Healthcare Analytics don’t always provide Health Equity
It just struck me. I’m dumber than a box of rocks. Just recently, in a local charity trivia competition, my team finished dead last. Every answer I was absolutely certain was answered correctly was wrong. Even the ones I made my team members fix were wrong. And to think I wasted all that money on a doctorate!
Do PBMs improve Health Equity?
The level of my ineptitude was further brought home to me just today. The PCMA (Pharmaceutical Care Management Association) has just released its report on what PBMs are doing to improve health equity.
Their efforts to address health inequities in marginalized populations are just staggering. For example, Cigna established a process to “make sure their algorithms are consistent with their health equity commitment.” Genius!
Healthcare depends on more than analytics.
Optum, in another example of genius, “is leveraging expertise in analytics to address disparities.” The list goes on and on. PBMs are really taking this health equity stuff seriously.
Managing SDoH Issues demands an Empathic Approach
On the other hand, I’ve never developed an algorithm. That’s probably why the patients in my rural, impoverished healthcare desert are still dealing with health disparities.
Since I have no expertise in leveraging analytics, my area of the upper Mississippi Delta region is doomed to remain subject to various social determinants of health (SDoH) issues. These include the lack of transportation, poverty, low economic opportunity, poor healthcare access, and, subsequently, challenging health outcomes. If I just had one algorithm or analytic to leverage, what a difference I could make!
Community Health Workers performing Patient Outreach Helps
Well, I reckon we’ll just have to go on like we’ve been doing in this little practice. Reaching out to one patient at a time, trying to affect their lives in a positive fashion.
Earlier this week, I heard my outreach CHW talking to a patient. The conversation went something like this:
“Mrs. Smith (name changed to protect the innocent), how are you doing? You know that cold weather is coming? The roads may get slippery. Do you have plenty of groceries in case you can’t get out? Is your furnace working? Is the house cozy? Well, good. Do your kids check on you and come by to see you? Fantastic. Now you stay home and stay snug until it warms up!”
If I’d just had one good algorithm to offer!
