In This Newsletter

Programs at a Glance
Policy Updates
CPH in the Community
In Case You Missed It
What’s Ahead
Connect with Us

Programs at a Glance

Mental Health

The CPH portfolio currently includes a variety of projects working with employers, particularly their role in prioritizing mental health, including substance use disorders, as part of a whole-person approach to total well-being. Some of this work entails private, invite-only forums, survey work, and deliverables focused on achieving better mental health through health-technology investment and innovation. We look forward to sharing insights from this project in a future newsletter. Until then, below are updates from some of our other active projects.

Employers Prioritizing Mental Health: Collaboration with Leidos

CPH, in partnership with Leidos, led the last invite-only convening of the Leidos Collaborative Action Group in November 2022, marking the culmination of formal convenings and exchanges of this group of over 85 employers committed to addressing addiction and advancing mental health in the workplace. Learnings and insights from this 14-month-long effort, which entailed over 200 behind-the-scenes CPH-facilitated meetings and led to multiple pilot programs among Action Group member organizations, are highlighted in our recently published Final Recap: Leidos CEO Pledge Collaborative Action Group.

Employers, Racial Equity, and Impact on Mental Health

In 2020, many of the United States’ largest corporations pledged $200 billion to advance racial justice and confront the nation’s history of systemic racism. These often externally facing commitments sparked deeper discussions among employers about where racial inequities exist and what can be done in workplace communities. In the subsequent two years, organizations have demonstrated varying degrees of success in meeting these commitments and dismantling the structural components that perpetuate racial inequity. Given the relationship between racial inequity and employee safety and mental health, addressing racism within the workplace remains a moral and economic imperative for employers. Throughout this project, CPH explored challenges and progress made by employers through their racial equity responses. The recently published action brief, Racial Equity and Mental Health in the Workplace: Actions to Drive Systems Change, captures findings and provides steps for employers to actualize a path forward.

Prevention and Chronic Disease

Envisioning the Future of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain to Advance Public Health in the United States

For the past few years, the highly intricate and interconnected supply-chain system has faced significant disruptions due to globalization, geopolitical issues, and, most recently, the coronavirus pandemic. In the summer of 2022, CPH kicked off an important initiative with the Healthcare Distribution Alliance to better understand how the pharmaceutical supply chain in the United States supports public health, while evolving and adapting to the challenges we face today and into the future. As part of this work, CPH conducted a landscape review, interviewed over 30 experts from the fields of logistics, health equity, government, and supply chain, and created an advisory working group. In late 2022 and early 2023, we held two in-person roundtable convenings to foster dialogue around the role of the pharmaceutical supply chain and its impact on public health. In Q2 2023, we will release an issue brief capturing the key learnings and actionable opportunities for the pharmaceutical supply chain to strengthen and sustain public health.

Health Equity

Health Equity Thought Leadership Essays

Please read and share these recently published essays by CPH Senior Director Victoria Cargill, MD:

• Expanding Health Equity (published December 2022)

• All Together Now: Improving Black Health (published February 2023)

Community Explorer: Bringing Populations’ Diversity into Local Policy Discussions

On March 17, the CPH Health Equity team worked in collaboration with the Milken Institute Research team and Baltimore City Health Department to present the Community Explorer tool and discuss applications at the local level. The Community Explorer is a free, interactive tool from the Milken Institute that brings the power of big data and machine learning to the equity-related policy discussion. Data may be accessed with a county focus or variable focus.

Policy Updates

On March 13, 2023, CPH, in collaboration with FasterCures, submitted comments to US House of Representatives Anna Eshoo and Richard Hudson in response to a request for information for the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), a major piece of legislation up for reauthorization in 2023. In the letter, CPH and FasterCures offered suggestions on policy opportunities to improve and strengthen the nation’s biosecurity and preparedness infrastructure in the face of a future pandemic and other hazards.

On May 11, 2023, the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 declared under the Public Health Service Act will expire. Maintaining the public health emergency status has been essential to our nation’s ongoing response to COVID-19 for the past three years. Our nation is at a critical inflection point where we must leverage the collective lessons learned to strengthen and sustain the US public health ecosystem as a whole, supported by a resilient infrastructure. CPH intends to share our ideas and suggestions about the unwinding of the PHE and the implications for public health with policymakers in a forthcoming letter to the Department of Health and Human Services.

CPH in the Community

We are delighted that members of our CPH team and advisory board have been recognized externally and/or have taken part in external speaking engagements.

December 2022

• Care Quality Management team of Baltimore City Health Dept—Presentation about HIV, CPH Senior Director Victoria Cargill, MD

January 2023

• White House Roundtable Discussion on Preparing US Clinical Trials Infrastructure for Emergencies—CPH Executive Director Esther Krofah

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health—guest speaker CPH Senior Director Victoria Cargill, MD

• Duke Clinical Research Institute Think Tank: An Ounce of Prevention, A Pound of Cure—CPH Senior Director Victoria Cargill, MD

• CPH Advisory Board member Megan Ranney, MD, named dean, Yale School of Public Health

February 2023

• University of Pennsylvania Community Scholars Program—CPH Senior Director Victoria Cargill, MD

• Congratulations on joining the Milken Institute Executive Circle—CPH Advisory Board member Judith Monroe, MD, president and CEO, CDC Foundation

• Co-authored “How Startups and Medicaid Can Collaborate to Improve Patient Outcomes,” which appeared in Health Affairs—CPH Advisory Board member Andrey Ostrovsky, MD

March 2023

• Panelist at the Business Council for International Understanding and Cigna International Health’s Panel Discussion, Reimagining Employee Well-Being: Taking a Holistic Approach to Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace—CPH Senior Director Sabrina Spitaletta

• Guest judge at the University of Pennsylvania’s Intersection of Community, Academia, and Grantmaking Scholars Symposium—CPH Senior Director Victoria Cargill, MD

In Case You Missed It

CPH Employer Mental Health Work Referenced in Business Insider

An article in Business Insider, “The Equity Talk: One of America's Largest Insurance Providers Is Making Addiction and Mental Health a Top Focus for CEOs,” referenced the partnership between the Milken Institute Center for Public Health and The Hartford, which included conducting research and providing employers with resources and educational materials on mental health and addiction.

Mental Health in the Workplace Advice and Insight Social Series

We created a social-first series for the CPH LinkedIn page featuring thought leaders in our network reflecting on ways to improve workplace mental health approaches and whole person health. Follow us for more like these!

• Martha Lawrence

• Anita Gupta

• Suzanne Kunis

• Nora Volkow

• Thomas Bognanno

• Phillip Schermer

• Jessica Lazerov

• Doug Nemecek

• Jack Stein

• Pamela Greenberg

• Rachael Cooper

2022 Future of Health Summit CPH-Led Public Sessions

• Reimagining the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain in the United States

• Workplace Mental Health: C-suite Responding to the Now and Forecasting Investments for the Future

• Letting Smiles Shine: Oral Health as the Gateway to Health Equity

• Charting a New Course: Investing in Women’s Health

• Tackling Chronic Disease: Creating Value and Impact through Upstream Intervention

• Addressing Drug Addiction and the Overdose Epidemic: A Conversation with White House ONDCP Director Rahul Gupta

What’s Ahead

Upcoming Milken Institute Events

• Global Conference—April 30–May 3, 2023, Los Angeles

Connect with Us

Check out our LinkedIn for regular updates about our publications, upcoming events, and other related news!