Accessible, affordable healthcare is essential to health and well-being. But thriving in life goes beyond the care we receive in a clinic or hospital.
That’s why President and CEO of HealthPartners Andrea Walsh believes that her organization must look for opportunities to make positive impacts at a variety of connection points – both inside and outside clinical settings. So how’s HealthPartners walking the talk?
On the inaugural episode of Thriving Forward: A HealthPartners Podcast, Andrea sat down with host Dr. Mark Sannes to share her perspective on what it means to thrive. She shares examples of community partnerships and shifts in care models that are helping improve the health and well-being of HealthPartners patients, plan members, clinicians and communities.
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Key moments from the episode
Dr. Sannes and Andrea’s conversation covers a wide range of topics, such as the connection between healthcare affordability and access, clinician well-being and quality of care, and more.
- 0:37 seconds: Dr. Sannes performs his “Triple Checkup” to help us learn more about Andrea.
- 1:55 minutes: We take to the streets for our “Health on the Spot” segment to explore what thriving means to people in the community.
- 3:33 minutes: The strengths of HealthPartners and how they inform our vision for the future.
- 6:19 minutes: Andrea discusses what she sees as the most broken aspect of healthcare: affordability.
- 7:48 minutes: How clinician well-being relates to patient outcomes and sustainable practices.
- 9:26 minutes: Where HealthPartners is connecting the dots in order to provide more comprehensive care.
- 11:33 minutes: Thinking about community partnerships as an avenue for promoting healthy behaviors.
- 13:51 minutes: Andrea highlights two community partnerships that are helping support health and well-being outside of clinic walls: Little Moments Count, a statewide movement to help parents and communities understand the importance of connecting early and often with children, and Make It OK, which aims to end mental health stigma.
- 15:13 minutes: What thriving means to Andrea: being part of a social fabric.
- 16:14 minutes: Balancing the potential benefits of AI for improving care with a healthy skepticism about its limitations.
- 20:04 minutes: How rethinking traditional care models can improve the accessibility and effectiveness of healthcare.
- 22:30 minutes: Andrea’s proudest accomplishment from working at HealthPartners.
Dr. Mark Sannes is Chief Medical Officer of HealthPartners Care Group. He joined our organization in 2006. Prior to his current role, Dr. Sannes served as our clinical lead for the COVID-19 pandemic, Senior Medical Director for Medical Specialties across HealthPartners and Chair of Infectious Disease and Travel Medicine at Park Nicollet.
In addition to his leadership responsibilities, Dr. Sannes maintains an active clinic and hospital practice within the Infectious Disease department and serves on the board of directors for HealthPartners and Hutchinson Health.