Capitol Forum: Exploring Health Equity in a Time of COVID-19 and Beyond

Paula Braveman, M.D., MPH
Director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health; Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco

Paula Braveman is Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health at the University of California, San Francisco. For more than 30 years, Dr. Braveman has studied and published extensively on health equity and the social determinants of health, and has worked to bring attention to these issues in the U.S. and internationally. Her research has focused on measuring, documenting, understanding, and addressing socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities, particularly in maternal and infant health. During the 1990s she collaborated with World Health Organization staff in Geneva to develop a global initiative on equity in health and health care. She has been the Research Director for a national commission on the social determinants of health in the U.S. supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with local, state, federal, and international health agencies to see rigorous research translated into practice with the goal of achieving greater equity in health. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2002 and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities of NIH.

David Nerenz, Ph.D.
Director Emeritus of the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry Ford Health System

David Nerenz is Director Emeritus of the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. In the Director role, he was responsible for research on innovation in the organization of health care services, and for analysis of federal and state health reform initiatives. He continues to be active in health policy analysis and in health policy research. Most of Dr. Nerenz's work over the past 25 years has been focused on the issue of racial and ethnic disparities in quality of care, and on the ways in which health care organizations can reduce or eliminate disparities. He has led several multi-site demonstration projects on health plans' ability to obtain data on race/ethnicity of members and use this information to identify and then reduce or eliminate disparities in quality of care. He currently is a member of the National Quality Forum’s Disparities Standing Committee and is a Co-Chair of the NQF Scientific Methods Panel. He served as the Chair of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Leading Health Indicators for Healthy People 2020, Chair of the IOM Subcommittee on Standardized Collection of Race/Ethnicity Data for Healthcare Quality Improvement, and Co-Chair of the National Quality Forum’s SES Risk Adjustment Expert Panel. He recently completed a six-year term as a Commissioner on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

Tamarah Duperval-Brownlee, M.D., MPH, MBA
Senior Vice President, Chief Community Impact Officer, Ascension
President and CEO, Ascension Providence Health System, Washington, D.C.

In her role as Chief Community Impact Officer, Dr. Tamarah Duperval-Brownlee provides direct oversight for the development and implementation of strategies to strengthen communities within Ascension markets, where patient needs demand an evolution of the investment in healthcare delivery, programs, space and facilities.  This work includes developing and transforming campuses, which socially integrates healthcare and non-healthcare partners to optimize the physical, mental, and financial health and well-being of a defined community. She also serves as the President and CEO for Providence Health System in Washington DC, where she is leading a transformation into a holistic ambulatory care network that expands ambulatory care for District residents, focuses care on vulnerable populations, addresses social determinants and provides key services that enable members in communities to be healthy.  In her time at Ascension, she directed the creation and implementation of the strategy to advance health equity for Ascension, including efforts of accelerating safety and quality improvement, building healthy communities, and identifying and eliminating disparities in healthcare outcomes. Prior to joining Ascension, Dr. Duperval-Brownlee practiced clinical family medicine and served as a clinical and operational leader in Federally Qualified Health Centers, where she advocated for equitable access and quality of care and built programs to address health disparities. 

Sandeep Wadhwa, M.D., MBA
Chief Health Officer, Senior Vice President of Market Innovation, Solera Health

Sandeep Wadhwa is Chief Health Officer and Senior Vice President, Market Innovation, Solera Health. He is a population health leader focused on improving the health status of vulnerable populations, particularly for those in poverty, people with disabilities, and older adults. He has extensive corporate and government experience centering on entitlement populations. He is responsible for extending Solera’s business model by curating new national networks of digital and community, evidence-based, lifestyle interventions that have previously not routinely covered health insurer services. Dr. Wadhwa previously served as the State Medicaid Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing where he led the design of the Accountable Care Collaborative. His prior experiences include management of payment and quality methodologies at 3M Health Information Systems and nearly ten years at McKesson heading up their care management services efforts. He continues to precept at Seniors Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital.

MODERATOR

Cori Uccello, MAAA, FSA, FCA, MPP
Senior Health Fellow, American Academy of Actuaries

Cori Uccello is the senior health fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries. She serves as the actuarial profession’s chief public policy liaison on health issues. In this role, she promotes the formulation of sound health policy by providing nonpartisan technical assistance to federal and state policymakers and regulators on issues related to health insurance financing, coverage and market reforms, risk-sharing provisions, and Medicare. Ms. Uccello helped lead the Academy’s efforts to provide guidance to federal and state regulators regarding the implementation of various provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Her current work focuses on examining the implications of alternative coverage approaches and proposals to stabilize the market. She served two terms as a commissioner on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), was a member of the 2010-2011 Technical Review Panel of the Medicare Trustees Report, co-chaired the NASI Study Panel on Medicare Eligibility, and currently serves as a member of CBO’s panel of health advisors.