Brian Pieninck, president and CEO of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of the Mid-Atlantic, says creating novel options for patients in their daily lives can assist improve outcomes.
To address the “inextricable link” between the economy, environment, community, and people’s health trajectories—the social determinants of health, or, as Pieninck prefers, the social drivers of health—the health care industry must address its structure. Striving for progress and then correcting course are necessary to break down barriers for those who have difficulty accessing the $4 trillion health care industry, he says.
For example, recent events such as the Change Healthcare cyberattack and subsequent disruption to claims payment processing can be a painful reminder that healthcare must remain vigilant to ensure the continuity of care delivery – and that patients can count on that commitment.
As Pieninck said on HIMSSCast this week, the structure of the health care sector, “which hasn’t always done a good job of meeting customer needs where they are,” needs to be redesigned and carefully adapted.
Pieninck—who is also chairman of the board of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and chairman of the board of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare—discussed several tools and programs that are changing the SDOH paradigm by improving access, and also shared insights on the role of artificial intelligence in addressing healthcare challenges.
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Topics for discussion:
- How the Change Healthcare cyberattack overhauled healthcare.
- What does it mean for social drivers to “put their hands on the wheel”?
- The role of artificial intelligence in solving healthcare’s biggest challenges.
- The human side of improving access to health care.
- Why health plans support workforce development.
More about this episode:
No single technology is the perfect answer to health problems
Leveraging Technology to Achieve Health Equity – Social Determinants of Health
NorthShore uses NLP for SDOH
Healthcare Equity Hindered by SDOH Coding Barriers
ONC Creates SDOH Toolkit for Communities