For all of you leaders out there on a value-based care journey, it is not lost on any of you that health value has become synonymous with health equity. We are at an inflection point in our society in the recognition that everyone needs a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Achieving this will require ongoing societal efforts to address injustice, overcoming socioeconomic barriers to health, and eliminating preventable health disparities. But we cannot do that as a healthcare industry without the proliferation and scale of payment models that align incentives so we can realize true change for the better. On the Race to Value this week, you will hear from one of the foremost leaders on the national scene who is shaping the landscape for accountable care delivery that can advances health equity.
Dr. Dora Hughes is someone who has taken this charge to lead in service to the underserved so that we may realize the dream of a more equitable and healthy society. She is the chief medical officer at the CMS Innovation Center at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (otherwise known as CMMI). She leads the Center’s work on health equity, provides clinical leadership and input on models, serves as the Innovation Center’s primary liaison with medical and clinical stakeholders, and provides leadership to the Innovation Center’s clinician community. In addition, Dr. Hughes is part of the CMS Innovation Center’s Senior Leadership Team, helping to provide enterprise-level leadership and strategic direction to the Center.  In this interview, we discuss the elevated national consciousness to advance health equity, how ACOs and other risk bearing entities can succeed with a health equity strategy, and the work being done by the Innovation Center to redesign alternative payment models for equity.  We spend considerable time discussing ACO REACH and value-based Medicaid transformation as well.  This is certainly a conversation you should listen to as you plan for success in your Race to Value!
 
Episode Bookmarks:
01:30 Health Value has become synonymous with Health Equity -- everyone needs a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health.
02:30 Introduction to Dora Hughes, M.D., M.P.H., the chief medical officer at the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI)
04:30 If you control for all variables that may contribute to health disparities, African Americans still get the worst quality of healthcare of any demographic in the country.
05:30 The first pillar of CMS’ Strategy Plan is Health Equity
06:30 Cara James, Ph.D., president and CEO of Grantmakers in Health: "I'm someone who's working on equity before it became cool to work on equity."
07:00 Referencing the seminal findings of the Heckler Report in the 1980s that investigated racial and ethnic disparities in the United States.
08:00 Momentum has been building towards addressing health inequities, despite the historical lack of national prioritization.
08:30 “It really took the pandemic and police brutality to blast the issues of health inequities into the national consciousness.”
09:00 Disparities go beyond COVID (e.g. black disparities in maternal health, colorectal cancer, kidney disease)
09:45 “Executive pay is now being tied to reduction in disparities. You wouldn't have heard that 10 years ago or even perhaps five years ago.”
10:00 Referencing CCSQ Deputy Jean Moody-Williams: "For those of us engaged in health equity, this is our moment, but it is only a moment."
10:30 Actions Needed: collecting and analyzing demographic and health data,  knowing patients individually and at the population level, identifying disparities, implementing evidence-based interventions.
11:45 “It takes vibrancy, resiliency, and an indomitable spirit to tackle disparities and scale progress at a national level.”
13:00 CMMI’s work to address Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), e.g. ACOs, Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model

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