Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

The Role of Business in Improving Health and Health Equity

Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

INTRODUCTION

On December 13, 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement hosted a workshop in Washington, DC. The workshop, The Role of Business in Improving Health and Health Equity, examined how businesses can improve health and health equity in communities through relationships with workers, investments, engagement with community stakeholders, and health-sector partnerships. The workshop featured five panel discussions exploring business and employer engagement beyond the workplace, showcasing promising models and examples of engagement and collaboration and examining evidence, resources, and tools to support business-sector leaders and their partners.¹

In his welcome and opening remarks, Raymond Baxter, co-chair of the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement and trustee of Blue Shield of California Foundation, noted the roundtable previously explored how business-sector investments and partnerships shape population health.² The present workshop, he stated, examines ways businesses can “consistently, intentionally, systematically, on a large scale” improve health.

Introducing the workshop’s agenda, Terry Williams, chief population health officer at Atrium Health, asked if current conditions set the stage for unprecedented transformation at the interface of business, society, and workers. This question was addressed across three sessions, or “relays.” The first detailed how changes in business structure (e.g., work environment, benefits, and employee agency) can help workers. The second presented on health leadership roles in business, a business-led anchor network, and a business that works with undervalued communities. The third showcased an organization that works with hundreds of companies to maximize positive impacts for their workforces and communities and for broader-scale transformation. Williams concluded by stating that recent public health crises, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, climate change, and racial disparities, have significantly impacted businesses and communities and changed employee expectations. He said this workshop

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aimed to explore “relationship-oriented” strategies to help business adapt to these changes.

A CHANGING LANDSCAPE AND INTENSIFYING IMPERATIVE

During the first session, Williams moderated a discussion with three speakers who elucidated the changing landscape of the U.S. workforce. They also explored how new workforce expectations have created an urgent need for business transformation. Williams noted the discussions intended to provide practical examples and inspiration for addressing issues including health disparities and social determinants of health and transforming business structures to better support workers, such as through improved work environments and enhanced employee benefits. Gregory Fairchild, dean and chief executive officer (CEO) at University of Virginia—Northern Virginia and Isidore Horween research professor of business administration at University of Virginia Darden School of Business, began by detailing his work on the U.S. surgeon general’s report about business roles in improving public health.³ Fairchild said that gathering different coalitions to effectively reshape business practices requires “the rethinking of assumptions.” For instance, he explained that businesses are generally unaware of the problem of poor health in the United States and exhibit a “grave ignorance” about public health challenges. Therefore, Fairchild said, the surgeon general’s report intended to inform business leaders about health issues and explain why caring is important.

He also noted he and the surgeon general’s team acknowledged that business and public health often speak different languages; for example, “upstream” and “downstream” are terms that “mean different things in the public health and business worlds.” To address such challenges, Fairchild noted, the report had “translation” sections to help people in business understand public health terms and vice versa. Discussions about public health issues and language differences led to additional conversations about how business institutions and the public health sector could engage, he continued. Addressing engagement initiation, Fairchild described COVID-19 as a “burning platform,” a business metaphor signifying something that “induces people to consider institutional and organizational change.” He stated that the pandemic showed “how we all are in it together” and that networks between business and public health have become “more important than they were before.”

John August, director of Healthcare Labor Relations at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, spoke next and stated that “a new comprehensive social contract⁴” is needed to resolve tension between business and public health and that, without this, “there is little hope for improved population health.” One topic August highlighted was how “low wages are central to poor population health.” Since 1975, he noted, the gap between worker productivity and wages has grown, and union membership has declined, corresponding to a decline in worker voice.

Additionally, August said approximately one-third of the U.S. labor force earns less than $15 per hour, and “more than 51.9 million people are earning less than $31,200 a year.” He identified economic stability as a social determinant of health and shared a relevant quote from writer James Baldwin: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” August then explained that an unlivable income is a public health issue. He shared that a survey of 40,000 Medicaid recipients which asked what they felt the main contributor to their health was, showed insecurity about income and employment as the top answer. August noted that community voice is critical for developing a new social contract, and conversations must include “finance, employers, civic organizations, workers, and their unions to create a shared vision for a healthy community.” He shared a video from the White House Summit on Worker Voice, which showed Terrence Wise, a fast-food worker and the leader of the Fight for $15 movement, introducing President Obama.⁵ In the video, Wise spoke about how impactful a wage raise was to his family and the importance of such raises for all workers. August concluded by emphasizing the importance of building a country with “health and prosperity for all of us.”

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The third speaker for this session was Tolu Lawrence, managing director of Programs & Partnerships at JUST Capital. Lawrence began by characterizing JUST Capital as a nonprofit research organization “dedicated to advancing an economy that works for all Americans.” It strives to listen to the voice of the American public in its effort to “galvanize the $18 trillion private sector to serve the needs of all stakeholders.” She said that JUST Capital’s polling showed “9 out of 10 Americans agree that the activities and behaviors of America’s largest companies impact society as a whole” and that 82 percent feel these activities directly impact their lives. Lawrence also said that Americans across all surveyed demographics want workers and fair, livable wages to be prioritized. As she explained, companies addressing workplace issues is advantageous because “companies that are better at managing their stakeholder relationships tend to generate more returns for their investors.” Company investment in workers and transparency with stakeholders, Lawrence continued, leads to improved long-term outcomes because customers, workers, and communities are more satisfied. Lawrence described how JUST Capital uses its data to drive impact within its JUST Jobs program, which collaborates with companies interested in advancing equity and worker well-being. She also said they track job quality through the JUST Job scorecard and launched the Worker Financial Wellness Initiative in partnership with PayPal, Good Jobs Institute, and Financial Health Network. According to Lawrence, many companies that participate in this initiative have increased employee wages, introduced flexible benefit offerings, and learned from peers how to advance progress.

After speaker presentations, Williams asked Fairchild to discuss the potential for business conversations—and what they might include—for a point August identified as critical: “the new social contract.” Fairchild said both people and corporations often continue “status-quo” behavior that benefits themselves even if they know better. Therefore, he agreed with Lawrence that self-interested investments will likely motivate change within business. An audience member asked about how to react to tensions between the value of data and evidence versus the value of storytelling and personal interests—and about whether appealing to one transforms business more effectively. Fairchild and Lawrence agreed that storytelling is powerful, and Lawrence said data is important, but it “absolutely must be paired with stories and with storytelling.” August echoed these responses, added that stories are persuasive and noted the importance of empowering all voices at the table instead of “just including them.”

Several audience members then asked about conditions necessary to spark change and to enable people in influential positions to act differently. Leadership buy-in is important, Lawrence responded, and mitigating risk and seeking competitive advantage can also trigger momentum. Fairchild responded similarly, saying most change is caused by “either carrots or sticks” (i.e., a business benefit or harm). Williams offered final thoughts on the question, stating that in his one-on-one conversations with CEOs about what led them to lead differently, some mentioned having “a moment of epiphany” in which they began thinking differently about their roles as leaders.

STORIES OF INNOVATION

Transforming Business Structures to Support Workers

Jarrid Green, co-director of the Center for Business and Social Justice (CBSJ) at Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), moderated the first panel in relay two, which explored business structure innovations. Green asked Sean Jackson, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) administrator at Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods (Bob’s Red Mill), to introduce himself. Jackson explained that the company is 100 percent employee-owned, and their ESOP offers opportunities for long-term wealth building for employees, which bolsters employee engagement and organization commitment. “We are 740 employee-owners who are sharing founder Bob Moore’s vision of providing the world with healthy whole grain foods,” he said. Jackson also noted that a big part of ESOP is building an ownership culture throughout the company and educating employees about the benefits of a retirement plan with employee stock ownership. He added that “60 percent of our retirement plan employees have a retirement wellness score that is healthy versus 18.6 percent in general industry” and that “annual retention rates among ESOP participants are between 90 and 95 percent.”

The next speaker was Todd Leverette, co-founder of Apis and Heritage Capital Partners. Leverette said that Apis and Heritage Capital Partners, a private equity fund, aims to reduce the racial wealth gap. He explained that they use investor capital to “find great, small, closely held, privately held, family-owned businesses and convert those businesses over to 100 percent employee owned.” Specifically, according to Leverette, they focus on companies with diverse workforces and “won’t invest in a company if there is not at least 33 percent of the workforce being people of color.” Investing in diverse communities is critical, Leverette said; in the United States, on average, White families have approximately 7 to 10 times more wealth—and potentially much higher, depending on definitions of wealth—than Black, Indigenous, and people of color families. The panel’s third speaker was Catherine Ward, managing director of JFF Labs at Jobs for the Future (JFF). Ward introduced JFF as a national nonprofit organization focused on “driving equitable economic advancement” in the United States and helping people access quality jobs. She said that JFF works with educational institutions and workforce systems to help achieve policy change at federal and state levels and to support employee agency and voice.

Green then asked panelists to delve deeper into the relationship between job quality and health. Responding first, Ward highlighted the main components of a quality job. According to the Department of Labor, she said, they fall into eight broad categories: (1) recruitment and hiring; (2) benefits beyond pay; (3) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan and inclusion of community voice; (4) empowerment and representation; (5) job security and working conditions; (6) organizational culture, including both physical and psychological safety; (7) pay and compensation; and (8) skills and career advancement.⁶ Addressing how a quality job relates to health, Leverette said that fair compensation and benefits allow a person to access and afford physical, mental, and emotional health-related services. Jackson added that psychological safety is important to the culture at Bob’s Red Mill, and employees feel respected and safe enough to take interpersonal risks without fearing negative consequences.

The second question Green posed was whether other strategies or tools beyond ESOPs could increase worker power.⁷ He also asked how these strategies more broadly affect population health. Ward responded that companies can use surveys and other forms of feedback collection to increase worker voice, and people often think about these practices. However, she stated that employers can go further by supporting employee agency and power in organizations. Ward provided several examples of initiatives that can increase mobility and center worker voice in corporate strategy (e.g., unionization, ESOPs, employee resource groups, and employee training programs). For instance, Ward said JPMorgan Chase, a company that works frequently with JFF, insisted on building training programs that are linked to opportunity and mobility and value employee feedback. Leverette added that including worker representation on the board of directors is another way to empower employees and ensure their concerns and priorities are voiced. Offering another example, Jackson explained how Bob’s Red Mill listened to administrative employees’ ideas about the value of hybrid work options and worked with them to retain these practices after the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, Leverette shared that companies with ESOPs and employee ownership culture are more successful and grow faster than traditional businesses.

Each panelist concluded by highlighting the most significant opportunity they see within efforts to transform business. Leverette emphasized that a large share of capital ($10 trillion) within business will change hands in the coming decades, and this generational transfer is an opportunity to “really address this racial wealth gap” and “create more equitable wealth distribution in this country.” Jackson underscored the benefits of bipartisan support for ESOPs. Ward identified innovations in creating trust, along with efforts around inclusion and belonging, as additional opportunities.

Corporate and Community Health Leadership

The second relay’s next panel also explored innovation stories and focused on building corporate and community health leadership. It was moderated by Robert McLellan,

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emeritus professor at The Dartmouth Institute at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, former chief of the section of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), and former medical director of DHMC’s Live Well/Work Well program. McLellan said the session would explore “the catalyzing effect of crisis in helping to stimulate the organizational infrastructure for partnerships between business and public health.” Specifically, it would highlight the roles of the chief medical officer (CMO) and chief health officer (CHO) in creating health equity. He said the panel also intended to examine how business can support communities through building public trust and improve health through using certain resources (e.g., technology, communication, and personnel). McLellan shared an insight: every business—not only those in health care and public health—connects with the health of its workforce and community. Also, the CMO and CHO play critical roles in strategic decision making within the executive suite.

McLellan then introduced Pamela Hymel, chief medical officer at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (Disney) and Letitia Dzirasa, health commissioner of Baltimore, Maryland. Hymel pinpointed the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of when employers partnered with public health and how CMOs acted as strategic business partners. During such a crisis, Hymel elaborated, corporate leadership must collaborate with external health organizations to respond effectively and to support their employees and community. For example, Hymel said translating technical scientific information into intelligible business language is important. At Disney, Hymel noted, a team of health and safety experts partnered with external health organizations, government entities (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local health departments), and other businesses (e.g., domestic and international theme parks) to make recommendations. She added that the company then shared its acquired experience and expertise via publications. Next, Dzirasa discussed how the city of Baltimore met with multiple industries, including business, during the pandemic to discuss protocols and answer questions. Dzirasa also discussed a health and business roundtable she initiated, where she met biweekly with businesses and stakeholders to offer support and discuss mitigation measures.

After introductions, McLellan asked Hymel what types of public health services Disney offers its employees and whether local health departments are aware of them. Hymel replied that Disney allowed one of its large parking lots to be used as a vaccination site during the pandemic and worked to ensure cast member (employee) access to vaccines. Dzirasa added that Baltimore’s health department partnered with Johns Hopkins Health System, University of Maryland Medical System, and Care-First to increase testing during the pandemic. McLellan then noted that misinformation and distrust impeded many public health goals during the pandemic, and he asked panelists to discuss how they approached this issue. Hymel mentioned Disney’s collaboration with local health departments in California and its communication campaign promoting mask wearing and hand washing. Furthermore, she said, Disney created an internal video series to explain the importance of practicing public health protocols (e.g., mask wearing, vaccination, and physical distancing) to cast members. Dzirasa, as a health department representative, highlighted a challenge: understanding that businesses have bottom lines but simultaneously value safeguarding their employees and patrons. Therefore, health departments play an important role in supporting compliance among business, she said.

Since the workshop focused on transformative change in business, McLellan asked panelists whether structures that enabled collaboration between public health, business, and community during the pandemic still remain. Dzirasa shared that Baltimore has a local health improvement coalition, which involves public–private partnerships. However, the city had to “evaluate our bandwidth,” so other activities (e.g., the health and business roundtable) have disbanded. Similarly, Hymel said that “times have changed,” and meetings with CDC and some industry sectors (e.g., cruise lines) have ended. Addressing the impact of their work on health inequities, both speakers noted progress. For instance, Hymel said that Disney works with local hospital systems and health departments in California and Florida to address social determinants of health and to gain access to needed care

for employees and their families. Dzirasa then discussed how business can help health departments address inequities in the community. She noted her appreciation when business understands its workforce, including knowing who is at highest risk for experiencing health inequity. Hymel then added that Disney has evinced a stronger focus on workforce health and well-being—especially emotional well-being—since the pandemic.

An audience member asked speakers to describe employer best practices that emerged from COVID-19 and can be used to improve future benefits, wages, and other factors that advance population health. During the pandemic in Baltimore, Dzirasa said, an example of the health department engaging with business—and a type of collaboration that should continue—included meeting with the tourism bureau to understand industry challenges and to support safely organizing a large convention. Understanding how social determinants of health affect employees is another best practice, she added. On this topic, McLellan mentioned climate change as a public health crisis and asked speakers to discuss how they have engaged with colleagues on creating adaptation and mitigation activities. Hymel noted that she is not directly involved with Disney’s environmental and conservation team, but the company has developed ambitious goals regarding eliminating waste and reducing carbon emissions. Dzirasa said that Baltimore’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response works closely with state emergency preparedness and local hospital partners during climate-related events (e.g., flooding) to ensure that hospitals and communities have needed resources.

Building Economic Well-Being

The final panel in the second relay was moderated by Meg Guerin-Calvert, senior managing director and president of the Center for Health Care Economics and Policy at FTI Consulting. The panel included Johnathan Holifield, senior vice president of new economies at Bitwise Industries (Bitwise), and Laura Ellenhorn, principal and head of community impact at Edward Jones. Guerin-Calvert introduced the panel’s goals: to examine innovative business models that promote economic well-being and health equity and to “reframe the economic and social aspect of health and health equity.” Holifield opened by articulating Bitwise’s mission “to build tech economies in underestimated places fueled with underestimated talent.” They do this, he said, through pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs that employ tech-sector apprentices and lead to increased salaries. Holifield described the program’s three pillars: (1) workforce transformation (apprenticeship employment), (2) technological services, and (3) “place making,” which focuses on creating space to value employees and to foster a sense of belonging.

Next, Ellenhorn discussed Edward Jones, a financial services firm that seeks to help people reach their financial goals through developing trusted relationships. According to Ellenhorn, the company serves eight million clients, a diverse population representing the United States, and understands the interconnectedness of health and wealth. She also noted that Edward Jones co-leads the St. Louis Anchor Action Network, which posits that “everyone everywhere can thrive” and advances this vision by investing in communities disproportionately affected by racial disparities.⁸ She described the network’s “anchor institutions” as health care, higher education, community organizations, and business. Collectively, these institutions seek to increase investment in talent and business by 10 percent by the end of 2023. Both panelists acknowledged great diversity in a city’s needs.

Guerin-Calvert then asked speakers to share how they identified community gaps or needs and how they grew their networks to engage employers. Holifield said finding thoughtful leaders who understand that some communities have been offered suboptimal opportunities is important. He attributed Bitwise’s success in offering technological opportunities to disadvantaged communities to this approach. Ellenhorn highlighted the value of understanding community needs and noted that showing results in addressing these needs helps increase trust. She also said the St. Louis Anchor Action Network gathers community feedback through studies, interviews, quarterly meetings with community partners, and communities of practice focused on talent and purchasing. Guerin-Calvert then posed two final questions: What constitutes success in transforming business to engage issues related to equity, mobility, and economics? What are the challenges? Ellenhorn described success as lead-

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ership, mutuality, and accountability. She also characterized success as progress toward a shared goal. Holifield noted that one of Bitwise’s challenges is insufficient opportunities for economic mobility pathways in the business community, especially for historically disadvantaged individuals. He spoke about “equity” as “ownership” of technological skills, which, in turn, leads to ownership of fixed assets (e.g., housing, land, intellectual property, and businesses). Accumulating fixed assets and skills, Holifield said, produces “opportunities for enduring wealth creation.”

An audience member asked Ellenhorn whether Edward Jones is obligated to advocate for policies that improve health rather than for policies that privilege the bottom line. Ellenhorn responded that the company is active in health advocacy and “deeply involved in thinking about the needs of our clients and focusing our health messages around our clients.” Holifield added that Bitwise strives to ensure equitable access to health care for its employees and to provide benefits they consider most valuable. Another audience member was interested in an outcome summary for Bitwise’s apprenticeship program. Holifield then shared demographic information for the program’s 10,000 total participants: 60 percent were Black or Brown participants, 60 percent of participants identified as women, 40 percent of participants identified as first-generation immigrants, 40 percent of participants identified as LGBTQIA+, and 100 percent of those who completed the program received technical employment. Additionally, he said, participants entered the program with an average salary of $21,000. Their first job after the program averaged $62,000, and, after three years, their average salaries increased to $80,000.

CONDITIONS FOR WIDER ACTION AND FOR SCALING UP INNOVATION

The third relay, the workshop’s final panel, was moderated by Terry Williams. Williams outlined the panel’s goals: to highlight infrastructure that can scale business efforts to improve health and to discuss strategies for starting and accelerating current work. The panel featured Jennifer Stark, co-director of the CBSJ at BSR. Stark described BSR as “a 30 plus year old nonprofit consulting organization that works with a network of 300 plus of the world’s largest companies on a range of issues, from human rights to sustainability and beyond.” She said CBSJ aims to enlist businesses in addressing systemic issues such as voting rights, gun violence, net-zero transformation, environmental and climate justice, and the protection of democracy. She also noted CBSJ is a “non-adversarial, constructive space” for companies, advocates, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society partners to “hash out some real challenges” and create a “collective action agenda.”⁹

Williams asked Stark to discuss how companies could assume more intentional roles in health equity. Stark said companies could acknowledge their responsibility by asking workers about their needs and priorities and then acting on them. For instance, she explained that employers in the United States play a big role in the health and well-being of workers and their families, and many employees depend on the “good will of their employers” for accessible benefits. Stark highlighted that only 21 percent of workers can access paid family medical leave through their employers. Moreover, many lack access to reproductive health services such as midwifery and doula care, lactation care, and postpartum mental health. Acknowledging the presence of harmful business systems and practices over time is important, she continued; however, business can also “create the scaffolding for enduring change.” Stark said that change can be initiated by CEOs or result from external pressure exerted by advocates or investors.

Williams also asked about how companies determine whether to focus internally or externally, to pursue multisector relationships, or to progress through these steps sequentially. Stark noted that companies consistently consider this question. Although the work is a learning process, she said it should be thoughtful, methodical, and conducted “from the inside out.” However, Stark also acknowledged that companies often operate within systems that lack policy or that exhibit infrastructure gaps. Ultimately, Stark emphasized the importance of companies attempting to mitigate harm while simultaneously inviting dissenting viewpoints to the conversation.

During the audience question and answer session, an attendee asked about the role of government and pol-

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icy and questioned whether business change can occur internally or if it requires external public-sector action. In response, Stark stated that business can change voluntarily, but that will “only bring us to a certain point,” and “there is unique power to regulate, mandate, and require.” Williams then highlighted encouraging expectation shifts among younger generations (e.g., around hybrid work and mental health care access) and expressed hope such shifts will continue to spark more business transformation.

Another audience member inquired about the increasing number of remote workers and about how businesses can ensure that individuals engage with collective business action and improve their own health and that of the community. Stark replied by first reiterating an earlier point about differing expectations between Millennials and Generation Z and the institutions for which they work. She then referenced The CEO as Urban Statesman¹⁰ by Sam A. Williams. According to Stark, this book discusses how the executive suite must now work to understand the distribution of their stakeholders and workers and to become more involved in these communities than before. The final audience question concerned how to change quarterly output pressure to facilitate opportunities for business transformation. According to Williams, such changes entail “redefining what it means to have quarterly performance” and recognizing that trust and vulnerability are foundations for change.

CLOSING REMARKS

Ana Diez Roux, roundtable co-chair and dean of Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, reflected on some of the day’s discussions and highlighted emerging key themes. One major takeaway was recognizing that society has reached a crossroads for rethinking relationships between business, economy, and health. Also, she noted, many crises—including the COVID-19 pandemic, pervasive structural racism, and climate issues—have contributed to “putting this topic on the map.” Diez Roux reminded the audience of two challenges to transforming business: (1) addressing stereotypes, assumptions, and language differences between public health and business that limit mutual communication; and (2) understanding the structures and systems in which business operates.

The presentations, she noted, showcased the strong relationship between health impacts and job quality, including income, benefits, career advancement, DEI, and job security. Several ideas for how business could advance health equity and population health were then discussed. Examples include supporting employee-owned companies, creating inclusive workplaces, promoting career advancement, enhancing economic mobility, and establishing a new social contract. Diez Roux noted the day’s culminating conversation on the interplay between business and social movements and emphasized how a systems-thinking approach to public health issues could broaden the impact of business on health beyond merely health care and insurance. Population health, Diez Roux said, “is about people doing the right thing and making the right choices. But it’s also about us creating the systems, the environments, and the policies for people to do that.”

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DISCLAIMER This Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief has been prepared by Stephanie Puwalski as a factual summary of what occurred at the meeting. The statements made are those of the rapporteur or individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all workshop participants; the planning committee; or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

*The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s planning committees are solely responsible for organizing the workshop, identifying topics, and choosing speakers. The responsibility for the published Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief rests with the institution.

The workshop was planned by Greg Fairchild, Isidore Horween Research Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia Darden School of Business; Meg Guerin-Calvert, (co-chair) Senior Managing Director and President, Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy, FTI Consulting; Robert McLellan, (co-chair) Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Emeritus Professor of Community and Family Medicine, The Dartmouth Institute; Bobby Milstein, Director, ReThink Health; Billy Oglesby, Dean, College of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University; Shuma Panse, Senior Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Kyu Rhee, Senior Vice President and Aetna Chief Medical Officer, CVS Health; Terry G. Williams, Enterprise Executive Vice President and Chief Population, Corporate, and Government Affairs Officer, Atrium Health.

REVIEWERS To ensure that it meets institutional standards for quality and objectivity, this Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief was reviewed by Philip M. Alberti, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Hanh Cao Yu, The Foundation Review, Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy. Leslie Sim, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, served as the review coordinator.

SPONSORS This workshop was partially supported by Association of American Medical Colleges, Blue Shield of California Foundation, California Endowment, Fannie Rippel Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Nemours, NYU Langone School of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Saint David Foundation, Samueli Foundation, and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center/Atrium.

STAFF Maggie Anderson, Research Assistant; Alexandra (Allie) Andrada, Program Officer; Alina B. Baciu, Roundtable Director; Ayshia Coletrane, Senior Program Assistant (until July 2023); Stephanie Puwalski, Research Associate (from April 2023).

For additional information regarding the workshop, visit https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/12-13-2022/the-role-of-business-in-improving-health-and-health-equity-a-workshop.

SUGGESTED CITATION National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. The role of business in improving health and health equity: Proceedings of a workshop—in brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27789.

Health and Medicine Division Copyright 2024 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.