Humana is dedicated to improving the health of every person we serve. Building trust and taking care of people has always been the core of our company’s values, purpose, and mission.
With millions of medical and specialty care members across the nation, Humana is moving beyond words and sentiment. We are taking intentional actions that we hope will lead to a more equitable healthcare ecosystem so that every person has a fair, just, and dignified opportunity to reach their full health potential, regardless of their background or where they live.
Humana has a long history of improving population health and scaling interventions to address health related social needs, evolving to become one of the first national health plans to create the role of Chief Health Equity Officer. As the inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer & Senior Vice President of Health Equity & Social Impact at Humana, in coordination with business leaders across the organization, I lead a team that provides strategic direction in developing clinical programs, products, education, and tools that address underlying drivers of healthcare disparities, with the goal of fostering more equitable care and health outcomes for our most vulnerable populations.
Specifically, Humana has organized its health equity strategy into three core areas:
- Improving access to care and doctors
- Improving quality of care
- Addressing non-medical barriers to healthy living, such as social, behavioral, and economic determinants of health
Humana has been intentional in building a commitment to health equity and integrating it into the company’s strategic priorities. Through this integration, every part of the company is accountable and engaged in reducing health disparities across subpopulations.
A data-driven approach ensures our strategy is transparent, measured, and effective, as evidenced in our annual Impact Report (Humana.com/about/impact). This is further powered by our development of a novel evidence-based, and patient-centered Health Equity Composite performance measure and a newly formed organization-wide Health Equity Advisory Council for sustained integration and accountability.
We are also continuously working to remove barriers to health, including addressing social needs by screening our members and connecting them to resources and benefits. Our investments in Volunteers of America will help scale their Family Focused Recovery program for women struggling with substance use issues and their babies, combining traditional and behavioral health treatment with family support to maintain healthy family units. Humana is also investing in affordable housing initiatives, as well as equipping clinicians and their care teams with the necessary tools to deliver culturally competent care that mitigates implicit biases.
We invite you to learn more about how Humana is intentionally advancing health equity in our Health Equity Issue Brief found within News & Resources at Healthequity.humana.com. We recognize that there is still much work to be done to create a more equitable healthcare system and will continue to intentionally identify priorities to advance these efforts so that every patient, family, and community we serve can achieve their best health.
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