to the workplace, right,
I mean, very powerful concept of return ready and also
really thinking about building that trust, which is the most
important thing, and I think this is the word which
is most important that has turned out in the entire
pandemic building trust with communities, trust with government, trust with
employers employees. So definitely a lot of good work that
(38:55):
you guys are doing in that direction. As we are closing,
I would love to have your thoughts on how do
you think the rule of public health agencies will evolve
based on the lessons that we've learned from the pandemic,
and also maybe if there is any intersection with the
private sector at all. I'm just a public health professional
in the private sector. So as you were suggesting, most
(39:17):
of us think about public health agencies as governmental public
health it's you know, agencies like the CDC, federal agency,
state agencies, as well as local health department agencies. And
so that's a very important part in some people's state.
It's the backbone of a public health system. But as
this pandemic has taught us, all the other stakeholders academia,
(39:38):
research providers, payers or health plans, life science companies, companies
like fires are in Maderna, CVS Health, you know, with
our pharmacies, with our retail locations, with regards to care
Mark in ETNA. We all play an important role and
we all have to work to trust each other, you know,
(39:58):
assure that the prior ality, which is keeping our communities,
those populations healthy and safe, is the goal and partner
you know, across those different agencies, the public, the private sector,
life science companies and payers, you know, providers and health plans.
It's so important. It's really exciting to see how this
(40:20):
pandemic has brought us all together. And my hope and
belief is that we need to keep this momentum going,
these partnerships, these collaborations in communities, especially communities of poverty
and color across our country. I wrote a piece in
Fortune at the beginning of the pandemic to stay therefore
curves to COVID. So we all got this public health
literacy about the curve of COVID that we have to flatten.
(40:43):
The other three curves I believe are mental illness, chronic disease,
and inequities. And so the other thing I'd call out
is we all have this broader responsibility not only to
focus on this infectious disease that we need to prevent,
to bring our communities to work and to take care
of our communities and our families, but we have to
(41:03):
recognize that this pandemic has made us realize things like
inequities that have been long standing in our communities, and
mental illness, as you can imagine, this pandemic has impacted
that even more than ever, but that has always been
an issue as well. And then the fourth are of
chronic diseases. People are actually afraid to go back to
the doctor. I talked to a lot of my colleagues
(41:25):
in hospitals and health systems are saying that they're having
challenges bringing people back into the office to manage their
chronic conditions. And so that's gonna be another important pandemic
that we have to address. So we need to flatten
all four curves of COVID with public private partnerships and
with all these stakeholders and the trust we've built during
this pandemic to go beyond. I think the two statements
(41:47):
I take away from here are really very powerful and
very compelling statements I find Boston needs. We are all
in public health and all businesses are in healthcare business.
I mean, I think both of them are such true
statements that people we should be actually really working towards.
Thanks a lot for your time today, and we also
know that it's CBS the mission is to make health
(42:08):
care more accessible, more affordable, and simply better. And um
certainly expertise and leadership you are bringing to the table
throughout your career, but especially right now, throughout the pandemic
and going forward it has certainly held the cause and
will do so also in future. And I just want
to emphasize that we really value your vision and the
(42:28):
thought leadership you bring and wish you all the success
in your new role. Thank you, Thank you so much.
Thank you to all your listeners as well, and all
my partners at CBS Health. Thank you so Catherine and
Deep as key team members of Contact World. What have
you learned about the way that Contact World is poised
(42:48):
to improve public health systems? What I learned from this
season is the sense of humanity and community required to
really change systems. I think a lot of times when
you look at inequalities and deficiencies and systems, and public
health system in particular, you think, well, the government needs
(43:10):
to do something, somebody needs to do something, and we
take away the level of accountability for the human connections
that we must have in order to address those issues.
In looking at how these issues affect people, not just
(43:31):
financially but emotionally mentally, there's so many components. People talk
about what's happened with the virus and COVID nineteen, but
people also miss out on the human level affectations. And
there's also the resiliency and the level of creativity and
(43:58):
enterprising spirit of p Pole who took on the challenges
to address them, to speak out to set the standard,
and people like Daniel Dawes who led the Health Equity Project,
people that we've spoken to throughout the season of the
(44:19):
podcast shedding much needed light on the disparities. Those are
the heroes, the courageous warriors who stood as really the
activism frontline to lend their time, their credibility to the
issues and really state the reputation to really let us
(44:40):
know how to address these issues that we're facing. So,
although the season has been about the pandemic, I think
I would choose to rephrase it and say that it
has been about how a community, a community of activists
(45:01):
or credential professionals choose to lend themselves to helping shed
light to helping us in seeing the bigger picture and
solving for the solutions that we need. I think it's
that community of people with a sense of humanity who
(45:23):
wanted to see the systems change for the better, who
wanted to shed light on the stories that needed to
be heard. Like Fionas so, I hope listeners when they
hear this season, I hope they can put themselves in
the shoes of the people who have been affected by
this pandemic. I hope that they will in turn be
(45:50):
moved and have their sense of activism activated. This podcast
and the season entirely has been such an eye opener.
I've learned personally so much from it. The number one
thing that I've really learned here is the root cause
of health disparities typically occur outside of the four walls
(46:12):
of a hospital or a health system. Almost every guest
on this show highlighted how the communities of color in
minority populations have been disproportionately affected during the pandemic. COVID
nineteen has not been the great equalizer at all. The
social factors such as where you live, where you work,
where you play, have actually led to what you've experienced
(46:35):
during this pandemic. And secondly, the barriers and the roots
of COVID nineteen and the disparities that we see are
in systemic and institutional racism that is not just historic phenomenon,
it's real. The coronavirus has let bear the existing inequities
in the infrastructure and in the health ecosystem. Throughout the season,
(46:57):
we enable discussions to get to the bottom of what's
happening with these disparities. As in one of our episodes,
we talked about residential segregation and how it is a
key factor that leads to other forms of segregation, including
educational segregation and the limiting of employment opportunities and growth opportunities.
And although we do know that residential segregation is not
(47:21):
an easy one that we can fix, but we do
have the opportunity for other downstream fixes in terms of
educational opportunity and also the economic opportunity. At the same time,
what we learned is that to treat disease and better
yet to prevent it, we must understand that having great
health care and even providing access to healthcare does not
(47:43):
guarantee public health and a good population health. What we
really need is that everyone in the population must know
about their health care options, know how to use it,
and have transportation and have paid time off and child
care so that they can use their health care. Another
important thing which we've constantly talked about is a way
(48:08):
of bringing these conversations forward and also by way of
the coinciding projects that I lead personally, get contact world
as well in terms of relating it to bottom up
innovations and public health, and that a targeted and a
thoughtful application of design and global public health systems is
one of the ways to take real action which a
(48:30):
lot of us are actually able to do in order
to improve projects, programs, organizations and also save lives. As
we're applying human centered design to understanding communities and public
health perspectives and contact world, we understood that a broad
set of community side barriers need to be brought into focus.
(48:52):
These barriers include awareness about science and why and how
it works, cultural and social beliefs, access to right information,
and affordability of health measures. These challenges and these lack
of strategic communications often ignored. What they actually do is
they prevent populations from listening to public health even if
(49:13):
the resources are sometimes are available to them. And last,
but not the least, what we've really learned here is
as well, what gets measured gets improved. There is a
need to capture essential health equity data, the lack of
which major lye contributed to the unequal Code nineteen outcomes.
I do hope that the listeners enjoyed our conversations with
(49:35):
the ten guests that we have had in the last
few months, and for the first time we all know
that everyone, the lay pub blake, the politicians, the health experts,
the citizens, globally, everyone is thinking about the pandemic and
also the iniquities and systemic infrastructure failures, and these common
shared moments and feelings and time offer us an opportunity
(50:00):
to collectively act now to build better. I do want
to thank everybody listening because the fact that you even
listened and got to the end of this podcast show
or even the cities, it shows how much you care
and it shows how much you want to be part
of this change. There is always a way for you
to get engaged and make a difference in your communities,
(50:23):
and I would just challenge each one of you to
take advantage of that. Thank you. It's hard to believe
that we've completed ten shows for Contact World, Truth and Health.
Thank you so much for spending your time with us.
We started this company in March to help health agencies
and employers improve health within their communities. We've since learned
(50:46):
that the issues were addressing with our technology have actually
existed for more than a hundred and fifty years. Along
the way, we've been humbled by awards from Fast Company,
Stevie Awards and Big Innovation Awards for our technology platform,
and a the awards for this podcast, and we're really
just scratching the surface like you. I've been learning along
(51:07):
the way from experts and then regular folks like you
and me. I think the most important thing I've learned
though through this podcast and through developing our company, you
cannot fix anything if you don't try. Innovation is not
for the timid, and we all possessed within us a
special power to create change. But it starts with just
a first step. So thank you for taking the first
(51:30):
step with us and for believing in us. We're trying
to save the world, so who knows what we'll accomplish together.
Listen to Contact World the podcast on the I Heart
Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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