A Day in the Life: A Clinical Disparities and Cultural Diversity (CDCD) Consultant at Humana

Humana developed a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform with three pillars: Healthy People, Healthy Planet, Healthy Performance. These pillars enable us to align CSR initiatives with our core business and to create opportunities for associates to connect and collaborate as we work toward a common goal of helping people achieve lifelong well-being.

In my day-to-day duties, I most closely identify with the Healthy People pillar, which reflects our commitment to healthy lifestyles, community involvement, volunteerism, and diversity and inclusion. My own personal commitment has deepened through my involvement in the work we are doing with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). Diabetes is a serious health problem among Hispanics in the United States. More than 2.5 million Hispanic adults age 20 and older have been diagnosed with the disease, and among seniors age 65 and up, Hispanics are disproportionately affected. In an effort to improve the health of Hispanic seniors with the disease, Humana and the National Council of La Raza have launched a study to test the “promotores de salud” – or, community health worker – approach to help them better manage their disease and improve their health and well-being. My involvement with this pilot program is just one example of how CSR is an integral part of my daily duties. It is rewarding to see how the work I do contributes to making a difference in people’s lives.

Editor's Note: This is Part 4 in a series of blogs by Humana employees on how CSR is interwoven into their daily work. These posts will allow us valuable insights into how one company is contextualizing responsibility as a key business strategy and a core function of every employee's job. For jobseekers and career changers, these posts will provide not only insights into alternative career paths, but also tips on how you can pursue a career that aligns with your values as well as those of your employer's.

7:30 AM: Arrive at the office and start the morning by checking voicemails and emails from both internal and external work partners. Call various partners and respond to emails. Review daily and weekly schedules.

8:30 AM: National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Collaboration Update Meeting. Check with NCLR partners on the progress of the community healthcare worker training for the Hispanic senior diabetes pilot in San Antonio, TX. Multicultural Marketing Lead shares Mexican American Unity Council’s participant recruitment updates.

10:00 AM: Stars Maximization –Educational calls to assist members in locating a doctor that they would work well with. Need to gauge impact on member behavior. Opportunity to work on culturally tailoring future calls for specific populations.

1:00 PM: Grab lunch. Review news wires to see what developments are afoot in the health disparities and clinical market intelligence world: America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) briefs, MedLine, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announcements, Health Plan News, Department of Health & Human Services about health disparities, Office of Minority Health announcements.

2:00 PM: Work on the Associate Language & Nativity Survey. This survey will enable Humana to begin to assess its clinical areas’ ability to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS). Provide context, framework and reasoning for fielding this survey. Develop the survey questions.

4:00 PM: Review Humana Active Outlook member communication materials with an eye to culturally tailoring the messaging and answer the following questions:

• Do these materials take into account Humana’s multicultural senior population?
• Does the language need to be revised for health literacy and cultural sensitivity?
• How about the imagery? Is this available in other languages?

5:30 PM: Check tomorrow’s calendar. Print reports and articles to read on various health disparities and health reports. Carve out time in the evening for research.

6:00 PM: Exercise prior to having dinner.

6:30 PM: Dinner at home with family.

Read More:
Whiskey, Data Centers and Power Strips--Oh My! Humana's EDF Climate Corps
The Intern Diary: Data & Data Centers at Humana
Day in the Life: Virginia Kelly Judd, Executive Director, Humana Foundation