Issue 52, February 22, 2024
America faces daunting and complex healthcare challenges that include and go beyond the current pandemic. In myriad ways, innovative healthcare companies are developing solutions to improve access to care, battle disease, strengthen population health, and meet the needs of underserved communities. This newsletter will offer examples of Healthcare Leadership Council members answering the call. |
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Achieving Improved Engagement and Outcomes through Innovative Partnerships Panel discussion hosted by Tivity Health at the AHIP 2024 Medicare, Medicaid, Duals & Commercial Markets Forum Lunch and Learn Segment Panel Jessica Erb, MPH
, Chief Growth Officer, Tivity Health Maria Ghazal, J.D., President and CEO, Healthcare Leadership Council Laurie Whitsel, PhD, FAHA, National Vice President, Policy Research and Translation, American Heart Association Michael Lutz, MBA, Senior Consultant, Avalere When: Wednesday, March 13, 2024 Where: Baltimore, MD |
| Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Addressing State's Affordable Housing Challenges Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI), through its BlueAngel Community Health Grant program, has awarded $648,000 in grants to support access to safe, stable, and affordable housing
throughout Rhode Island. The projects address a range of housing-related issues that are foundational to wellness, including housing and wraparound services for families with children, housing and outreach to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, and housing support and advocacy for individuals with substance use disorder. BCBSRI is a member of the Healthcare Leadership Council.
BCBSRI's philanthropy is guided, in part, by the annual RI Life Index, a statewide survey of Rhode Islanders administered in partnership with the Brown University School of Public Health. The survey has consistently shown that access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is a top concern for Rhode Islanders across the state. High interest rates, steep home prices, low vacancy rates, and increasing rents continued to prevent Rhode Island families from affording housing. BCBSRI President & CEO Martha L. Wofford said, "Too many Rhode Islanders face significant health-related needs and housing continues to be one of the most challenging areas. We're proud to partner with community organizations who share our unwavering commitment to improved access to safe and affordable housing and a healthier and more equitable Rhode Island."
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Innovative Procedure at Texas Health Resources Gives Woman Gift of Breath
Joyce Stovall, 62, was diagnosed in her 30s with asthma and emphysema. For more than 20 years, an oxygen tank was her unwanted companion. That was before she learned about an innovative, minimally invasive procedure
, performed at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth (part of Texas Health Resources, a Healthcare Leadership Council member) that is used to treat patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema. Today, Stovall no longer needs her oxygen tube.
Dr. Sai Karan Vamsi Guda, an interventional pulmonologist on the medical staff at Texas Health Fort Worth, implanted endobronchial valves into Stovall's diseased upper right lobe. The one-way valves, about the size of a pencil eraser, allow trapped air in an overinflated lobe to be exhaled, shrinking the lobe and preventing further air blockage. The procedure does not involve any cutting or incisions. Rather, the valves are placed in the airways using a small camera called a bronchoscope, which is inserted into the lungs through the patient's nose or mouth.
Dr. Guda said, "For Mrs. Stovall, it meant being able to come off oxygen and walk a little distance. Now, she and her husband are looking at going dancing, which she could not even imagine doing 20 years ago. I had a different patient that just wanted to stand up and take a shower without having to sit down, and now she is pulling weeds out of her backyard that she hadn't tended to in years. I have other patient who needed a wheelchair to go to rehabilitation and now he's on the treadmill walking."
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