Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Transforming Maternal and Infant Health: Insights from Dr. Yolanda Lawson

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Transforming Maternal and Infant Health: Insights from Dr. Yolanda Lawson · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

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  Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
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  Becker's Payer Issues podcast. Thrilled today to be
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  joined by a special guest. Doctor Yolanda Lawson
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  is the executive medical director for maternal and
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  infant health at Healthcare Service Corporation.
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  Doctor Lawson, thanks so much for taking the
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  time to be with me on the podcast
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  today.
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  Thank you for having me here.
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  So, Yolanda, before we dive into everything we
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  wanna talk with you about, can you tell
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  us a little bit more about yourself in
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  terms of your health care career background
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  and what it is that you do today
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  at HCSC?
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  Certainly. I am an OBGYN
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  by by specialty.
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  I've practiced almost 22 years,
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  in the Texas air in the Dallas, Texas
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  area.
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  I even owned a,
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  birth center at a physician owned birth center,
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  in the state.
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  I've been with HCSC now for a little
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  bit. It just made 1 year,
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  as the executive medical director for maternal infant
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  health. And so I do many things, maternal
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  and infant health, women's health,
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  really working towards improving,
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  outcomes for our members in the communities where
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  they live.
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  Fantastic.
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  So, Yolanda, the first thing I wanted to
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  ask you about is, as you know, HCSC
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  is the umbrella company for 5 Blue Cross
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  plans.
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  So so what would you say are some
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  of the most significant challenges that you've identified
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  in improving maternal and infant health across those
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  5 states that you oversee?
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  And and how is HCSC addressing those
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  issues through its different initiatives?
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  So
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  from the challenges that I see, I'll just
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  start there first,
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  quality.
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  So quality of care and just making sure
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  that folks can access quality. So when you
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  think about,
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  maternal morbidity or mortality,
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  those rates are higher when individuals are
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  delivering at facilities of lower quality
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  and so access to care. And so I
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  mean that whether you're talking about cost, whether
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  you're talking about place, a place where folks
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  have accessible to them to obtain care. And
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  one of those real areas that we are
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  extremely concerned about is around behavioral health care
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  providers,
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  insights.
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  And then lastly, those social drivers. We know
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  that 70 to 80% of one's health is
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  attributed
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  to those their social circumstances
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  in the environment
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  and not necessarily their health care. And so
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  we're addressing that
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  with our special beginnings maternal infant health initiative.
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  This initiative began in Texas,
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  and really it was because Texas ranked last
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  for access in high quality
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  prenatal and maternal care. So it started in
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  Texas last year in 2023.
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  I'm proud to say we were able to
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  implement this program in Illinois, New Mexico
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  in October of 2024.
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  And so much of that is, again, when
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  we talk about those social drivers, that could
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  be transportation.
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  It could be nutritious foods.
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  It could be all of these things again
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  that are drivers,
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  on these gaps in care that moms and
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  babies experience.
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  And Yolanda, tell us a little bit more
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  about this special beginnings maternal and infant health
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  initiative. You just mentioned it's it's expanded into
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  Illinois recently.
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  What does this expansion mean? And and ultimately,
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  what does this mean for members on the
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  ground?
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  Absolutely. So what this expansion means is
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  this is more than just expanding programming.
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  This is around community
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  investment
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  and quality.
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  This is one of the first times
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  we've invested
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  into quality
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  agnostic
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  of you being a member of Blue Cross
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  and Blue Shield of Illinois, for instance.
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  And so we've invested into multiple clinical community
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  partners,
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  community based organizations.
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  We have a partnership with the Illinois Perinatal
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  Quality Collaborative.
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  There are fatherhood initiatives, family services,
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  and social supports.
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  And this is across a multitude of diverse
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  communities
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  throughout the state,
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  of Illinois. And lastly, I would add
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  workforce
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  identifying and, I'm certain many,
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  listeners may understand that,
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  when you look at maternal health care deserts
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  in the US, of course, they exist in
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  Illinois also. And so workforce, maternal health care
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  workforce expansion was another
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  component of this program. So, again, really pulling
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  together
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  really a comprehensive,
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  multifaceted
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  program
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  to address all of the needs because no
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  one person
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  just has one issue normally
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  that is attributing,
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  to the gaps in care they may be
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  experiencing.
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  Absolutely. So it sounds like you're really helping
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  to boost care quality for,
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  this population beyond just your membership. It's really
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  amazing to hear. Yolanda, how are how are
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  you leveraging data right now and and analytics
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  to identify
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  disparities
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  and to track outcomes within the maternal and
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  infant health space? And can you give us
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  an example of an of a successful innovation
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  intervention
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  that's been informed by some of the data
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  that you're seeing?
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  Certainly.
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  So I personally,
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  be so I am the immediate past president
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  of the National Medical Association. So I traveled
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  the country over the last year
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  talking about
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  disparities in health.
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  And the one thing that I do know
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  and the one thing I realize,
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  you need data when you're having conversations
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  with leaders of organizations
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  and and and such. And so
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  for us, we have,
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  an initiative that was developed internally. And so
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  when we approach this, I look at this,
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  the things we can do internally, right, as
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  an organization.
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  And then what can we do externally, like
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  some of the investment in community and such.
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  And so internally,
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  we developed a maternal data and risk reporting
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  project.
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  And this is using a predictive model
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  whereby we can identify
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  pregnancies
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  sooner and earlier. And if by doing that,
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  we then can intervene and provide outreach and
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  provide
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  resources and connection, right, to things that those
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  those individuals may need. The second piece of
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  that, once that predictive tool,
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  then feeds into
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  a risk reporting model. And there we can
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  also,
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  aggregate the data that we have available to
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  us to ascertain one's risk, your maternal risk,
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  if if you if you will. And so
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  with that, we also, again, can,
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  set up care coordination
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  and, again, provide outreach and support
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  to those members
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  that may need particular things to address whatever
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  their needs may be. So really excited about
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  this. This just launched a few months ago,
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  but we're using these predictive tools to help
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  us
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  help our members.
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  That's amazing. Really, really cool to hear about
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  the the preventative and and the risk analysis,
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  that you're doing for your members, Yolanda.
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  And as you're,
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  traveling the country and having these conversations
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  with with leaders in this space and and
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  collecting the data that you were talking about,
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  what are some of the innovative strategies or
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  technologies
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  that you've seen,
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  that from your perspective are game changers
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  for maternal and infant health, let's say, over
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  the next 5 years. And then my my
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  next follow-up question to that would be, how
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  is Blue Cross preparing to integrate
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  those insights into its products?
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  Absolutely. So I really I really like that
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  question that you asked. And so I will
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  just start with perhaps the initiative,
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  that just launched in Illinois and that occurred
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  in Texas also. So we did,
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  encompass,
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  technology,
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  Right? And digital vendors. These are application tools.
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  And one of the things that's been so
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  amazing
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  around this work is looking at those outcomes
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  that I'm seeing some of the outcomes come
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  out from Texas.
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  And so those those technology companies
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  were able to use their digital applications
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  to support members. For instance,
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  I'm looking at the numbers of folks who
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  are able to,
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  obtain transportation and rides to the hospital or
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  to the doctor
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  through those,
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  applications.
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  They're able to access doula care through those
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  applications,
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  behavioral health care services,
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  nutritionists, especially for those who may have gestational
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  diabetes, right, the form of diabetes that occurs
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  in pregnancy,
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  food delivery, even helping them get their medicines
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  from the pharmacy. So, again, there's this component
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  of just this direct
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  access
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  to help close those gaps
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  that folks may experience.
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  And then secondly,
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  internal
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  I'll just expand a little bit more around
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  the data and risk reporting project. Again, we're
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  using predictive modeling.
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  You know, previously,
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  one could be in their 2nd trimester before
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  we even recognize you were pregnant. Right? And
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  so so many things could and a trajectory
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  could start. And so now with this predictive
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  modeling were used,
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  our earliest validation, we're picking up pregnancies almost
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  a month earlier.
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  That allows us to provide supports and resources
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  earlier to hopefully impact,
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  outcomes.
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  I think that as we look at this,
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  AI, I think, you know, every
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  industry is figuring out ways to use AI.
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  I hope that we can continue to use
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  these tools again to connect individuals to services,
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  and care and resources that they they so
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  need because we wanna see the end goal
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  here is an an improvement of outcomes. In
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  Texas, we've probably,
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  seen over 70,000
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  folks in our cohort,
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  providing all kinds of services,
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  health screens,
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  immunizations,
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  lab testing,
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  prenatal care,
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  referrals to mental health care providers,
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  all of these things that we know are
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  so important. And then lastly, I would mention
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  closing those gaps around postpartum care. We know
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  that about 40% of individuals
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  don't get a postpartum care visit.
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  But
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  half of deaths,
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  maternal deaths, occur in the postpartum period. So
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  looking at ways that we're also we're very
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  strategic and intentional
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  about addressing that aspect.
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  Absolutely. Well, clearly, so much important and impactful
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  work going on across the enterprise under your
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  leadership, Yolanda.
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  But before we go, what else are we
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  missing? Any other final thoughts or final bits
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  of advice you wanna offer all the other
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  health care leaders listening in?
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  So I would just,
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  as I think
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  maternal health, we've all seen the headlines.
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  I think recently,
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  I was just reading that in Northwestern in
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  Illinois, there was an increase in severe
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  maternal morbidity over these last 6 years. And
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  so I think that
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  I just ask everyone start somewhere,
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  right?
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  Knowing that for me, this is fundamental to
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  women's health broadly.
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  And so start somewhere. I think this is
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  something that everyone
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  has a responsibility
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  to, whether you realize that or not. But
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  everyone does has a responsibility
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  in making moms and all babies safe,
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  in in our country. So I'm so happy
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  that you had me here today to just
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  share a little bit about what we are
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  doing, but, also, hopefully,
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  this,
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  inspires others, right, to connect to the work
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  in their communities. There are so many ways
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  to do that. So many organizations that are
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  doing this work. Just as we connected with
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  community, I'm asking others to do the same.
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  Well, it's a great parting message. So, doctor
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  Lawson, thank you so much for taking the
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  time to sit down with me and for
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  sharing your insights with our listeners. We truly
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  appreciate it.
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  Excellent. Thank you.
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  If you'd like to listen to more podcasts
• 12:22
  from Becker's Healthcare, you can visit beckershospitalreview.com.