­­­FAST FACTS

• Leads Humana’s Louisville population health efforts, seeking to improve the city’s health 20 percent by 2020 by partnering with Humana employees and the community to make a difference and help improve lives.

• Served for over six years on the Executive Board of Directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kentuckiana and Hats for Hope, an annual fundraiser benefitting Kosair Charities.

• A graduate of local and state community-based leadership development programs Ignite Louisville, Leadership Louisville and Leadership Kentucky.

• Married to a fifth-generation family business owner and a proud mother to two young children. Enjoys outdoor activities and relaxing with a good book or movie.

• 2019 Hosparus Health Leadership in Healthcare MediStar Honoree

Medical News: How have you made a difference in our healthcare community?

London Saunders Roth: As a leader in the Louisville Health Advisory Board for the past five years, I have convened health leaders from over 70 organizations in regular committee meetings focused on improving the health of all Louisville residents. These convenings have spurred collaboration among cross-sector participants, leading to better support of our community’s clinics, pilot projects and city-wide trainings, impacting both the healthcare community in the work they do, and our community members directly.

Through my work on social determinants of health, I am working to improve the healthcare system, making patient care easier for all providers. I have also connected the Health Advisory Board work to Humana’s internal Bold Goal Board of Directors’ work. I have successfully recruited Humana leaders to important community events to demonstrate leadership commitment in the community. Through my Bold Goal Board of Directors’ work, I have maintained a momentum and a linkage of the Bold Goal work to Humana’s overall mission of becoming a company known for improving the health of its members.

MN: Describe a specific result driven by your work.

LSR: The Louisville Health Advisory Board’s Behavioral Health Committee facilitated the training of over 2,200 Louisvillians during National Suicide Prevention Week 2018 on the suicide prevention technique, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR). We know from the testimony of several participants that took the training that it had a direct impact on connecting those in need to mental health professionals, possibly saving lives. This work also inspired Columbus, Ohio to duplicate the program this fall across 14 counties—spreading the impact to other regions.

MN: How are you paving the way for future leaders?

LSR: One of my favorite ways to spend time is meeting with and advocating for future leaders, learning from them and sharing my professional and personal experiences with them. I mentor three young ladies on a regular basis, and find it incredibly rewarding to have remained connected over time, witnessing intentional career progression and celebrating in exciting life moments. In addition, I’ve enjoyed being a part of Family Scholar House’s terrific speed mentoring program and this year participated in Business First’s Mentoring Monday event.

MN: Looking back on the past year, how has the healthcare system changed and what is the medical community doing to adapt?

LSR: While social determinants of health and health related social needs are not new, especially in the space of public health, I’ve observed a significant increase in focus on them from physicians and health plans and systems. There is a growing understanding that to care for a person’s whole health, we must look at environments and social factors, responding to them much like we treat clinical gaps in care.

This means taking a look at our processes and determining how we can assess for social needs, connecting individuals to resources to support these needs and understanding utilization of these offerings, something Louisville’s ‘United Community’ initiative (facilitated by Metro United Way) is seeking to offer via a technology platform.

I’ve also observed the physician community rising to the opportunity to address social determinants. This fall, Humana and TEDMED convened a group of 31 physician and community leaders with the purpose of thoughtfully exploring how to improve the health and well-being of Louisville. The convening was designed to develop infrastructure and bring physicians in the community to consensus on the importance of social determinants of health and the selecting on a few key areas of focus. There were some interesting themes that emerged from the conversation, which the group agreed to continue discussing and determine how to tackle.

MN: What is the biggest challenge your organization will face in the upcoming year?

LSR: My role at Humana is to lead the organization’s Population Health, or Bold Goal effort in Louisville, by focusing on identifying solutions to specific health conditions and barriers across our city – for both our members and city residents. The biggest challenge I experience is maintaining continuity in an ever-changing environment, sustaining engagement – both internally and externally – amongst competing interests and priorities of key stakeholders.

Collective impact efforts require many different players to change their behavior in order to solve a complex problem. Building and sustaining infrastructure that’s designed to unite key stakeholders towards a common goal is critical, and an outcome of that level of support is continued engagement and growth in the Louisville Health Advisory Board, now entering its fifth year. Our opportunity is to ensure connectedness to other groups, addressing health within our community.

We are proud to have released a tool to drive the connectedness, called “Our Shared Mission: Improving Louisville’s Health” available at LouisvilleCultureofHealth.com. And we’re not stopping. We’re going to continue collaborating and integrating care for Louisvillians (and across the country).