What is your just cause? Karen Dale is DC Market President for Amerihealth Caritas. She is a bold and fearless leader whose “Why” is to be a catalyst for change to promote equity and deeply support people encountering difficulties. In this episode she shares the leadership practices that support this work from sharing power, to community co-design and embracing disagreement on teams. 

We discuss:

• A powerful partnership with the Children’s Law Center
• The path to value-based payment for community organizations
• The future of public health education: providing the system, structure and culture that encourages every student to be a catalyst for positive change
• How DC is starting to address decades of under-investment in Wards 7 and 8 through its equity budget review

Karen discusses the just cause for a school of public health in today’s world: 

“It would be to create … a system, structure and culture that infuses what every student needs to be a catalyst for positive change for human beings … [A] school that creates that culture, gives people the tools, gives them the encouragement, gives them the freedom to try and fail, but learn and apply – that would be amazing. Because … we need a whole generation of people who are in the fight.”

Relevant Links

Karen’s commencement address to George Mason grads

NPR piece on partnership with Children’s Law Center

New payment approaches for EPSDT

Guidance for Health Care Entities Partnering with Community-Based Organizations: Addressing Health-Related Social Needs in Alternative Payment Models. [hcp-lan.org]

About Our Guest

Karen M. Dale is Market President for AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, a mission-based Medicaid Managed Care Organization in Washington, D.C., and the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies. Her focus includes applying a health equity lens to impact all levels of policies, processes, decisions, laws, and outcomes for the communities AmeriHealth Caritas serves.

She also leads a decidedly metric-driven business approach to mobilize leaders and accelerate strategies to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion inside and outside the walls of AmeriHealth Caritas. As a result, opportunities for people to experience health, wholeness, and belonging are enhanced by addressing the social, economic, and environmental conditions that are drivers of poor health.

Her hobbies include gardening, creating healthy Caribbean recipes, traveling, and watching her son’s soccer games.

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For more information on The Other 80 please visit our website - www.theother80.com. To connect with our team, please email [email protected] and follow us on twitter @claudiawilliams and LinkedIn.