Payers can play a key role as educators, helping employers promote women's health, according to Mass General Brigham Health Plan's chief medical officer.
Lindsay Jubelt, MD, is also chief population health officer for the Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham. Dr. Jubelt sat down with Becker's to discuss how the health plan and health system are supporting women's health.
"Big employers, sometimes they have these big benefits teams, or even a chief medical officer, but a lot of employers are not that. They don't know what they're missing and what they're buying when they buy a plan," Dr. Jubelt said. "Doing education about the emerging issues in healthcare, the gaps in the market, the needs that their employees particularly have, and the services that are out there that they would be best suited to purchase — I think plans can do a wonderful job of educating about that."
In 2023, Mass General Brigham Health Plan introduced a women's health portfolio, designed to support pregnancy, child care and menopause.
Plans are also suited to fill in gaps in clinical service delivery, Dr. Jublet said. Providers may not always have the bandwidth to provide care management and education for patients, she said.
"In their busy days, providers being so overwhelmed with demands right now, [they] aren't in the position to have the bandwidth to secure those. I think that's where the plan comes in," Dr. Jublet said.
One example of this type of care in women's health, Dr. Jubelt said, is Poppy Seed Health, which provides on-demand support and education for pregnancy and postpartum needs.
Maternal mental health is an area of focus for both Mass General Brigham Health Plan and the health system. The system has embedded mental health providers in primary care practices, and its next step is bringing these providers to OB-GYN practices.
"It's right there, and at the click of a button, a provider can diagnose that this person may have mental health concerns, let me make sure I get her into therapy, right here in the practice," Dr. Jubelt said.
Women's health often has been centered around maternal health, Dr. Jubelt said, but she added it is important to recognize women's health needs across different populations.
"The needs of a woman that is LGBTQ+, or is lower income and struggling with getting access to food or transportation, are going to be different than a woman that is aging gracefully in place," she said. "I think for all of us, it's breaking down that women's health is not just about maternity."
Health plans can play an important role in developing different models of care and supporting the needs of different populations, she said.
"I think a plan can be such a wonderful advocate and provider of the solutions," Dr. Jubelt said. "Some of those wraparound services are not where traditional clinical service delivery is focused. There's a big opportunity for a health plan to be a leader in that space."