Episode 15: Innovations In Healthcare: Enhancing Value, Health Equity, And The Social Determinants Of Health

In this month’s episode, we tackled innovations in healthcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen a focus on various healthcare innovations and technology like artificial intelligence, cloud-enabled solutions, and inpatient telehealth, but other innovations are important, too. Some of these focused on in Pennsylvania include how we can get more value out of the country’s healthcare system without sacrificing the quality of care and lowering barriers for underserved populations.

We spoke to Dr. Doug Jacobs, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer in the Office of the Secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and Meg Small, Ph.D., Director of Social Innovation and Assistant Research Professor at the Penn State Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, about what it means to have a healthcare system that pays for value, promotes health equity and addresses the social determinants of health; measuring the success of healthcare innovation; healthcare innovations involving mobile technology; and other improvements to expanding access while reducing healthcare costs.

Episode Resources and Notes

• For more information about DHS’s efforts on healthcare innovation, visit this page.
• In response to a question about how health equity frames prevention science, Meg brings up a collaboration project with a woman named Lavelle Smith Hall, an entrepreneur and founder of a company called MOMLogics. MOMLogics serves Black moms and empowers them with parenting strategies so they can enjoy better relationships with their children, spouses, and families.
• Meg discusses a program called Museums for All that allows families and children receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) free or reduced admission to over 700 museums throughout the United States simply by presenting their EBT card.
• Meg mentions the research of Karen Bierman, Ph.D., Evan Pugh Professor, Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies, and Director of the Child Study Center at Penn State. For more of her work, visit Karen’s Google Scholar page.
• Meg mentions Penn State faculty affiliate and pediatrician, Laura Jana, M.D., and her work on adopting reach out and read programs into early learning centers. More information about Laura can be found here.
• Doug refers to a healthcare system in Pennsylvania that has a “fresh food pharmacy” where physicians can prescribe fresh food for families.
• Meg references The Common Good by Robert Reich.

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