Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
Becker's Payer Issues podcast.
Thrilled today to be joined by Dorothy Zaleski,
who is the president of Medi Cal at
Health Net. Dorothy, thank you so much for
taking the time to be with us on
the podcast today.
Thank you for having us.
Yeah. Absolutely. And and before we dive into
everything we wanna talk with you about, Dorothy,
and and some really special things happening at
Health Net, can you tell us a little
bit more about yourself, your background in health
care, and what it is that you do
today at Health Net?
Sure.
So I have worked in health care my
entire career.
It's been more than thirty five years.
I have worked at hospitals with physician groups,
health plans, mostly with health plans. But I
started my career at a federal agency,
working in legislation and public information.
About eight years ago, I had been with
Health Net in the,
nineties, and about eight years ago, I returned,
to work on specifically on the Medi Cal
team.
Our focus was on enhancing our local relationships,
with community organizations,
doctors, hospitals, and and the government agencies,
public health, mental health, all of the agencies
who serve the same families that we do,
at Health Net in the Medi Cal program.
So earlier this year, I was, promoted
to the president of the Medi Cal program,
and I lead the teams
who,
deliver the benefits to our Medi Cal members,
who work with those community
partners that I just described,
and who work on implementing new services and
programs
to help families
and, the members that we serve.
Fantastic. So a long career in health care,
Dorothy, and now you're you're overseeing one of
the largest,
Medi Cal plans in the state of California.
In that vein, we're here today to talk
about Health Net and the Centene Foundation
awarding more than $9,000,000
in grants to help bolster the future of
California's
physician workforce.
As you know, the the physician workforce in
the state is facing a significant shortage. It's
certainly not a new problem, but current predictions
is that there will be a physician gap
of 86,000
by the year 2036,
which really is not that far away. So
talk to us about the impact that Health
Net and Centene's investment
in things like early childhood education,
medical school support,
professional development initiatives.
How is that all gonna help address this
this growing gap, particularly when it comes to
underserved communities?
Great question. 2036
is not that far away, and
we've focused our effort across the continuum. We
believe
real solutions are gonna take place
take root long before residency.
You know, we by sparking curiosity in preschool
classrooms, it's 2025
now,
eleven years mid preschool classrooms,
elementary school,
nurturing students who are going through college
and guiding them during medical training and beyond,
that's how we're planting the seeds for a
stronger and more resilient pipeline.
It's got to start early.
When we think about the neighborhoods,
where families struggle to find care,
We know it's important,
for students from underrepresented
backgrounds in those communities
see themselves reflected in future physicians.
That way they feel empowered to pursue,
a path they thought was once unreachable. So
when you think about that support
across, their education,
they now have an opportunity,
a real belief that they can pursue
this,
career.
And by doing so, we're expanding our workforce
and honoring,
California's
rich tapestry of cultures,
again, by focusing on those underrepresented,
communities.
And finally, it takes more than just this
investment. You know? By weaving together health care
providers,
educators,
policymakers,
and even those community organizations and champions I
talked about earlier, we're building a collaborative
safety
net that really lifts,
these,
students
and lifts tomorrow's doctors
in those communities and and ultimately brings a
fair access to care for every Californian.
Certainly. And and let's let's talk about that,
Dorothy, in terms of all the different groups
and the sectors that are coming together on
this on this problem. Can you elaborate on
on some of the challenges, but also opportunities
that,
your organization has encountered in forging these partnerships
across health care, education,
advocacy sectors, and and how all of these
groups collaborating is going to contribute to a
long term solution.
Jacob,
the all of those groups, it's like that
tackling that challenge
is is a lot like, conducting a symphony.
Right?
Symphony. Each sector, you know, the health care
sector that I represent, academia,
advocacy,
for the communities we're focused on, each one
plays its own melody.
But we're aligning priorities
and timelines and resources
across those
melodies,
and that takes patience
and trust
and compassionate leadership. It takes a lot of
listening
and finding
finding commonalities
of outcome that you're shooting for. So when
we harmonize our efforts, you know, inspiration really
blossoms. That that list that that listening
and empathy
really leads to inspiration.
Educators
are are are a part of our of
this collaborative to ignite early dreams.
The advocates we we we are engaging with,
you know, they're working to dismantle systemic barriers
to students,
to the amount of,
placements
here in California for for, students graduating from
medical school. And the health care leaders who've
who have joined the collaborative
are opening doors
in real world situations in real,
in real settings
to provide extended training to to the students
we're talking about.
Together,
we're crafting initiatives that are more holistic and
inclusive,
far reaching, and cover
education,
access to training,
and
access to the academics they need.
Absolutely. And and I'm glad you called out,
that this is really looking to tackle systemic
barriers in this physician workforce as well, Dorothy,
because as you know, a significant portion of
this investment is focused on increasing
the representation
of Latino physicians in the state given their
underrepresentation
in the medical field despite
California's large Latino population. So how do you
how does Health Net envision this investment improving
health care access and patient outcomes, from from
that lens?
You know, we've seen
trust blossom between patients in the health care
system when patients meet doctors
and other practitioners
who speak their language.
That trust,
between patient and doctor leads to clearer communication
and healthier outcomes.
You noted that there's some, discrepancies.
Nearly forty percent of Californians identify as Latino,
but just 6% of the physicians are Latino.
This isn't just a statistic when you it
really does create a barrier to culturally centered
care and, therefore, to better health outcomes.
So that's why, you know,
as part of this,
part of the focus of this investment is
we're committed
to every step from full tuition scholarships for
first generation students to culturally,
attune training programs that I mentioned, and even
leadership development for mid career
clinicians, especially Latino physicians, to advocate on behalf
of growing this pipeline.
Over time, you know, we expect these efforts
to to dissolve,
both cultural and linguistic barriers to care,
to boost patient engagement through that trust between
patient and doctor,
and, ultimately, to derive measurable improvements in health
care because of that trust and willingness
to,
heed the advice of their doctor and ultimately,
lifting the the well-being and the wellness of
of Latino communities across the state.
You know, our vision
is a state where everybody sees can see
a doctor or a nurse
or a physician for assistant, dentist, or other
provider who understand their their
world, understands their world, and really honors
their personal journey to wellness.
Certainly. And that is such a such a
large gap that you mentioned, Shworty, but but
so great to know that this is a
top priority for Health Net in terms of
bridging that divide.
Before we go,
anything else you'd like to share with our
listeners? We've got a lot of other health
plan leaders listening in from all over the
country. Any final bits of advice you wanna
share with them? I don't know if it's
advice so much as a challenge, Jacob.
I would say to to my colleagues in
in health care, don't wait for change to
happen.
Be the spark.
This physician shortage, as you mentioned, is it's
huge and it's daunting,
but it's also a chance for every one
of us and our organizations
to make a lasting impact in the future.
I would also challenge my colleagues to invest
early and boldly.
You
know, inspire students in classrooms, whether that's through
investments or whether that's through your personal sharing
your personal experience.
Remove financial
and systemic barriers,
mentor emerging talent,
and ultimately support the caregivers
we're talking about who are already serving our
communities.
And finally, my final challenge is
embrace cultural empathy and closing gaps in care,
as your compass.
You know, those two things together
are necessary. You have to understand the journey
in order to help the patient
understand and seek the care they're they need.
And so by partnering across
health plans,
schools, advocacy groups, and community organizations as we've
been talking about this morning,
we can build a future where everybody has
a seat at the table of care and
every Californian thrives. Those are my challenges.
Last thoughts for my colleagues.
Wonderful. Well, I think that's a great place
to leave things, Dorothy. I wanna thank you
for taking the time to sit down with
us and for sharing with us and our
listeners about all the impactful work going on,
under your leadership at Health Net. So so
thank you.
Oh, thank you for having me again. I
I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about
this this wonderful,
investment in our future.
Absolutely. And to our listeners, if you'd like
to listen to more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare,
you can visit beckershospitalreview.com.