Stephanie Whyte With Aetna

Intro: [00:00:03] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by on pay. Built in Atlanta, on pay is the top rated payroll and HR software anywhere. Get one month free at on pay. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor on pay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Dr. Stephanie Whyte, senior clinical medical director with Aetna, a CVS health company. Welcome, Dr. Whyte.

Stephanie Whyte: [00:00:53] Thank you for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:56] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Can you tell us a little bit about CVS Health at number one and we’ll go from there?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:01:06] Absolutely. Well, CVS Health is a leading health solutions company. We’ve reached more people and improve the health of communities across America through our local presence, digital channels and over 300,000 colleagues, including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. We have more than 85% of Americans living within ten miles of a CVS pharmacy, 9000 CVS pharmacy locations nationwide. So in a nutshell, we help people navigate the health care system and their personal health care by focusing on quality of care, convenience, improving access and lowering costs.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:50] Now, I would imagine because CVS Health has such a broad kind of I guess you touched so many people in in the in health in their health kind of journey. You recently had the opportunity to do a survey and you were able to glean some interesting insights. Can you talk a little bit about that health care insights study that you guys kind of put together?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:02:18] Absolutely. So the health care insights study by CVS Health is now in its fifth year. And the goal of this study is to understand the needs and the mindsets of consumers as they pursue their individual health care journey. So Atlanta was one of the regions that we focused on in this year’s journey this year study oncology. And so the study finds that people have embraced the holistic outlook on health and they want more meaningful and engaging relationships with the health care providers. And they’re increasingly searching for a new kind of health care experience that’s simpler, less costly and efficient.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:57] So is there anything actionable that companies can take regarding that? Like, is there anything that medical practitioners should take away from that or anything that the consumers can take away from that?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:03:08] Oh, absolutely. So accessibility and affordability of health care services were a prominent theme among the respondents. Right. So one of the things that we’re doing is making certain that we’re accessible and available. Again, 85% of Americans are within ten miles of CVS Pharmacy 400. Sorry, let me restate that. There are 200 CVS pharmacies in Atlanta metro area. There are nearly 40 with MinuteClinic and Healthhub locations. So we’re creating access to our locations as well as the survey results so that nearly one in four Atlanta respondents preferred using the pharmacy over the E.R. or urgent care center post-pandemic. So they were looking to their local pharmacy as their source of care. So we’re providing that access and that route of service for them. So. Well, sorry.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:26] So do you think that because of that, there’s going to be more opportunities for people to go into a CVS pharmacy to get kind of a little more care than than maybe historically pharmacies have offered?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:04:40] Absolutely. Our MinuteClinic locations offer a wide range of essential women’s health services, such as treatment for yeast infections, pregnancy, UTI testing. We also offer minor injury and illness treatment at our health hubs. We’re also committed to addressing social determinants of health and focusing on key challenges within the community. So among the things that our Atlanta respondents identified was an issue for them was transportation. So we’ve partnered this year with Uber and local community organizations and kicked off health zones Atlanta as an initiative. And this initiative provides free transportation to residents live. In a30318 zip code so they can more easily access health facilities, food pantries and vaccination appointments.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:38] Now, or is there an initiative that is going to target telehealth?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:05:45] We are expanding our telehealth. We have a CVS Virtual Primary Care Health, which is a evolution of a physician led, comprehensive primary care model that brings together a multidisciplinary team to offer patients coordinated care. And in this model, patients get the opportunity to have a continuous relationship with on demand care, chronic disease management and mental health services. And absolutely, virtual health is an offering there.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:25] So now let’s talk a little bit about mental health that seems to be very popular nowadays. Is there an opportunity there to address the consumer’s mental health needs that seem to be really prevalent, especially, you know, as we get through the pandemic?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:06:45] In the Lancet metro area, there are nearly 40 CVS Health Minute clinics and health hub locations. At these locations, we have licensed therapists to provide onsite confidential mental health counseling, and we’re looking to expand access to mental health, wellbeing and telehealth services. But anyone can visit the Minuteclinics to find a location near them. And what’s really important here, and I’m glad you highlighted this since 2019, our nationwide virtual visits for mental health ballooned from 10,000 to over 10 million last year. So that’s like a 1000 fold increase. And that just punctuates our ability to meet the need and the scale of what is clearly a critical public health increase. And what the data actually showed is that the Atlanta respondents were concerned about the mental health will well-being of their loved ones, and that was one of the stressors that they identified over the past year in the survey data.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:56] Now, do you think that this influx of mental health requests, is it something that all of a sudden now there’s more people suffering or is it now there’s less maybe shame in getting help?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:08:11] I think that people are looking for the opportunity to have a conversation and relationship with their providers that they can discuss stress, they can discuss happiness, their health levels, and have a holistic approach when dealing with their health care provider. And that’s what the data actually show. They’re seeking higher levels of engagement and communication, and that is what the data is reflecting, and that’s what our offerings are trying to provide. And that’s why you will find therapists in our MinuteClinic locations. We’re expanding services for telehealth. We’re doing the virtual care with the physician led teams that are engaging with both a virtual health option and care as it needs to be at home when they need to be.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:09] So what’s your back story? How did you get involved with CVS Health?

Stephanie Whyte: [00:09:15] I am a pediatrician by training. I joined the company after being non-clinical and leading the Chicago Public School District Health System Health there. And I just have a passion for care and making certain that we address the needs of those who need services. And that’s a beautiful segue, and I’m glad you added that to ask me that, because there’s one more thing I want to punctuate that we’re doing that speaks to why I’m here, and that is our project Health Initiative, that’s addressing some of the social determinants of health. That’s really my passion. And CVS Health is doing a wonderful job of this project Health Initiative, which brings community health services to those who are under resourced. And that beginning mid-August, our mobile RV units will serve several Atlanta metro areas, providing screens to our project Health Seniors. And these screenings identify those who have high blood pressure, blood pressure levels, glucose levels, cholesterol levels. And in my prior life, I’ve done screenings like this. And you are surprised at those who are walking around with malignant, life threatening, high blood pressure levels, cholesterol levels, leading them on the path to coronary artery disease, and they have no idea. So screenings like these are wonderfully helpful. We have more than a dozen lined up and the Atlanta metro area between now and the end of the year. Those interested can contact CVS.com slash project hyphen health to find out about an event near them. Cvs.com slash project hyphen health. To find out about an event near them. But we’ve done we’ve provided $7.6 worth of free medical services and just the Atlanta Atlanta area via Project Health since 2006. And this type of work really drives the passion and speaks to us getting out there. And that’s my story of how I came here to do things like this.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:34] Now, can you share a story maybe of your time working with folks kind of boots on the ground that these kinds of screenings are can save lives? This is catching things, knowing your numbers are things that are important to catch things before they become real, really problematic. I mean, I think that a lot of folks don’t take the initiative in terms of knowing their numbers and getting checked out and doing some of these screenings in order to catch things before they become very big problems and maybe even, you know, kind of end of life problems if you wait too long. Can you share a story, maybe a personal you don’t have to name their name, but just explain what it was like for this person to go through a screening identifying this and really nipping something in the bud.

Stephanie Whyte: [00:12:20] Oh, absolutely. So I did a large screening like this in the Chicago area at Navy Pier, a huge convention center, and they were offering the exact same things glucose, cholesterol, hypertension, blood pressure, checking for your bone. And as the people went through, they were offered. They then got they did lung function as well. They then got to sit with the physicians that were there to do an interpretation of the results and explain what that meant. So I was one of two docs there on site doing it, and one of the gentlemen who came to sit with me was someone who was uninsured, who said he had no symptoms. He was just it was free. He got in line and said, why not? Had not seen a doctor in at least ten years. And the level of the magnitude of his hypertension, the level of his blood pressure, how high it was, was what we would call malignant hypertension. It was extremely high. He’d said he had no headaches. He said he didn’t have any dizziness, he had no problems. He denied any of that to the point where he didn’t believe me when I was like my heart was palpitating on his behalf. And so we talked to him. We asked about family. I asked about family history and other things. And there was some things there that were triggers but actually called an ambulance for him. He could not leave. I could not have him leave the convention center like that. So this is how we go. You need to follow up with a doctor. We need to link you with somebody. No, we need to call the ambulance. And you need to immediately be sent somewhere for care. It was that bad.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:04] And that’s the thing to the person they may not even notice. And then they’re dead. Like, it’s that dramatic. And I’m not.

Stephanie Whyte: [00:14:12] Hypertension. It’s called the silent killer. So. Yes, so. So when you take these to communities that lack regular access to health care resources, the impact is critical.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:24] Yeah. And this is something that when you are if you haven’t been to the doctor in any length of time and you have an opportunity to get a screening, these are things these aren’t nice to have. These are must haves.

Stephanie Whyte: [00:14:37] Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:38] So one more time, if somebody wants to learn more about, you know, these clinics and these screenings and things like that.

Stephanie Whyte: [00:14:45] Project health events. Cvs dot com slash project hyphen health.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:53] Well, Dr. White, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Stephanie Whyte: [00:14:59] Thank you so much, Lee. It was a pleasure.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:01] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Intro: [00:15:09] Today’s episode of Atlanta Business Radio is brought to you by on pay. Built in Atlanta, on pay is the top rated payroll in HR software anywhere. Get one month free at onpay.com.