COLLABORATION IS KEY The biggest takeaway from The National Summit on Social Determinants of Health
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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Don’t wait for lawmakers on Capitol Hill to solve problems related to health care. They aren’t going to do it, according to Rich McKeown, the keynote speaker at RISE’s National Summit on Social Determinants of Health. Instead of lawmakers, solutions will come from the 250 attendees of the conference who represent community-based agencies, health plan providers, service providers, and consultants who will drive necessary changes.
about quality, and care about patient engagement who are going to change the health care system.”
McKeown, chairman of the Leavitt Partners Board of Directors and cofounder of Leavitt Partners, emphasized the need for key stakeholders to collaborate to reach a consensus. “It’s the people who care about cost, care
Collaboration hard at work
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Jamo Rubin, M.D., president of Signify Community for Signify Health and chair of the conference, agreed that it will require cross-sector collaboration and the forming of alliances to move the needle on addressing social determinants of health. “We don’t have experience with this and it requires 350 million of us to do this work,” he said.
Health care organizations have slowly come to the realization that social, economic, and environment factors have a greater influence on a person’s
health than medical care. Although many providers are in the early stages of establishing programs to tackle these challenges, one unique partnership that formed approximately four years ago shows that it is possible to work with multiple players in the community to improve the care of vulnerable populations. Eric Epley, executive director of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, told attendees about the work of the Southwest Texas Crisis Collaboration. The group was formed in response to the growing number of people in the San Antonio area who were chronically ill, homeless, or had a mental illness, and who were frequently seek care in the emergency department
