Urban Health Today interviewed Joneigh Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP, Vice President and Inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer at CVS Health. Dr. Khaldun was kind enough to talk about the recent launch of CVS Health’s Community Equity Alliance to address barriers to care in underserved communities across the U.S. The Alliance was established to expand the community health worker workforce, enhance connections between healthcare institutions and communities and address disparities in heart health and mental health outcomes.
Urban Health Today: Please talk about your background and your work with CVS Health.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun: As CVS Health’s inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer, I’m responsible for advancing strategy, programs, and policy to achieve health equity across all CVS Health lines of business.
Prior to joining CVS Health, I served as Chief Medical Executive for the state of Michigan and Chief Deputy Director for Health in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, where I oversaw public health, Medicaid, behavioral health, and aging services. I also was the lead strategist guiding Michigan’s COVID-19 response and, in 2021, was honored to be appointed by President Biden to the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
UHT: You recently announced the CVS Health Community Equity Alliance. Can you explain what this is?
DJK: I’m really excited about the launch of the CVS Health Community Equity Alliance. We established the Alliance to expand the community health worker workforce, enhance connections between healthcare institutions and communities and address disparities in heart health and mental health outcomes.
The first institutions that have joined the Alliance are Meharry Medical College, Sinai Chicago, and Wayne State University. We’re providing funding to each institution for locally-tailored initiatives and will bring Alliance members together to share best practices and work to integrate lessons learned into CVS Health’s health equity strategy.
UHT: What can historically marginalized communities expect to gain from the collaborations that are part of the Community Equity Alliance?
DJK: Through the power of collaboration, expansion of evidence-based interventions, and a shared commitment to integrating the voices and lived experiences of community members, we will create innovative solutions to give historically marginalized communities more access to community health workers and healthcare services.
Through Sinai Chicago, we’ll provide historically marginalized communities in the Chicago area with tailored healthcare resources to address disparities, with a focus on heart health and mental health.
We’ll work with Meharry Medical College to recruit and train community health workers who will partner with faith-based or community-based organizations to provide health education and connect historically marginalized communities to health resources.
The collaboration with Wayne State University will create a community coalition to ensure the integration of community voice and alignment of community assets and resources to decrease heart health and mental health disparities in Detroit.
UHT: Can you talk about the decision to team up with Meharry Medical College, Sinai Chicago, and Wayne State University?
DJK: We chose to partner with Meharry Medical College, Sinai Chicago, and Wayne State University because these organizations have a proven history of working with historically marginalized communities and helping to ensure they have access to the healthcare services they need and deserve.
Each collaboration is slightly different, recognizing that the needs and strengths of each community are not the same. However, they all serve the goal of decreasing disparities in heart health and mental health, growing the community health worker workforce, and strengthening relationships with communities.
UHT: How do you see this initiative making an impact in underserved communities?
DJK: Every day, we’re looking for ways to address health disparities and increase access to care – meeting people where they are, right in their communities. Through the CVS Health Community Equity Alliance, we’re addressing some of the most challenging healthcare issues in our country – heart health and mental health – and giving historically marginalized communities more access to care.
UHT: Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Khaldun!
