Inside Health Care #103: Dr. Nzinga Harrison, Dr. Suchi Saria and the Many Ways to Equity

Quality Matters: A Podcast by NCQA

On this episode of Inside Health Care, we’ll hear from two health care innovators. One developed a unique yet powerful approach towards resolving historic gaps in health equity. The other champions artificial intelligence as a key solution in the drive towards streamlined patient-centered care.

And...both of them will be featured speakers at NCQA’s annual Quality Talks event, set for May 3, 2023, in Washington, DC.

Nzinga Harrison, MD, is Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Eleanor Health, a tech-enabled, population-based provider of comprehensive, whole-person, substance use disorder care and mental health care. She is a vocal advocate and activist who emphasizes the need for U.S. health care to address systemic and ingrained harms of racism and marginalization faced by many communities in this country.

This interview begins with Dr. Harrison to explaining one of her most profound concepts: that Racism can be considered – and treated – as an addiction.

Suchi Saria, PhD, stands firmly at the crossroads of Artificial Intelligence and Modern Medicine. She is the Founder and CEO of Bayesian Health, and works at Johns Hopkins University, serving both as the John C. Malone associate professor and the Director of the Machine Learning, A.I. and Healthcare Lab.

In this interview, you'll learn how A-I, Machine Learning, and even ChatGPT can soon propel us into a world of resolved Equity disparities and improved patient-centered outcomes.

In our Fast Facts segment, we observe National Minority Health Month by exploring disparate asthma diagnoses in African-American populations. We also explore NCQA's asthma-based HEDIS measure, Asthma Medication Ratio [AMR].