Putting Health First in the New Year 

Happy New Year! As I return to work, my batteries recharged, I find myself reflecting on what I want to focus on professionally and personally in 2024. Like most people, I tend to focus on personal goals, like giving my treadmill some love, and frame them in terms of my health and well-being which I find to be personally motivating. Prioritizing my health aligns perfectly with my professional life and role at Humana – putting health first for our members and patients. 

I came to Humana because of the commitment to improving health outcomes for patients and the professional experience for clinicians. The articulation of our mission into the health first framework feels natural and perfectly encompasses our strategic priorities. With all the challenges we face in healthcare – increasing burden of chronic disease and disability, inequities in the delivery of care and health outcomes, rising costs and a stressed and depleted clinical workforce – we can be proud of the impact our health first strategy is having on our members. I am particularly excited about our strategy to increase the footprint of value-based care (VBC) and our recent 2023 Value-Based Care report highlights the incredible progress and impact we had in 2022: 

• 2022 showed a record 70% of Individual Medicare Advantage patients aligned with VBC providers 
• 30.1% fewer inpatient admissions for VBC patients compared to traditional Medicare  
• 12.7% fewer visits to the emergency room for VBC patients compared to the fee-for-service population 
• VBC patients completed preventive screenings at a 14.6% higher rate than members not in a VBC arrangement 

One of the aspects of value-based care that most resonates with me is the impact this clinical model has on clinicians. Burnout among medical professionals is a growing problem and burden on the healthcare system, and value-based clinical care models can help ease that stress. I have seen the impact up close in my visits to our CenterWell clinics where our clinicians have expressed the high degree of professional satisfaction they get from having more time and resources to deliver the best care possible to their patients.  

Of course, there is so much more that we do at Humana to directly impact our members’ health outcomes. Two areas I am very passionate about are reducing unnecessary, or low value care, and reducing disparities through addressing barriers to care. Too often, patients get procedures or tests that are unwarranted, which can lead to harm and higher costs. Humana’s Clinical Operations team helps to establish enterprise clinical direction by identifying and executing strategies to help ensure the right care is delivered at the right time in the right setting for our members. 

One way in which we address these barriers to care for our patients and members is through a focus on health literacy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines health literacy as “the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.” Lower health literacy is a barrier to care that can be present for anyone, regardless of level of education. I think one of the first steps to address lower health literacy is making sure we educate our Humana employees so they can implement tools and processes that help members better understand their benefits and health. 

Ensuring the health of our members and employees is incredibly important to me personally, and the evidence is clear: lifestyle behaviors can determine the quality of our health and potential development of certain chronic illnesses more than anything else, including genetics. It also seems like every week a new study comes out reinforcing the benefits of eliminating ultra-processed foods from your diet. Having a diet that focuses mainly on plants and whole grains can significantly reduce the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and even cancer and dementia. I have personally benefited from moving to a plant-based, whole food diet. Last April I made the switch, and within 3 months my total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol) had dropped by 70 points each. I feel better and sleep much better too! I share insight into my own health journey to encourage you to consider what lifestyle choices you might want to pursue during this next year. Making the switch to a plant-based, whole food diet isn’t easy for everyone, but incorporating small incremental changes in our daily habits can truly make all the difference. To learn even more about healthy lifestyles, I encourage you to visit the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) website.

In closing, I am truly excited to build upon what I’ve learned about healthy living in 2023. I hope that 2024 brings health and happiness to all of you, and I look forward to what Humana will continue to accomplish in service of our members’ and patients’ health and well-being.