Humana Supports Jefferson’s Health Equity Work in Philadelphia
Humana (NYSE: HUM) announced an endowed and immediate use gift of $15 million to Thomas Jefferson University to support Jefferson’s population health efforts. Humana said it is working with community partners nationwide to improve health outcomes for populations that have been disenfranchised and marginalized, in areas like Greater Philadelphia and neighboring regions.
The Humana Insights for Action Fund will be established in support of the Jefferson Collaborative for Health Equity. The fund, through a $3 million commitment, will deploy data analytics and advance research to expand focused interventions, narrow health disparities and improve access to care for patients. It will also enhance community engagement activities and access to health resources in underserved populations alongside other partners and bolster evaluation of health equity and population health efforts, aligning to Humana’s larger health equity efforts.
Humana’s $12 million endowment will establish three positions at Jefferson: Humana Deanship in the College of Population Health, Humana Professorship of Community Health and Equity, and Humana Chief Community Health and Equity Officer, each focused on improving population health and advancing health equity in the region.
"Our focus at Humana is influencing and enabling an equitable healthcare ecosystem so that every person has a fair, just and dignified opportunity to reach their full health potential," said J. Nwando Olayiwola, M.D., M.P.H., chief health equity officer and senior vice president at Humana, in a statement. "We are honored to partner with Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health to further the important health equity efforts of this organization. This collaboration demonstrates our shared commitment to advancing community health and health equity and co-creating solutions to address challenges for populations that have historically been marginalized and underserved in healthcare."
"Advancing health equity is core to our mission at Jefferson and we look forward to implementing the Humana Insights for Action Fund to enhance our efforts to address health disparities," said Jefferson CEO Joseph G. Cacchione, M.D., in a statement. "This incredible gift will not only bolster the Jefferson College of Population Health, which was established in 2008 as the country’s first college of population health, but will advance health equity projects and programming across our entire health system."
In a separate development, the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc., last year invested over $22.5 million in communities, including $7.5 million to launch the Health Equity Innovation Fund, which will scale innovative solutions to disparities in mental health and nutrition.
