Representatives of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System highlighted the system's success in improving employees' health and reducing health disparities during an Aug. 7 roundtable discussion at the White House.
Here, Dr. Stephanie Mills, president and chief executive of Franciscan Health and Wellness, and Butch Tolbert, vice president of ancillary services with St. Francis Medical Center of Monroe, La., bookend U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin. Franciscan Health and Wellness is a subsidiary of the Franciscan Missionaries system.
The roundtable on reducing health disparities was put together by the White House Business Council and the National Business Group on Health, which had previously dubbed the Franciscan Missionaries health system and other corporate invitees as a 2012 "Best Employer for Healthy Lifestyles."
Representatives from Aetna, American Express, Cigna, H.J. Heinz, Pitney Bowes, United Healthcare, Verizon Communications and Wyndham Worldwide participated in the roundtable.
Participants discussed some of the challenges they face in reducing health care disparities and opportunities they see ahead to improve their efforts. Some of the challenges Mills described to the group were the difficulties of engaging various players in the health care system — including care providers, insurers and patients — in the efforts to improve health care. She also discussed that not all employers readily see the value — including the potential return on investment — of bettering their employees' health. But, during the discussion, Mills pointed to strong opportunities for health care providers to take a more active role in collaborating with other organizations to improve people's health.
Benjamin called the organizations forward-thinking for their work in reducing disparities. She said she hopes other U.S. employers will follow their lead. Mills told Catholic Health World that the surgeon general's passion for reducing health disparities was evident throughout the discussion.
When the National Business Group named the Franciscan Missionaries system a best employer, it cited the organization's Healthy Lives program, which seeks to help employees manage their health and chronic conditions through programs for behavior change and by focusing on measurable results and outcomes. During the roundtable, Mills explained that program and also described the medical home model at the system's St. Francis Medical Center. The programs provide primary, preventive and chronic disease care to employees.