CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield’s (CareFirst) mission is to advance affordable, accessible, equitable and quality healthcare for the people we serve and our communities. Every aspect of our mission aims to solve a key challenge people face when interacting with the healthcare ecosystem—and they can all be directly supported through technology and innovation, essential factors in creating a healthcare system that works best for all.
At CareFirst, we invest in programs to address the social drivers of health (SDOH) to reduce the effects these challenges have on the people we serve. Through collaboration, innovative solutions and advocacy for systemic change, all of us that touch healthcare can begin to chip away at the barriers people face to achieve good health. We have made incredible strides over the last few years, but much work still needs to be done.
Brian D. Pieninck, President and CEO of CareFirst, joined HIMSSCast, the Healthcare IT News Podcast, to discuss social drivers of health (SDOH) interventions and healthcare innovation’s role in addressing key challenges across the healthcare industry with senior editor Andrea Fox. During the conversation, Brian noted that as healthcare innovation progresses at a faster pace, it is essential for the industry to examine what works, what doesn’t and if it’s truly benefiting patients’ health outcomes.
“If you deploy technology, but you don't reconceive how you do your work, what work you do, what you value and you don't think differently about workforce and workforce skill sets, you'll spend all of the money implementing the technology and there are very little benefits in terms of operational efficiency. I think that's something we really have to be careful about as we go forward, because the healthcare system can't afford any more waste and inefficiency than it already has. So we have to think about really taking a step back and reconceiving what we have people doing, what we have technology doing and how do we leverage the best of both those things to make sure that the benefits are realized ultimately by patients and members.”
Brian D. Pieninck, President and CEO, CareFirst
During the podcast, Brian discusses:
- Innovation in healthcare
- Healthcare cybersecurity
- Startups in the healthcare ecosystem
- Artificial intelligence and its entry into healthcare
- CareFirst programs addressing SDOH
Listen to the entire podcast here, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Read more about CareFirst’s innovation work addressing SDOH by reading our 2023 Mission Report.