Big Topics in Small Doses Episode 3: Health Equity
Advancing health equity
Hello everyone. Thanks for tuning in to listen to this special edition episode of Healthy Dose of Dialogue podcast, where we'll talk about health equity, its challenges, and how the health care industry is driving progress.
Since the pandemic struck, many of the nation's health disparities have been laid bare. Low-income workers—especially those in the service industry—were put at highest risk, while COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths disproportionately impacted minority populations.
For example, a published study by the American Heart Association found that during the pandemic African American, Hispanic, and Asian populations suffered a 20% increase in heart disease deaths compared to 2% percent for Caucasian Americans. And since December 2020, the Centers for Disease Control reports African Americans in the U.S. have had the lowest vaccination rates.
Sara Teppema, president and founder of Alta Health Advisers, said the pandemic revealed longstanding gaps in health care access and outcomes. She said the data shows neighborhoods of color and impoverished communities are at an increased risk for health issues like mental illness, chronic disease, higher mortality rates, and lower life expectancy.
For progress, she said it requires health care reform and an investment in social programs.
"Depending on who you are in this country, you could have the best health care or the worst."… "We do know that compared to other OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] nations, so those are sort of the developed countries of the world, we have the highest healthcare costs per capita GDP and we have the lowest investment in social infrastructure."
In the private sector, the investment firm Health Equity Ventures is harnessing the power of venture capital and directing it at startups that improve health outcomes for vulnerable communities. The group hopes to raise $50 million and is investigating a deal with Sera Prognostics, a startup working to prevent childbirth-related deaths.
Dr. Michael Penn, Health Equity Ventures founder and managing partner, said their goal is to pioneer an investment strategy that improves lives.
"Innovation happens when people hear, 'Oh, this will never work,' and they say, 'Well, I'm going to try anyway,' because it's either important to me, or because this must be done, and I think what is absolutely clear to me is that we have to do things differently in health care, we have to do things differently in our society."
John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, works to provide equitable health options for Los Angeles County's most vulnerable and low-income residents. Under his leadership, L.A. Care Health Plan improved services by establishing a scorecard to measure provider performance and used grant funding to generate a pipeline of high-quality physicians for Medicaid recipients.
He said the pandemic has served as a wake-up call for people to see the disparities in our health system and act.
"44% of our members on Medicaid here in Los Angeles County are Latino. And they were getting infected, hospitalized, and dying at three times the rate of everyone else. So if this doesn't put a spotlight on the fact that these social determinants are real barriers to somebody's improved health, I don't know what will."
Visit dose of dialogue.com, where you can listen to the latest episodes and hear from industry experts mentioned in this special edition of the podcast. You can also join the conversation on LinkedIn and Twitter at Dose of Dialogue. Thanks for listening.
Listen to the full episodes by clicking the links below:
Sara Teppema, President and Founder of Alta Health Advisers (full episode)
Dr. Michael Penn, Founding and Managing Partner of Health Equity Ventures (full episode)
John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan (full episode)