Karen DeSalvo, Former National Coordinator for Health IT, Chapter 3

When Karen DeSalvo was first asked to interview for the role of National Coordinator for Health IT, she declined, thinking it wasn’t the right fit. After, she lacked the technology expertise that other candidates could offer. What she did have, however, was experience as both a physician and a leader, having spent the prior three years as Commissioner of Health for the City of New Orleans. And so DeSalvo followed her own advice and ran toward the opportunity to make a difference. In this interview, she talks about what she enjoyed most about her role with HHS, why she has become a crusader for public health, what she’s doing now (and hopes to do next), and why it’s critical to “find your true north.” Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 * Community health assessment & improvement programs * “It’s a perfect story of how the private & public sector can come together to create change.” * Public health’s reliance on “stale” data * 3.0’s continued momentum – “People keep talking about it.” * Her focus on “Building bridges at the national & local level” * Katrina’s impact on EHR adoption * Finding your “true north” * The balance of vulnerability & confidence in leadership LISTEN NOW USING THE PLAYER BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR iTUNES PODCAST FEED Bold Statements It’s a perfect story about how the private sector and the public sector, big business and small business, and healthcare and public health can come together to create change in the community; how something as simple as a leash law prevents wellness, but you wouldn’t have known about it if you weren’t on the ground. You couldn’t know that from Washington. You have to know that from being in a community. I don’t think it’s going to be solved by public health alone, by healthcare alone, by technology alone, or by any other sector. And so I’m thinking through what’s the right way to build the right bridges at the national and local level so we can quickly get the ‘how,’ and find solutions that work for everyone. It really is about everybody working together to create conditions in which this community can be healthy, and it’s going to be more than a great healthcare system. It’s going to take attention to all of the determinants of health. Find your true north. Apply the skills you have, and if you don’t have them, try to keep gaining and learning throughout the journey. When you’re not sure, tap back into where you think you can make the most difference and where you feel most passionate. I knew I was going to have to say to my staff and my stakeholders, ‘I don’t know what that is, but teach me. Help me learn. Tell me what to read, and I will get as smart about it as quickly as I can and see how we can put it all together.’ Gamble:  There is so much potential for what could be done and I guess a lot of it does come down to using that data to show improvements and kind of selling these things to take the initiative. DeSalvo:  I’ll give you an example of connected disconnect. A community that was not in our report but I’ve recently learned about is called Nevada, Missouri. Cerner wanted to learn what they as a company could do to advance the community’s health in partnership with them, so they brought together a coalition and provided some seed funding. They set out some shared goals and realized there’s a community that they needed to target the leading causes of death, which are essentially nutritional and physical ...