Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Advancing Maternal and Child Health Through Data, Partnerships, and Policy
Transcript
- 0:02This is where health insurance leadership comes together.
- 0:05Becker's fourth annual spring payer issues roundtable brings
- 0:09together over 400 payer and health plan executives
- 0:12and more than 100 speakers to Chicago April.
- 0:16This year's event includes keynote conversations with the
- 0:19industry's top leaders and former president George W.
- 0:23Bush. For the full agenda and event details,
- 0:25visit beckershospitalreview.com
- 0:27and click on the events tab in the
- 0:29upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
- 0:31here in Chicago.
- 0:34Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
- 0:36Becker's Payer Issues podcast.
- 0:38Thrilled today to be joined by doctor Alice
- 0:41Chen, who is executive vice president and chief
- 0:43health officer at Centene.
- 0:45Doctor Chen, thank you so much for taking
- 0:47the time to be with me on the
- 0:49podcast today. Jacob, thanks for having me. I
- 0:51am delighted to be here. Absolutely. It's a
- 0:53pleasure to get to sit down with you,
- 0:55doctor Chen. And before we dive into everything
- 0:58we wanna talk with you about, a lot
- 0:59of the impactful work that's going on with
- 1:02you and your team at Centene. First, can
- 1:05you tell our listeners a little bit more
- 1:07about yourself, your background in health care, and
- 1:10what it is that you do today at
- 1:12Centene? Absolutely. So doctor Alice Chen, I'm the
- 1:15chief health officer at Centene. And just a
- 1:17little bit about Centene for those
- 1:19of your, listeners who may not know us.
- 1:22We are what I think of as a
- 1:24three m company,
- 1:26Medicare, Medicaid marketplace, so focused on government programs.
- 1:30Last year, we serve more than 20,000,000 people
- 1:33across all 50 states. That's about one in
- 1:3515 Americans.
- 1:36And when you look at our footprint, it's
- 1:39about the same across three all three lines
- 1:41of business. But in Medicare, 32 states, Medicaid,
- 1:4430 states, and in Ambetter, our marketplace
- 1:47product, 29 states.
- 1:49As for me, I would say my career
- 1:52could be described as,
- 1:53focused on ensuring access and quality of care
- 1:56for underserved Americans.
- 1:58And I come to the payer space,
- 2:00joined Centene
- 2:02almost exactly three years ago, 2023,
- 2:06with experience across multiple sectors. I think some
- 2:09people might call it a checkered history.
- 2:12I'm a primary care internist by training who's
- 2:14worked in community health centers, public hospitals now,
- 2:18at a free clinic volunteering,
- 2:20but I spent time in academia,
- 2:22philanthropy, public health, had leadership roles in delivery
- 2:25systems, government, purchaser, and out payer. And here
- 2:28at Centene,
- 2:29my role is tied directly
- 2:32to our mission, which is transforming the health
- 2:34of the communities we serve one person at
- 2:36a time. And by that, I mean, I
- 2:38oversee Centene's clinical policies and programs to improve
- 2:41population health for our members,
- 2:43specifically leading
- 2:45medical affairs, health equity, drivers of health, and
- 2:47clinical strategy. And just a word about how
- 2:50we do this because I think it'll inform
- 2:51our discussion, which is,
- 2:53given
- 2:54our footprint,
- 2:56the way we approach population health, and frankly,
- 2:59our, I think, unique identity is around
- 3:02leveraging national size and scale
- 3:04for local impact through our state health plans.
- 3:08So
- 3:09it comes in many flavors, but two two
- 3:11big buckets are, one, we're really big on
- 3:14data. How do we use data across in
- 3:16Medicaid, for example, 30 states to identify trends,
- 3:19guide evidence based interventions that address community specific
- 3:22needs? So it's both
- 3:24a bird's eye view across multiple markets, but
- 3:26then tailoring them to the specific nuances of
- 3:29any given community.
- 3:30And that second part ties to that nuance
- 3:33piece, which is we look to partner with
- 3:35local, regional, and national organizations to have a
- 3:37similar mission,
- 3:38a focus on low income Americans and improving
- 3:41their health.
- 3:43Understood. Well, I I really appreciate you taking
- 3:44us through that, Alice. You had a fascinating
- 3:47career before Centene, and and now you're you're
- 3:49with one of the largest insurers in the
- 3:51country. You mentioned,
- 3:52serving around one in 15 Americans. That's absolutely
- 3:56incredible
- 3:57across your different your different product lines all
- 3:59over the country. And I'm and I'm excited
- 4:01to get to talk with you today because
- 4:03I I really wanted to dive in first
- 4:04by talking about something really an exciting announcement
- 4:07from the company last year,
- 4:10that Centene helped launch the Maternal and Child
- 4:13Health Center for Policy and Practice as a
- 4:15founding member,
- 4:17which for our listeners who might not be
- 4:19familiar,
- 4:21it ultimately aims to improve maternal and child
- 4:23health outcomes
- 4:24in rural parts of the country in many
- 4:26states, but starting in Arkansas.
- 4:29So, Alice, can you can you fill us
- 4:31in on exactly how this all came about
- 4:33and why ultimately Centene
- 4:35wanted to be a part of it? Yeah.
- 4:38You know, it ties to what I was
- 4:40describing before about who we serve
- 4:43and how we approach our work. So as
- 4:46the largest Medicaid MCU in the country and
- 4:49by dint of that, the largest TANF payer,
- 4:51we have,
- 4:52very naturally
- 4:54a focus on pregnant women, new mothers,
- 4:57infants, children.
- 4:59In 2020,
- 5:01'4, I think was the last complete year
- 5:03of data, we were responsible for more than
- 5:06three hundred and thirty thousand births,
- 5:09a third percent of whom are high risk.
- 5:11So, again, when you look at who we
- 5:13care for and,
- 5:15where the vulnerabilities line, where we need to
- 5:18lean in, maternal childcare is clearly,
- 5:21a priority for us. So we have a
- 5:23multi pronged approach,
- 5:24to
- 5:25just call it perinatal care, maternal child health.
- 5:28We have internal care management programs. We have
- 5:31value based care programs to partner with our
- 5:34providers to incentivize pre and postnatal visits.
- 5:37We have, partnerships
- 5:38with a whole variety of entities, including what
- 5:41we'll be talking about,
- 5:43to to expand access to evidence based models.
- 5:45And then another piece, which I think is
- 5:47really relevant because it's really in the water
- 5:49right now when you look at CMS, MMI,
- 5:52We focus on introducing and scaling technology
- 5:55enabled interventions, so things like telehealth, virtual
- 5:59health tools, remote patient monitoring,
- 6:02with a real focus on how do you
- 6:04strike the right balance
- 6:06of high-tech, high touch care.
- 6:09And this is particularly relevant when you talk
- 6:10about the Heartland
- 6:13Forward.
- 6:14This is what the group that's sponsoring the
- 6:16Maternal Child Health Center for Policy and Practice.
- 6:20So just a little PSA about Heartland Forward.
- 6:24It they describe themselves as a do and
- 6:27think tank,
- 6:28focused advanced economic success for states in the
- 6:32primarily Midwest but also South. And so as
- 6:35part of that, the health land,
- 6:37Heartland Health Caucus,
- 6:39decided to focus on rural health. And when
- 6:42you look at rural health, a few things
- 6:44really rise to the forum. One is maternal
- 6:46child health,
- 6:47one is
- 6:48mental health, and a third is,
- 6:51workforce shortages.
- 6:52And so how this came about was, our
- 6:55CEO, Sarah London, was approached a few years
- 6:57ago given, again, who we serve, what our
- 6:59focus
- 7:00is about participating in how Heartland Health Caucus,
- 7:03which is in the process of establishing
- 7:06the center.
- 7:07And just when you look at the alignment
- 7:09in terms of priorities and focus areas,
- 7:12and members and people who are trying to,
- 7:15improve the health of it, made
- 7:17intuitive sense for us to join forces. And
- 7:19so we really welcome the opportunity,
- 7:23to bring in, an all one Centene, all
- 7:26of Centene approach. So it's our local health
- 7:28plan. It's our national team,
- 7:31both on the clinical side and the drivers
- 7:34of health and health equity side as well
- 7:35as our foundation.
- 7:37And the partnership itself focuses
- 7:40on midwifery
- 7:41as a proven high quality cost effective model
- 7:44to improve access and outcomes, particularly for women
- 7:47in rural areas. And our main goal is
- 7:49to expand education
- 7:51and improve the workforce pipeline there. So
- 7:54launched mid last year, already made some great
- 7:57progress.
- 7:59Wow. And and it does it makes a
- 8:00lot of sense approaching Centene specifically for this
- 8:03type of partnership.
- 8:04Like you said, Alice, given that you are
- 8:06the largest Medicaid MCO in the country, you
- 8:09you,
- 8:10provide coverage to hundreds of thousands of births,
- 8:14every year. And so you you mentioned the
- 8:17the senator is really focused on expanding access
- 8:19to community health workers, to doulas,
- 8:22to midwifery care,
- 8:24especially as in areas where labor and delivery
- 8:27units have closed. And I and I know
- 8:30when I when I speak from our perspective
- 8:31here at Becker's, that is something that we
- 8:33almost see, I'd say, every week at this
- 8:35point,
- 8:37across the country, a a maternity unit that
- 8:40is closed somewhere in the country. It's something
- 8:42that we track very closely, and it seems
- 8:44to be a very,
- 8:45a growing trend nationally.
- 8:48So I wonder from from a population health
- 8:51perspective,
- 8:52you were you were mentioning mentioning earlier about
- 8:54some of the interventions that are important here.
- 8:57What what is the evidence telling you right
- 8:59now about which interventions move the needle most
- 9:02in these
- 9:03rural,
- 9:04Medicaid dominant populations?
- 9:06Yeah.
- 9:07And to level set our listeners,
- 9:12you know, you may see the headlines around
- 9:15rural health crises
- 9:17or,
- 9:19maternity deserts. Like you said, every week, there
- 9:21seems to be,
- 9:23another facility closing. But right now, 35%
- 9:26of counties are considered maternity deserts.
- 9:29Wow. I mean, where they lack any obstetric
- 9:33clinician.
- 9:35And in over a thousand counties, there's not
- 9:38a single birthing facility
- 9:40available.
- 9:41So when you think about
- 9:43rural Medicaid
- 9:45populations, actually, so it's not just rural, but,
- 9:47like, within Medicaid populations, rural communities face unique
- 9:51barriers. And so when you put together the
- 9:53fact that the women themselves are oftentimes
- 9:57higher risk profiles in terms of medical, behavioral,
- 10:01social risk factors plus
- 10:04maternity deserts and care fragmentation, you
- 10:07pretty logically get poor outcomes. And so,
- 10:11love that you asked about the evidence,
- 10:13because, again, we're really focused on both
- 10:16using our data across 30 markets to identify
- 10:19themes and issues, but then implementing models that
- 10:22have evidence of impact. Because
- 10:25just as an aside, as a government payer,
- 10:27we really do take our fiduciary responsibility
- 10:30very seriously. And so if we're using,
- 10:33taxpayer dollars to fund government programs, we wanna
- 10:36make sure those dollars go to evidence based
- 10:38interventions and then also ensure that we're evaluating
- 10:41the impact of our intervention. So in terms
- 10:44of the top three care models that we're
- 10:46looking to invest in,
- 10:48one is, for average risk pregnancies,
- 10:51midwifery led models,
- 10:53because they're associated with lower rates of c
- 10:55section, preterm births, low birth weight infants. And
- 10:59again, that's why we, with Heartland Forward, are
- 11:02really focused on expanding the workforce for rural
- 11:04areas.
- 11:05Second would be community based doula care.
- 11:08Lots of observational studies and Medicaid demonstrations showing,
- 11:12again, reductions in low risk c sections and
- 11:15preterm birth along with improved,
- 11:18engagement in patient reported experience.
- 11:21What's interesting there is that the greatest benefits
- 11:24are reported in some of the most vulnerable
- 11:26populations, so Medicaid insured, rural,
- 11:28black, native population. So it really does seem
- 11:30to have a mitigating effect on some of
- 11:33the structural barriers. And then the third, what
- 11:36I'd say, strongly evidence based care model would
- 11:38be, group prenatal visits,
- 11:41which, again, particularly among Medicaid populations and communities
- 11:45with limited access to traditional
- 11:48prenatal care, have been shown to reduce,
- 11:51preterm
- 11:52births,
- 11:53as well as
- 11:55patient or member engagement,
- 11:57and satisfaction.
- 11:59Aside from those models, I just wanna make,
- 12:01another really key point, which is when you
- 12:04look at the moms,
- 12:06the majority of maternal deaths actually occur after
- 12:09delivery. Over half of them occur
- 12:11between, you know, seven days to a year
- 12:13postpartum, and it's largely driven
- 12:16by cardiovascular,
- 12:17maternal,
- 12:19cardiovascular conditions,
- 12:20mental health, and substance use disorder. So really
- 12:23CBD and behavioral health. And so that then
- 12:26leads to looking at, like, what are the
- 12:29evidence based interventions
- 12:30from a policy side? It's about continuous,
- 12:33coverage
- 12:34and proactive engagement
- 12:36through twelve months. What's
- 12:38the really good news is almost every single
- 12:40state
- 12:41has expanded,
- 12:42Medicaid eligibility
- 12:44for women, twelve months postpartum.
- 12:47So that enables us as a Medicare managed
- 12:49care plan to really lean in and engage
- 12:52them around
- 12:53blood pressure control, you know,
- 12:56diagnosing and addressing postpartum depression, addressing substance use
- 12:59disorders. And then that leads to the second
- 13:01piece, which is integrated care models
- 13:04where you actually integrate chronic care, physical health,
- 13:07behavioral health,
- 13:08substance use
- 13:10disorder services,
- 13:12are really strongly supported by the evidence in
- 13:14terms of not
- 13:16again, for these high risk women,
- 13:18creating more holistic whole person care models as
- 13:21opposed to kind of fragmented
- 13:23parallel interventions,
- 13:26is
- 13:27are the types of models that we're looking
- 13:29to.
- 13:30Understood. So more midwifery
- 13:32doula group prenatal
- 13:34care models,
- 13:36hopefully scaled across the country and across Centene's
- 13:39Medicaid markets. And I have to say, it's
- 13:41also been very interesting, Alice, over these last
- 13:43few years, seen
- 13:45state Medicaid programs incorporate
- 13:47things like doula coverage,
- 13:49into their into their clinical pathways.
- 13:52It really seems to be
- 13:54a government private industry effort here, to incorporate
- 13:57more of these interventions all over. I think
- 14:00that's a wonderful development because, again, I think
- 14:03following the evidence,
- 14:04figuring out what the,
- 14:07most cost effective
- 14:09member patient person centric interventions
- 14:12is a place where
- 14:15having a Medicaid agency
- 14:16incentivize it allows us as MCOs to step
- 14:20up and really be that partner. Yeah. Definitely.
- 14:22Definitely. And I wonder
- 14:25going back to you mentioned
- 14:26you have a fiduciary duty,
- 14:29to to get the best outcomes,
- 14:32on behalf of of providing this this government
- 14:35service all over the country. And so what
- 14:37are some of the the maternal and and
- 14:40child health metrics that,
- 14:42Centene is really prioritizing
- 14:44internally right now? And and how does this
- 14:46partnership with Heartland
- 14:48help you build a better data infrastructure so
- 14:51that you can track these outcomes that really
- 14:53matter beyond,
- 14:55just the care delivery?
- 14:56Yeah. Absolutely. So data has been a strong
- 14:59focus for us over the last few years
- 15:01writ large,
- 15:03focusing on a core set of
- 15:05outcome and quality metrics
- 15:07that
- 15:08we feel represent
- 15:09safety and effectiveness
- 15:11of maternity care across the perinatal continuum. And
- 15:14working with a group like Heartland enables us
- 15:17to really hone in on
- 15:20starting with a state but then a region,
- 15:22to then use that data
- 15:24in a,
- 15:26proactive way to kind of tailor our interventions,
- 15:29continuing to evolve the programs, and make sure
- 15:31that those outcomes continue to improve over time.
- 15:35So some of the key,
- 15:37so obviously, all health plans,
- 15:39look to HEDIS.
- 15:40And so we have the obstetrical specific HEDIS
- 15:43metrics. But in addition to that and this
- 15:45is where, again, partnering with other
- 15:48entities, whether it's providers
- 15:50or
- 15:51regional leaders like Heartland Forward who are potentially
- 15:54able to to
- 15:55aggregate
- 15:56more
- 15:57diverse types of data is very helpful because
- 15:59some of these aren't claims based. I mean,
- 16:01the ones I'm about to talk about. So
- 16:03we need to look at charts and we
- 16:04need to partner with providers, but things like
- 16:07low risk c section rates are a key
- 16:09measure of obstetric quality because we know that,
- 16:12c section bursts can be associated with increased
- 16:15maternal morbidity, higher risk in subsequent pregnancies, and,
- 16:19of course, increased costs. And so if we
- 16:21can avoid those, that is a good thing.
- 16:23We also track preterm birth and low birth
- 16:25weight rates,
- 16:27which we see as a measure of the
- 16:29efficacy of prenatal and perinatal care.
- 16:32We track severe maternal morbidity rates
- 16:35because that gives us a signal around how
- 16:39effective has the prenatal
- 16:41care been in terms
- 16:42of proactively
- 16:44and aggressively identifying gaps in diagnosis response care
- 16:48coordination.
- 16:49The ultimate metric,
- 16:51mortality rates, so maternal and infant mortality rates
- 16:53is something that we track as a sentinel,
- 16:57indicator of, you know, the most severe and
- 16:59preventable
- 17:00adverse outcomes as,
- 17:02when possible. Not all of them obviously are
- 17:04preventable, but,
- 17:06given
- 17:06our rates compared to other industrialized countries, clearly,
- 17:09we have a lot of
- 17:11room for improvement.
- 17:12And then lastly,
- 17:14neonatal intensive care, you know, or NICU admission
- 17:16rates,
- 17:18which,
- 17:19again, not all are preventable, but are also
- 17:22a
- 17:23indication for us of prenatal
- 17:26care comprehensiveness
- 17:27and quality. So
- 17:29taking
- 17:31a broader view than just HEDIS and making
- 17:34sure that we,
- 17:36have
- 17:36complete
- 17:38high integrity data and then
- 17:40sharing that data with our providers and our
- 17:43other partners
- 17:44is core to how we think we're gonna
- 17:46be able to create a shared accountability framework
- 17:50and truly move the dial in terms of
- 17:52outcomes.
- 17:54Well, clearly, a lot that goes into this
- 17:56beyond just the claims data, Alice. And and
- 17:59to your point, a lot of work still
- 18:01needs to be done, to improve
- 18:04improve these maternal health outcomes compared to, other
- 18:07industrialized
- 18:08countries. And so in that vein,
- 18:10this is such a massive topic.
- 18:12So are there other strategies or initiatives you
- 18:15could share with us that Centene has been
- 18:17pursuing recently,
- 18:19to really address the these maternal and and
- 18:22child health outcomes overall?
- 18:24Yeah. Thanks for asking that because this is
- 18:26a this is an area where I'm really
- 18:27proud of our teams,
- 18:29because we really have we're not where we
- 18:31need to be. I don't think any anyone
- 18:33is in The United States, but I think
- 18:34we really have stepped back and created,
- 18:37a comprehensive,
- 18:38holistic approach,
- 18:40that includes,
- 18:42focusing on access,
- 18:44on member engagement,
- 18:46education, self management,
- 18:48on our care management resources, as well as
- 18:51care coordination,
- 18:52provider partnerships,
- 18:53technology enabled.
- 18:55But I think it was pro vendors. Like,
- 18:57sometimes people will call them vendors, but they're
- 18:59really also providing care, and then community based
- 19:02organizations as well as, you know,
- 19:04think do tanks like,
- 19:07Heartland Forward. And so
- 19:09some specific
- 19:10examples,
- 19:11we have
- 19:14a very robust
- 19:15care management program called Start Smart for Baby
- 19:19where we,
- 19:21leverage data
- 19:23to identify
- 19:24pregnancy
- 19:25as early as possible, do risk stratification,
- 19:28and then reach out to members in a
- 19:30very tailored way
- 19:32driven by their needs and their assessments.
- 19:35And, again, and in a whole person integrated
- 19:38physical
- 19:39behavioral, meaning mental and substance use disorder, social
- 19:43care model
- 19:45that includes comprehensive education
- 19:48and
- 19:49also
- 19:50integrate some of our drivers of health initiatives
- 19:52like, food is medicine.
- 19:54So, for example, we're piloting a program as
- 19:56part of Start Smart for Baby
- 19:58to provide funding to high risk members
- 20:02so they can order healthy food, blood pressure
- 20:05cuffs for folks who have high blood pressure
- 20:07and prenatal vitamins. All the things we know
- 20:09are
- 20:11core to just having a healthy pregnancy, but,
- 20:13like,
- 20:14trying to reduce or eliminate the barriers to
- 20:16being able to take those actions.
- 20:19We also just rolled out a first years
- 20:21of life program to support kids, from birth
- 20:24to two years taking advantage of that continuous
- 20:26eligibility postpartum
- 20:28to engage the mom and then hopefully keep
- 20:30those kids, covered.
- 20:32I mentioned before,
- 20:34technology
- 20:35is a big piece of our strategy,
- 20:38particularly when you think about rural communities,
- 20:40and just how do you leverage scarce resources,
- 20:44in the community and then
- 20:46outside the community,
- 20:47so that they don't have to spend hours
- 20:49traveling. So
- 20:50we do,
- 20:52traditional virtual health and telehealth where we,
- 20:55use that to enable
- 20:57earlier prenatal care and access to specialty services
- 20:59like maternal funeral medicine or perinatal
- 21:02mental health or substance use treatment, which may
- 21:04not be available in your community. But then
- 21:06we also have been leaning heavily into,
- 21:09remote patient monitoring,
- 21:10and we have a great project in,
- 21:13with Silver Summit Health Plan in Nevada
- 21:16where members are monitoring their blood pressure at
- 21:19home with nursing support,
- 21:21so that, again, because you only have that
- 21:24nine month window, if you can have someone
- 21:26check their blood pressure at home because they're
- 21:27even if they're plugged into care, they're not
- 21:30in their
- 21:31doctor's office that much. So the remote patient
- 21:33monitoring allows us to kinda keep a finger
- 21:35on the pulse of how people are doing
- 21:36and then proactively reach out and get them
- 21:38in and make sure that we can,
- 21:40get their blood pressure and diabetes controlled.
- 21:43And then,
- 21:45you know, we talked about midwives,
- 21:48which are a big,
- 21:49area of focus. The doulas are another,
- 21:53that I also had mentioned before. We have
- 21:55partnerships with community based doulas
- 21:57where we actively work with, again, community based
- 22:01organizations to help them understand how do you
- 22:03even partner with an MCO. How do you
- 22:05bill an MCO? So we do a lot
- 22:06of technical assistance
- 22:08in order to enable CBOs and community
- 22:12organizations to effectively partner with us. And then
- 22:15the last thing I would mention is we,
- 22:18partner with community health centers. So we have
- 22:21a three year
- 22:23project with the National Association of Community Health
- 22:26Centers
- 22:27and together,
- 22:28launched the maternal child
- 22:31health innovation initiative
- 22:33to identify
- 22:34best practices and create a forum for exchange
- 22:37and adoption across community health centers, which are
- 22:40the single largest source
- 22:41of primary care for low income Americans and
- 22:43particularly Medicaid. I think they serve one in
- 22:45five Medicaid members right now.
- 22:47So the focus will be, leveraging
- 22:49again, or hear hear similar themes across all
- 22:52these initiative, a virtual care model
- 22:54to improve blood pressure control,
- 22:57during pregnancy for community health center members.
- 23:01Wow. I mean, just so much exciting and
- 23:04impactful things going on across the company, Alice.
- 23:06So I hope you will keep us updated
- 23:08on on what some of these, pediatric
- 23:10remote monitoring,
- 23:12maternal
- 23:13health initiatives,
- 23:14besides what we talked about with Heartland, what
- 23:16you ultimately achieve through all of these. Before
- 23:19we go I love that. What what else
- 23:20are we missing? Any other final thoughts you
- 23:23wanna share with us or final bits of
- 23:25advice you wanna share, while you have the
- 23:27ears of a lot of other health plan
- 23:29leaders from across the country?
- 23:31Not so much advice, but,
- 23:33probably a ask, which is
- 23:35I think of Medicaid
- 23:37as a canary in the coal mine for
- 23:39US health care.
- 23:41And within Medicaid, I think of rural health
- 23:43as a canary in the coal mine,
- 23:45you know, within Medicaid.
- 23:48The challenges
- 23:50to maternal child health and rural settings is
- 23:52not unique, but the interventions
- 23:56that are successful there can oftentimes
- 23:58be scaled to less
- 24:00vulnerable
- 24:01settings. And so,
- 24:03you know, the way we've
- 24:06leveraged national insights and resources for local impact,
- 24:10data technology provider, pro vendor partnerships,
- 24:13is something
- 24:15that I would love to see
- 24:17our peer organizations do as well. You know,
- 24:21there's not a lot of lot going on
- 24:22in health care these days. Right?
- 24:25Just kidding.
- 24:26There's so much going on in health care,
- 24:28but to me,
- 24:30in this time where a lot
- 24:33of payers
- 24:34and providers, particularly in the government space, but
- 24:37frankly across the ecosystem because we're all tied
- 24:40together,
- 24:41in times of pressure, I think
- 24:44this is a time to double down
- 24:47on maternal child health,
- 24:50because it is the future,
- 24:52of our country. And I think we'd love
- 24:54to see providers, payers, and policymakers
- 24:57converge around
- 24:59the right policies, the right practices,
- 25:02the right support,
- 25:04similar to how we're doing with Heartland Forward.
- 25:07It's a great call out for this current
- 25:10moment in time, doctor Chen. So I wanna
- 25:13thank you so much for taking the time
- 25:15to sit down with us, for sharing your
- 25:17insights with our listeners, and for telling us
- 25:20a little bit about all the impactful work
- 25:22going on under your team at Centene. We
- 25:25we really appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you
- 25:27so much for having me. Absolutely. And to
- 25:30our listeners, if you'd like to listen to
- 25:32more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare, you can visit
- 25:35beckers hospital review dot com.