In September 2024, Dr. Mark Stephan, Chief Medical Officer at Equality Health, and Ingolv Urnes, CEO of Generated Health, came together for an engaging fireside chat. Their conversation explored Equality Health’s ground-breaking strides as a leader in value-based care (VBC), the challenge of patient engagement, and the role of Florence, the AI Nurse, in supporting these efforts. What follows is a short summary of their discussion, along with selected video highlights.
Equality Health: A Value-Based Care Pioneer Focused on Underserved Communities
Since its founding by CEO Hugh Lytle, Equality Health has been built on a foundation of cultural sensitivity, a core value that remains central to its mission today. The organization is committed to improving care for underserved populations, including a significant focus on Spanish-speaking communities. Over the years, Equality Health has established itself as a trusted value-based care (VBC) partner to providers and health plans alike. Starting in Arizona in 2015, the organization now operates in the five states of Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Virginia. Equality Health partners with over 3,200 primary care physicians and serves approximately 700,000 lives, primarily focused on Medicaid-funded, hard-to-reach individuals.
Equality Health: Supporting Primary Care Between Visits
Dr. Stephan pointed out that while primary care is widely regarded as essential for improving outcomes and ensuring appropriate utilization, the demands on it are constantly growing. These included detailed risk stratification, reaching out to patients disconnected from care, and managing an increasing administrative burden, including more reporting. “Value-based care wasn’t taught in school, and not every provider is equipped to handle risk-bearing responsibilities,” explained Dr. Stephan.
Equality Health steps in by providing wrap-around services, tools, technology, and dedicated resources, such as care coordination centers. “A provider is only as effective as the team supporting them,” Dr. Stephan noted. Equality Health enhances practice workflows, performance analytics, and patient engagement on a larger scale.
VIDEO: How does Florence help Equality improve engagement between visits.
Florence: Scalable AI-Powered Solution
“Practices need scalable solutions to help manage their flock, with a particular focus on patients disconnected from care and engagement between visits,” suggested Dr. Stephan. This is where Florence comes in — think of ‘her’ as a friendly, competent, and always-on member of the care team. She extends your clinical capacity by engaging, managing, and monitoring patients through two-way text messaging.
Florence doesn’t shy away from challenges. She’s currently augmenting Equality Health’s wrap-around services for the highest-risk, highest-needs members who are disconnected from care. Equality Health chose to start with this group to test and fine-tune the solution before expanding it to the broader network.
VIDEO: Why Florence is the right option?
Patient-Reported Information – Key to Prioritization
One of AI nurse Florence’s most valuable capabilities is collecting patient-reported data, according to Dr. Stephan. Florence regularly engages with patients based on set protocols, gathering a range of both objective and subjective data, from blood pressure and blood glucose levels to medication adherence and mood scores. Configurable thresholds and notifications ensure clinical teams are alerted when necessary, allowing them to focus their time on patients who need it most.
“What’s more valuable than information from a patient?” Dr. Stephan reflected. “Arguably, that’s the best information. No matter what claims or history tell me, if a patient shares their numbers today – whether it’s blood pressure, sugar, weight, mood, or whether they had trouble picking up their meds or experienced side effects – those are invaluable nuggets of information. They help us as a virtual practice prioritize care.”
VIDEO: How does Florence help practices improve patient outcomes
Florence Next? Artificial Empathy, Not Just Artificial Intelligence
When asked what’s next for Florence, Dr. Stephan offered a succinct answer: “You should be moving from artificial intelligence to artificial empathy.” He emphasized that empathy and trust are the foundations of patient engagement. The next challenge is to evolve Florence so that patients feel they are being talked with, not talked to. She needs to connect with the ‘inner child’ of patients and recognize their need for acceptance.
In simple terms, Florence needs to become a better listener, capable of meeting patients where they are—not just following protocols or responding to questions intelligently.
VIDEO: Next Steps for Florence
Postscript: The team behind Florence is tirelessly working to make her more human-like: both empathetic and competent. It’s an exciting and challenging journey! We’re making progress and always committed to moving at a pace that ensures clinical safety, building up evidence along the way.
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