Under the Same Sky: Recent Episodes
SameSky Health Inc.
Under the Same Sky is our regular series of conversations with healthcare thought leaders. SameSky Health Founder and CEO Abner Mason explores advancements in health equity with our guests, discussing challenges and opportunities that all healthcare organizations should consider as they work to advance their own health equity initiatives. (NOTE: These conversations are broadcast live via LinkedIn. When you watch live, you can ask questions of Abner or our guests during the broadcast. Follow SameSky Health on LinkedIn to be notified of future programs.)
Access to high-quality healthcare is a cornerstone of thriving communities, and community health centers have a vital role of in the healthcare landscape.
In this episode of Under the Same Sky, host Abner Mason welcomed Francisco Silva, President and CEO of the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), for an in-depth conversation about community health centers. Francisco shared his personal journey into healthcare leadership and offered insights into the services, mission, and impact of the health centers that the CPCA represents.
The rising cost of prescription medications is a growing concern for many individuals, particularly those with chronic illnesses or life-threatening conditions. Despite remarkable medical advancements that provide better treatment options and improve quality of life, affordability remains a major barrier.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason met with Tamala Risher, a patient assistance coordinator and advocate, to discuss the financial struggles individuals face when it comes to accessing their prescriptions and the resources available to help them.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, Chief Health Officer for Elevance Health to discuss activating whole health. Their conversation explored the importance of removing barriers to health, fostering partnerships with community-based organizations, and more.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with Crystal Ayoob, MHA, RDN, and Michael Gonzales, both of Umoja Health. The company combines healthcare, nutrition, and logistics expertise to deliver to quality, healthier food nationwide through partnerships with food banks, healthcare providers, and government agencies. This enables their partners to better address food insecurity.
In their conversation, Abner, Crystal, and Michael dive into the critical issue of food insecurity, and explore innovative ways to bridge the gap between health and social needs — and how Umoja's groundbreaking approach is reducing costs for payers while delivering greater access to nutritious food for members.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with Daryl Twerdahl, executive director for Meals on Wheels California, the umbrella organization for local Meals on Wheels organizations across the state.
Abner and Daryl discussed what goes into the mission to improve the lives of seniors, persons with disabilities, and their families through nutrition, resources, advocacy, and connection — including how Meals on Wheels involves much more than merely keeping people fed.
They also touched-on the organization's work in bringing together state government, local government, the private sector, and philanthropy to prepare California for coming demographic changes, and to continue the state's leadership in aging, disability, and equity.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with June Simmons, president and CEO of Partners in Care Foundation. They will discuss her journey to patient-centered care and her current work as a health equity leader.
June is an esteemed health care executive who stands at the forefront of patient-centered care integration. As the founding President and CEO of Partners in Care Foundation, she pioneered evidence-based interventions, transformative medication management, chronic condition support, and seamless care transitions. Partners collaborates with organizations to shape a visionary health care landscape, emphasizing community-based services and forging robust partnerships.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with Tracy Watts. She's a Senior Partner and US Leader for Healthcare Policy at Mercer. She advises large employers on their health benefit strategies for active and retired employees. A consultant with Mercer for over 35 years, she’s widely quoted as a spokesperson for Mercer's survey of employer sponsored health benefit plans, and is a lead contributor on Mercer’s US Health News blog.
In this wide-ranging discussion, Tracy will share the tools and models that Mercer is building to help employers better protect their employees from climate change related extreme weather in hopes of bringing a health equity lens to the climate change discussion. In addition, she touches on a range of health-equity-related topics relative to benefit plans.
In this episode of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with David Michaels, PhD, MPH. Dr. Michals is an epidemiologist, and former Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Currently, Dr. Michaels is a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health.
In this conversation, Abner and David focus on the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health in light of the pressing issues of worker safety amidst climate change, specifically the new OSHA initiative recently announced by President Biden. They also explore the intersection of public health, occupational safety, and health equity.
In this installment of our series, host Abner Mason speaks with Mark Savage, Managing Director with Savage & Savage. A civil rights litigator by training, Mark has a long history as a public advocate. Today, he continues this work by making a difference through electronic health information technologies, promoting both adoption and refinement of health data sharing standards.
California-based, the work Mark does in the state along with his collaborators is driving real change on the ground, while having a broader impact on the national healthcare landscape.
In this installment of our series, Abner Mason hosts a discussion with Susan Rawlings Molina, CEO of GroundGame.Health, and Chris Burrows, a Community Engagement Resource Specialist with the company.
Recently, SameSky Health merged with GroundGame.Health, and in this episode, we discuss how GroundGame.Health helps people overcome health-related social needs, and how the merger with SameSky Health will accelerate this important work with our health plan partners. Additionally, Chris Burrows provides a real-world example of how the support we provide actually works, the difference it can make, and how it can reduce costs for health plans.
In this installment of our series, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Erica Galvez, CEO of Manifest MedEx, California’s largest nonprofit health information network (also known as an HIE, or health information exchange).
In 2024, California plans to focus on advancing health and social services data sharing and connecting the California health ecosystem to transform care delivery. The ambitious and inspiring mission is that “Every Californian, no matter where one lives within our state, should be able to walk into a doctor’s office, a county social service agency, or an emergency room and be assured health and social services providers can access the information they need to provide safe, effective, whole-person care—while keeping our data private and secure.”
In this wide ranging and insightful conversation, Erica discussed Manifest MedEx’s initiatives to address health equity challenges and support population health management, as well as the new California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework and how it facilitates the secure and appropriate exchange of health and social services information to drive whole-person care.
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Chris Gibbons, MD, MPH, founder and CEO of The Greystone Group, Inc.
At the beginning of 2023, we at SameSky Health highlighted health equity predictions for the year from more than a dozen influential health equity leaders, and in this special episode of Under the Same Sky, Abner and Chris will review those predictions, and discuss how it was a transformative year where health equity talk turned into action.
(SameSky Health will be publishing a list of 2024 health equity predictions from a new set of thought leaders. We'll share them on our website and social channels in January 2024.)
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Myechia Minter-Jordan MD, MBA and Kaz Rafia, DDS, MBA, MPH. Dr. Minter-Jordan is president and CEO, and Dr. Rafia is chief health equity officer, both of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Together they offered some informed, unique perspectives on the need for medical-dental integration in this wide ranging conversation.
Minter-Jordan previously served as chief medical officer and CEO of the Dimock Center, one of the largest community health centers in Massachusetts, and at Johns Hopkins Medicine as an attending physician and instructor of medicine. Rafia was the State Dental Director in Oregon, a founding partner of Rafia Dental, and a clinic director at Kaiser Permanente.
While coming from different health care backgrounds, they have both come to the same understanding: that oral health and overall health are inextricably linked. That realization is what brought them to CareQuest Institute. But despite the growing understanding of the relationship between oral health and systemic disease, oral health care often remains siloed from the rest of the health care system. Medical-dental integration can help build that critical bridge between oral health and overall health.
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Yusuf N. Henriques.
Yusuf is the founder and CEO of IndyGeneUS AI and IndyGeneUS Global (the name is pronounced as "indigenous"). Leveraging his experience at the FDA, in the military, and in academia, Yusuf founded IndyGeneUS to bring genomic medicine to underrepresented populations. As genomics companies, they're creating the world’s largest block-chain encrypted repository of indigenous and diasporic African clinical and "multi-omics" data for disease prevention/detection, drug discovery and development, clinical disease management, and precision health equity.
In this episode, Abner and Yusuf chat about how the idea for IndyGeneUS came about, what he hopes to accomplish, and how they're already making a difference.
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with J. Nwando Olayiwola, MD, MPH, FAAFP. Dr. Olayiwola (often referred to as "Dr. O") serves as the chief health equity officer of, and is a senior vice president at Humana. In their conversation, they focused on priorities, experiences, and key initiatives to advance health equity, with a special focus on health plans, from Dr. Olayiwola's experience at Humana.
Dr. Olayiwola also shares how she came to be the inaugural chief health equity officer for one of the largest health plans in the United States. It's a role she commenced in April 2021, and she's responsible for setting a health equity agenda and strategy to promote health equity across all Humana lines of business, including its care delivery assets. She's also responsible for defining enterprise-wide measures for equity, designing a health equity lens for improvement, setting goals, and coordinating efforts to achieve true health equity for millions of patients and members across the nation.
Her unique perspectives on health equity made for a deeply engaging — and very interesting — conversation.
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Kevin Dedner, MPH. Kevin is an seasoned public health executive with over twenty-five years of experience in solving complex public health problems.
Kevin is currently working to launch an AI-powered platform to provide trustworthy health information, referrals to care, and care support to traditionally underserved communities and priority populations to decrease health disparities and advance health equity.
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Dr. Leo Anthony Celi of the Laboratory for Computational Physiology at MIT. As a thought leader in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, the conversation focuses on its role in healthcare, as well as the opportunities and challenges that Dr. Celi is concerned about as the healthcare industry moves full speed ahead with AI investments and initiatives.
Dr. Celi says, “I think the promise of AI is the promise of every health product, which is to improve health outcomes. But I think that there is a tagline: To improve outcomes equitably so that everyone benefits, and everyone is given the opportunity to reach the best health status given the conditions and context. That’s what we’re excited about when it comes to the application of data science and artificial intelligence in healthcare.”
That doesn't mean it's straightforward, however. Dr. Celi adds, “If we’re just going to predict an outcome based on what we’re seeing in the real world, then we’re doomed; we’re stuck with all the inequities we’re seeing. This is more than collecting gobs and gobs of data from every health system, and then putting them into some computer and learning the association between variables and some outcome or complication. […] If we don’t do something different, then the real-world data becomes the real world of the future. And that, to us, is the biggest concern.”
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of Health Populi and the founder of strategic health consultancy THINK-Health. Jane is a health economist, author, and healthcare thought leader who has spent her entire career in the healthcare space, both observing, and helping shape how healthcare is delivered and accessed.
Their conversation focuses on the future of healthcare, along with innovative approaches to expanding access to care through the intersection of health, technology, and people.
The health of an individual is dependent on many factors, including social risk factors such as food insecurity and housing challenges — the so-called social determinants of health. In this latest installment of Under the Same Sky, our discussion is focused on these social risk factors, and why it's important to understand and quantify their impact. We'll also talk about actions that healthcare organizations can take to improve health outcomes, reduce health disparities, and track measurable results.
Listen as Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Trenor Williams, MD, co-founder and CEO of Social Determined.
Maternal mortality rates in the United States are more than three times that of most other high-income countries, but the news is even more startling for Black women in the US: just over 55 deaths per 100,000 live births — nearly 3x the rate as for white women here. Addressing these issues was one of the driving forces in the creation of Mahmee, who offer a unique and holistic approach to supporting women during pregnancy and postpartum care.
Listen as Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Melissa Hanna, founder and CEO of Mahmee, and Dr. Amanda P. Williams, medical director at Mahmee, about the work they're doing to support birthing people both before and after delivery.
Overcoming health disparities and guiding members to the care they need can challenge even the most committed health plans because individuals differ in how they understand, engage with, and use the current US health system. Establishing relationships and actually getting to know members is the first step that needs to be taken in order to build trust and uncover barriers.
Listen as Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion with Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, founder and CEO of Grapevine Health, about different challenges and solutions to empower members in their healthcare journey.
As the Continuous Enrollment Provision comes to an end, health plans are concerned about reaching and engaging millions of members concerning Medicaid eligibility and enrollment requirements.
In this episode, Abner Mason, founder and CEO of SameSky Health, hosts a discussion surrounding these challenges with Samantha J. Murphy, Industry Advisor – Health Plans/Payers for Salesforce.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance, better known simply as NCQA, is playing a key role in the transformation of healthcare, incorporating health equity into their widely respected healthcare quality programs. Our guest for this episode leads the development and growth of those efforts at NCQA, aiming to make healthcare more equitable and accessible for people across the country — and making him particularly well-suited for our ongoing discussion series on this very topic, Under the Same Sky.
In this episode, our founder and CEO Abner Mason chats with Dr. Bryan O. Buckley, the director of health equity initiatives for NCQA.
Health equity and social determinants of health (SDOH) have become big buzzwords that are requiring action from all sectors within the healthcare industry. What can payers do now to help navigate through the challenges that come along with the new requirements of advancing health equity?
In our ongoing discussion series, Under the Same Sky, our founder and CEO Abner Mason recently chatted with Dr. Eric Whitaker, founder and executive chairman of Zing Health, and Garfield Collins, cofounder and COO at Zing Health. Zing Health is a Medicare Advantage health plan, headquartered in Chicago, with a unique focus and approach to their members.
The social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly on the minds of those in the healthcare space. However, there’s a gap between identifying SDOH factors, and addressing them. That’s where findhelp comes in. findhelp’s social care network empowers customers to create their own branded platforms to connect their local communities across the US with nearby social care resources.
In our ongoing discussion series, Under the Same Sky, our founder and CEO Abner Mason recently chatted with findhelp founder and CEO, Erine Gray. Erine talked about how he came to start a company dedicated to helping people find the support and resources they need — when they need it the most.
Erine is the Founder and CEO of findhelp, a Public Benefit Corporation, the leading Search and Referral Network in the US. Their platform is used by most major health plans, hospital systems, select residential and cause organizations. Erine is a 2019 TED Senior Fellow. He lives in Austin, TX.
Wellth CEO and Co-Founder Matt Loper recently joined our Founder and CEO Abner Mason to discuss the concept of member incentives as member investments for an episode of Under the Same Sky. Wellth rewards its members for sticking with care habits and they’ve found that those rewards are often used to address issues directly related to social determinants of health. By putting power back in the hands of members, Wellth is able to improve population health through behavioral changes and also provide a little bit of extra financial support needed to buy essentials.
As CEO and Co-Founder, Matt Loper oversees strategy, sales, business development, and finance for Wellth. He is inspired by the chance to create scalable positive behavior change in patients with chronic conditions and humbled by the fact that we get to work with some of the best healthcare providers and insurers in the industry.
Prior to founding Wellth, Matt was an investor in publicly traded healthcare technology, medical devices, and services companies at OrbiMed Advisors, a leading healthcare investment firm with $13 billion under management. He also worked in Healthcare Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs.
As technology continues to evolve, so too does its role in healthcare. But how can it be used to help advance health equity? Nicole Cook, founder and CEO of alvee and Dr. Geeta Nayyar, chief medical officer at Salesforce recently discussed this topic with our Founder and CEO, Abner Mason.
Dr. Geeta Nayyar is the Chief Medical Officer at Salesforce. She is a specialist in Rheumatology and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami. She serves on the board for the American Telemedicine Association and the University of Miami Medical School Alumni Board.
She is a nationally recognized leader in healthcare and a regular contributor to CNN and PBS. Dr. Nayyar has a unique perspective bridging clinical medicine, business, and digital health.
A health tech innovator and entrepreneur, Nicole Cook is currently the Founder and CEO of alvee, a Techstars portfolio company which provides AI-driven solutions to address social determinants of health and promote health equity. Nicole's seven years at Epic and combined clinical and startup experience give her unique insights into interoperability, as well as using data and technology to drive impact.
Juan Fernando Lopera, Beth Israel Lahey Health’s (BILH) first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, joined our Founder and CEO Abner Mason on a recent episode of Under the Same Sky to talk about the importance of diversity equity inclusion (DEI), not only in healthcare, but across industries. In the episode, Juan talks about his personal journey and how that shapes the DEI work he does today.
As Beth Israel Lahey Health’s inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Juan Fernando Lopera leads the system’s efforts to transform care delivery for the underserved, while establishing diversity, equity and inclusion capabilities across the system.
Before joining BILH, Juan served as Vice President and Corporate Business Diversity Officer at the combined Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, where he led company-wide diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and co-chaired the company’s Anti-Racism Leadership Taskforce. He also oversaw the Rhode Island Medicaid business and led marketing and community outreach efforts for all public plan products. Previously, he served as the company’s Director of Health Services leading medical cost management and provider contracting strategy and analytics.
Born in Medellin, Colombia, Juan immigrated to the United States as a child and later graduated from Boston College’s School of Management. Juan has served on many community organizations, including as Vice-Chair of the Board of The Dimock Center; Co-Chair of The Boston Foundation’s Latino Equity Fund; a member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 advisory groups for health equity and vaccine communications; Massachusetts’ Latino Advisory Commission; and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Economic Opportunity Board.
When it comes to unwinding the public health emergency (PHE), the state of California is leading the way. Not only do they have a plan in place for the end of the PHE, but the State’s Medi-Cal program also recently expanded to cover undocumented adults aged 50 and older. Throughout these changes, Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP) has been there, bringing policy leaders together to help shape the future of Medi-Cal while taking different perspectives into account. Executive Director of ITUP, Katie Heidorn, recently joined our Founder and CEO Abner Mason to discuss the work ITUP is doing to help shape policy in California.
Katie Heidorn is Executive Director of Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP). Katie has nearly two decades of experience working in health policy, government, and non-profits and is a skilled leader, facilitator, and communicator. Prior to leading ITUP, Katie was a Government Affairs Advocate for Health Net and Development Director and policy lead at the nonprofit California Coverage and Health Initiatives. Katie spent a decade in California state government including as a Deputy Secretary for the California Health and Human Services Agency and Principal Consultant in the Senate Appropriations Committee. She is also an alumna of the California Senate Fellows Program. Katie received her master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and her bachelor’s of arts and sciences degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Comparative Literature from the University of California, Davis.
For more than two years, United States of Care has been listening to people across the country and learning what they want and need from the US healthcare system. Our Founder and CEO Abner Mason recently sat down with Natalie Davis, co-founder and CEO of USofCare to discuss USofCare’s findings and the plan they've developed to help advance healthcare for everyone.
Natalie Davis has worked for nearly two decades shaping and implementing American healthcare policies to improve the lives of all people. In 2018, she and fellow national healthcare leader Andy Slavitt launched United States of Care to ensure that everyone in the country has access to quality, affordable healthcare regardless of health status, social need, or income. She is relentless in her person-centered approach to building healthcare solutions and has a history of building partnerships — with organizations, patient advocacy groups, and everyday people — that work to create positive change in our country’s healthcare system.
Natalie believes that it has never been more important to make our healthcare system work better for everyone. She is dedicated to bringing together leaders and advocates from across the country who can help create meaningful change in our nation’s inequitable healthcare system. She brings all her personal and professional experiences to the fight for better healthcare, working to expand access to quality, affordable healthcare to help people right now, while working towards durable federal policies centered on the needs of people to provide real and lasting solutions for everybody.
SameSky Health Founder and CEO Abner Mason and guest Dr. Rishi Manchanda of HealthBegins recently discussed the urgency around health equity, and why now is the time for health plans to act to achieve it.
Dr. Rishi Manchanda is CEO at HealthBegins, a national mission-driven consulting and training firm that helps clients and partners transform the social and structural drivers of health equity. He has developed and scaled novel strategies to improve health equity and justice for historically marginalized communities throughout his career. Dr. Manchanda served as the founding director of social medicine for a network of community health centers in South-Central Los Angeles, as the first lead primary care physician for homeless veterans at the Greater Los Angeles VA, and as the inaugural chief medical officer for a self-insured employer with one of the largest rural immigrant workforces in the country. In his 2013 book — The Upstream Doctors — and a 2014 TED Talk, he introduced, “Upstreamists,” a new model of healthcare professionals who improve care by helping health systems address the social and structural drivers of health equity — patients’ social needs (e.g., food insecurity and housing stability), community-level social determinants of health, and structural determinants of health equity including structural racism. HealthBegins has directly educated over 20,000 learners to date, while Dr. Manchanda’s TED talk has been viewed over 2 million times, and the book has become recommended reading in universities and medical schools around the world.