In this episode of our “Inside Health Care” podcast, we hear two interviews that each demonstrate how close we are to solving the challenges of health disparities and digital transformation. Our first interview finds a real-life, “Last Mile” solution that will bring historically under-served populations to the health care services they need and deserve. Our second interview reveals how improved efficiencies in digitalization actually make it easier to add even more data – and more data crunching – into the mix.

PHIT4DC stands for the Public Health Informatics and Technology for the District of Columbia Workforce Diversification Program. PHIT4DC brings together public health programs at two HBCUs—historically Black Colleges and Universities—namely, the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University. Together, these esteemed institutions train professionals from historically under-served neighborhoods in 21st-century IT knowledge and skills so they can return to their neighborhoods and give back to their communities.

PHIT4DC trains PCMH professionals in order to send them to work in and support their hometown communities and neighborhoods. It’s a powerful solution for bridging the gap in health equity provision. And it’s probably possible to set up this model in any U.S. city. But, as you can imagine, it’s no small feat.

Dr. Mary Awuonda currently serves as an Associate Professor and Director of the Center of Excellence at the Howard University College of Pharmacy. In her directorship role, she helps the College advance its health care workforce diversification mission and student academic success initiatives. She is published in the areas of minority health, health disparities, health outcomes research and workforce diversification.

Hannah George is a health care consultant with years of service across the health care industry. She’s been a college professor/mentor for nursing students and director of nursing for multiple home health agencies in the District of Columbia. She’s worked on multiple health care research protocols and served as senior clinical lead on multiple projects and initiatives. Hannah is certified in Project Management, is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS).

Digitalization ensures the safe and efficient transfer and parsing of health care data between providers. Patients benefit, clinics benefit, clinicians can spend more time with patients. And improvements in data transfer and parsing reveal more population data than ever before, which uncovers gaps in health equity. And with that population data, researchers can start to reverse deficiencies and ensure better health care for all.

Josh Hetler is Chief Operations Officer at DataLink and an expert in the potential revelations of supplemental data. Josh has over a decade of experience developing software products for advancing value-based health care. At DataLink, he’s held management, director and vice president positions, successfully building strategies that impact customer adoption and engagement.

Josh was interviewed live and in person at NCQA’s 2nd annual Health Innovation Summit, in October 2023 in Orlando, Florida.