A Conversation with Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, Chief Health Officer, Anthem

Bright Spots in Healthcare

Anthem’s Chief Health Officer Shantanu Agrawal, MD, talks to Eric about what the insurer is doing to lessen the effect of social determinants of health (SDOH). He shares the results from Anthem’s recently released report, Driving Our Health: A study exploring health perceptions in America, a national survey of 5,000 U.S. adults. Anthem conducted the study to raise awareness of the impact social drivers such as housing, transportation, and food insecurity have on our health outcomes. View the report at: https://www.thinkanthem.com/wp-content/uploads/Anthem-SDOH-Results-Report.pdf

Shantanu discusses some of the programs Anthem has implemented to ensure its members get the resources they need to live healthy lives. One example he cited was the opening of a locally owned grocery store, Indy Fresh Market, in a food desert in Indianapolis, Indiana. The store was funded by a grant from the Anthem Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corp. of Indianapolis.

This episode is the first in a short series of episodes where we will be highlighting bright spots in the community. This grassroots, bottom-up, local approach to health is rapidly gaining momentum as a way to take innovations in technology data collection and analytics, and combine it with the foundational elements of personal, high quality, high touch primary care that Americans received in the 50s and 60s.