THE BRAVO BRIEFING: Addressing and Responding to Social Determinants of Health
The following article was published by Bravo Wellness and was authored by Jim Pshock, Founder & CEO at Bravo and Member of the Board pf Directors at the Population Health Alliance. The original posting can be found here.
Highlights from the Population Health Alliance Innovation Summit
December 19, 2019
Jim Pshock, Founder & CEO of Bravo
I recently attended the Population Health Alliance (PHA) Innovation Summit and Capital Caucus, subtitled “Improving Health Through Financial Security: The Common Denominator Across Social Determinants of Populations.” I’ve been honored to be a member of the PHA board for three years now and have found the organization to be a small but mighty force in the quest for population health. If you’re not familiar with PHA, I strongly encourage you to check out www.populationhealthalliance.org.
Achieving Value Targets by Addressing Social Determinants of Health
As the 2019 theme suggests, one of the primary areas of focus that comprehensive programs must address is financial security and other social issues. While these concerns are not new, PHA Chair, Rose Maljanian, shared that the recent surge in interest among providers and payers is fueled mainly by fundamental changes in reimbursement models linked to value-based designs, HEDIS scores and similar initiatives.
Although many have preached about caring for the total person, it’s clear that our old payment system promoted over-utilization of covered services and paid very little attention to non-reimbursable factors.
As we shift the incentive away from fee-for-service to “bonus for quality,” we finally see more attention to essential elements of care such as transportation needs, lack of food, loneliness and financial security. If you ever doubted the power of financial incentives, look at how the use of these incentives is completely transforming the level of care provided now that things like hospital readmissions and infections result in pay cuts instead of extra revenue!
Responding to the Social Determinants of Health
One presenter, Marcella Wilson, Ph.D., shared exciting results from the Transition to Success program in Memphis, TN. This duplicatable model shows how health care and community services can be combined and organized in a way that addresses the social limitations of those living in poverty. And if you think the poor are the unemployed, think again. The working poor often have greater needs because they don’t qualify for many of the free services available to others. Health plans that leverage a similar approach as the Transition to Success program can have an astounding impact.
“As with any other condition, such as medical or mental, the treatment for the condition of poverty too requires intervention based on science and access to viable, reliable support systems.” – TransitionToSuccess.org
Wellness Success Stories
We also heard from Senator Mike Braun from Indiana. How exciting to have Senator Braun share about the importance of employee wellness programs and the use of substantial incentives. He experienced it first hand at his company in Indiana, where he not only slowed the health cost trend, he eliminated it. It’s so encouraging to have more people in DC who understand the value of engaging individuals in their health rather than fueling the myth that there’s nothing to be done except focusing on discounted services.
Many other terrific speakers, including presenters from Pitney Bowes, Walmart and Comcast, shared incredible success stories highlighting innovation, creativity and impacts that prove that together, we can change lives and control costs.
If you’re looking for a quick, easy and inexpensive way to reverse decades of individuals’ bad habits and inefficiencies, you’ll probably be disappointed. If, however, you commit to analyzing your data and continually fine-tuning your programs to find the right blend of communications, interventions and incentives, you too can have a profound impact.
Ms. Polak is a senior director based in Washington, D.C. In her role, she provides policy counsel and analysis to clients with matters involving regu-lations, legislation, and business implications. Anne Marie’s experience includes developing strategic messages and policy positions for Capitol Hill, administration, trade associations, and corporate audiences. Prior to joining Leavitt Partners, Anne Marie was a vice president for Faegre BD Consulting in the firm’s health and biosciences group. She also spent five years with the Podesta Group in Washington, D.C., while completing her law degree in the evenings at the George Mason University School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2010. Anne Marie also worked in the government and legal affairs office of Novo Nordisk in Washington, D.C., and as a congressional aide to Rep. Michael Ferguson of New Jersey.
Dr. Fabius has recently returned to his start up. HealthNEXT, a company dedicated to the development of organizational cultures of health — after serving as Chief Medical Officer of Truven Health Analytics (formerly the healthcare business of Thomson Reuters), the world’s leading source of intelligent information for business and professionals. In this capacity he is charged with developing and deepening relationships with customers, advising on product development, and providing counsel to the leadership on business strategy and medical issues. Formerly, Dr. Fabius served as strategic advisor to the President of Walgreens Health & Wellness Division. This organization will coordinate over 1,000 workplace health centers and 10,000 pharmacies, many with retail clinics, into a seamless primary care network across the country within the next five years. In the not too distant future, it will be possible to offer large employers medical and fitness services on-site as well as episodic illness care, health coaching and disease management monitoring at the employee’s nearest Walgreens pharmacy.
Mr. Buettner is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, award-winning journalist and producer, and a New York Timesbestselling author. He discovered the five places in the world—dubbed Blue Zones—where people live the longest, healthiest lives. His articles about these places in The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic are two of the most popular for both publications.
Ms. Cooney provides strategic direction for the Centers three Pillars of Population Health – Clinical to Community Connections, Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health, and Public Health Data Analytics and Informatics. Mary Ann previously worked for 14 years at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services where she was Deputy Commissioner for the Department and Director of Public Health.
Mr. Scully is a General Partner in the Healthcare Group, having joined WCAS in 2004. Before joining WCAS, he was the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for three years and the President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals for six years. He also served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and as the Associate Director of OMB under President GHW Bush from 1989 to 1993, and has practiced law at Alston and Bird; Patton Boggs; and Akin, Gump, Strauss Hauer and Feld. He is a Principal at the Lincoln Policy Group.
Dr. Don Wright has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) since January 2012. In this capacity, he leads coordination and policy development for public health and prevention activities within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He is also currently the acting Executive Director of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.
Dr. Sidorov is a board-certified in general internal medicine physician with more than 25 years of experience in primary care, inpatient care, medical education and evidence-based practice. Jaan believes physician leadership throughout the continuum of care is the bedrock of value-based care delivery. He received his medical degree from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, and completed his internship and residency at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, New Hampshire. Jaan also served as a Chief Resident at Reading Hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Ostrovsky is a practicing physician, social entrepreneur, and health policy expert who specializes in human-centered design, lean manage-ment, quality improvement, population health, and digital health. Dr. Ostrovsky was most recently the Chief Medical Officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), the nation’s largest insurer covering over 74 million people, annually.
Dr. Choice is vice president and medical director for physical medicine services at American Specialty Health (ASH). Dr. Choice oversees the Rehabilitation Services Clinical Quality Evaluation program and leads the content development, training and clinical quality processes for ASH’s musculoskeletal health and pain management products.
Ms. Forte is responsible for leading Tufts Health Public Plans expansion efforts. Prior to her current position, she was vice president of care management for all Public Plans members.
As Director of Strategic Initiatives, Ms. Bowman oversees new social needs intervention initiatives among our clinical partners — including program design, resource database build-outs, and integration of Health Leads’ signature technology, Reach. Elise brings 10 years of direct service experience to her role, having previously served as a Health Leads program manager, a case manager for adults struggling with mental illness and homelessness, and in developing parent engagement initiatives in public education settings.
Mr. Johnson leads the Sage Consulting’s work for a number of public sector, corporate, non-profit and multi-employer clients. David brings particular expertise in evidence-based workplace wellness programs and leveraging Behavioral Economics principles in Human Resources Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Towson University.
Dr. Wadhwa is a leader in building population health programs for vulnerable populations. He serves as the senior vice president of market innovation and is the chief health officer for Solera Health where he is focused on scaling the Diabetes Prevention Program as well as health-related, social support interventions. Previously, Sandeep held population health leadership positions with 3M and McKesson. He also served as the State Medicaid Director for Colorado under its former Governor. While there, he oversaw a $4 billion program and led the effort to implement an accountable care collaborative. Sandeep also serves on the board of Reinvestment Fund, a $1 billion non-profit, financial institute devoted to revitalizing low-income neighborhoods. Sandeep continues to see patients at the Seniors Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital where he serves as associate clinical professor in the division of Geriatric Medicine.
Focused on the intersection of information technology, informatics, clinical medicine and innovation, Dr. Jain is VP and Chief Health Informatics Officer at IBM Watson Health. He was Co-Founder, Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer of Explorys, Inc. formed in 2009 based on innovations that he developed while at the Cleveland Clinic. In April 2015, Explorys was acquired by IBM as an integral component of the newly formed Watson Health business unit. In 2017, he was appointed by Congress to the Federal Health IT Advisory Committee established by the 21st Century Cures Act.
Ms. Maljanian is an accomplished senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry. Rose’s leadership experience
John Haughton MD, MS