Priority Health has named Shannon Wilson as its first vice president of population health and health equity. She sat down with Becker's to share her plans for quality improvement in the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company's commercial and public lines, and how she is developing Priority's population health and health equity strategies.
Ms. Wilson is also executive director of the Total Health Care Foundation, which supports organizations and programs that help to improve health outcomes and disparities in Detroit.
Question: What went into the creation of this new position?
Shannon Wilson: There's been a lot done in this space, but we really didn't have dedicated leadership around population health. The reason health equity is in the title is because we really feel that in order for our populations to be successful, and to get to a point of optimal health, that health equity has to be embedded into every aspect of the work that we do. As we build out and go through our population health procedures and protocols, we want to make sure that we're addressing health equity at every step of the process. We thought that it was very important to intentionally state that in the title, but this role is giving more intentionality and more focus to the fact that we need to look at how we manage our populations differently. We need to be thinking about getting people to a healthy place, and really doing that from a different standpoint. We are realigning ourselves as an organization to ensure that we can do that.
Q: Why do you think you were tapped for this position?
SW: I think I have a unique background, and I would say it's probably for two reasons. I come from a public health standpoint and I have been in managed care for just under four years. Before that, I worked at both the federal and the state level in public health. I've run a nonprofit, worked at universities, but always in this intersection of race and healthcare, and how do we really make sure that vulnerable populations get the care that they need? Two is perspective. I think that I'm extremely passionate about the work. For me, it's a belief thing. I believe that everyone deserves the right to have an optimal experience with their healthcare system. I believe that everyone, particularly in our country, should have access to high-quality care. For those reasons, I am extremely passionate about making sure that we are removing barriers and creating systems that are equitable across the board. Getting to care should be the easy part, and then we can let the doctors do what the doctors need to do. We're removing every barrier that needs to be removed. This is a passion project for me.
Q: There's been a recent trend with payers and providers wanting to collect better data, and in some situations start collecting data, on race, ethnicity and other demographics, specifically to target health inequities. Are we in a transformation toward addressing these inequities, and where do you think we still need to go?
SW: I think we're definitely moving in the right direction and I think we're trending positively. We do need to make sure that we have the right data and that we're asking the right questions. While we have some information, we don't have a complete picture. I think data provides the foundation. You've got to start somewhere and make sure that we can actually tell the story. Then once we tell the story, I think it's about slicing the data to make sure that the populations that we're interested in serving — that we're clear we're serving them in the best way possible. Because we need that data to slice those populations, and to make sure that we're looking at every aspect of the problem, I do think that starting with data is important. I think that it can't be the end though and we've got to keep going beyond that. I don't think that you allow shortfalls in data or shortages in data to be the enemy. We have an idea of what's going on, and I think the data will confirm it for us. We take that and we build from it. We start to look at where's the greatest need? Where's the greatest opportunity? How do we build in interventions that are community-focused, culturally tailored and that will really allow us to get to the maximum output or the desired results? I think that's where you start.
Q: What issues are you seeing in Michigan, and what strategies will you be taking to address them?
SW: I think that the largest problems that we're seeing are problems that we know exist. We have a problem with the outcomes we're seeing in our maternal infant care and the disparities that we're seeing there. How can we make sure that our moms are getting the best care possible? One of the things that I'm particularly passionate about is making sure that moms are healthy before they become pregnant. That is such a strenuous process on a body. Making sure that you're in optimal condition before we get to that process is really important and making sure that we have a healthy and successful pregnancy. Making sure that mom is taking care of mom, before she becomes mom, is really important. Also making sure that we're giving that baby the best start in life. That's one place that we'll be rolling up our sleeves and spending a lot of time investigating and really figuring out what the problem is and how we can best address it. We don't address it by ourselves.
One of the other things that I'm really looking forward to in this role is, who are the community partners that can best help us work on this together? We're not the only ones at the table and we're not the complete picture by any means. How do we show up in a community and play our role as a part of the solution? That's the piece that I'm most looking forward to. We're also looking at hypertension, we're looking at diabetes, we're looking at chronic diseases and behavioral health. How are we looking at each of these and building out different pathways for our members who have these various conditions or chronic diseases? How do we make sure that they can thrive in spite of them? That's really the goal of our population health work, and we love to share in that awesome responsibility of making sure that we're caring for people at their most vulnerable times. When they're physically, emotionally and often financially vulnerable, that's when we really have the opportunity to create and build these vibrant communities.
Q: Illinois just legalized midwife services for home births and extended Medicaid to cover them. Do you think that type of service would help maternal outcomes in Michigan?
SW: Michigan Medicaid is introducing doulas in the 2023 contract. I think there's been a lot of evidence that has shown that it is a strategy that works particularly at reducing disparities in health outcomes. I think we have to be in a place where we're ready and willing to try things. We have ways to do it in a very safe and effective manner, so I completely agree that it is time that Medicaid allows people to choose the way that they want to give birth in a way that works best for them. I'm completely supportive and Priority Health is completely supportive.
Q: By 2025, 65 million Americans are expected to be covered under value-based care plans. What are your thoughts on incorporating more value-based care into Priority?
SW: It's definitely the way of the future. CMS has laid that out as where we're going. Medicaid in the state of Michigan is definitely following suit. It allows us to really take a step back and reconfigure how we're going to deliver medicine. I also think that it gives practitioners a bit more leeway once they can get down how to practice value-based medicine, and it really gives you more leeway to design medicine that works best for the member, their patient. It gets us to a place where we are all contributing in the way we need to continue for that patient to win, which is the ultimate goal. I'm 100 percent supportive.
Q: Final thoughts?
SW: Our goals in the beginning are really to build a structure. One of the things that really excited me about this opportunity and led me to the role is the chance to incorporate health equity into every stage of the process. When you're building out a process and you have the opportunity to really structure it in a way that works — I wanted to make sure that I was the one that ensured that it was throughout everything that we did and really woven into the fabric of how Priority Health does business. That will be one of our first priorities as we're building this out. But it's really to make sure that our communities know that we are here for them. Priority Health is the largest nonprofit health plan in the state of Michigan. We're a health plan that is embedded in its communities. For me, it is personal. I have lived in most of the big cities in the state of Michigan, and have a very profound and deep love and respect for the cities. If you look at my academic background, I went to Michigan State and Michigan. It's really about the fact that we want to show up, and this allows us to show up in a different, more authentic way.