Health Care Companies Innovating for Social Good As Well As Good Business

As health care spending?continues its upward spiral in the United States ?— climbing 9.7% in 2020 to $4.1 trillion, or $12,530 per person —?it now makes up about a fifth of the nation’s gross domestic product. While some companies in the health care industry see that as an opportunity to maximize profit, others view it as a way to expand their positive social impact.

Among the latter is Northwest Permanente, an independent, physician-led medical organization that also happens to be the largest medical group in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Providing integrated care through Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospital, Northwest Permanente employs more than 1,900 clinicians and administrators who act as leaders in a clinical care setting and in their communities.?

Medical Director Colin Cave recently spoke with me about Northwest Permanente’s efforts to incorporate transparent practices with patients and staff, support the mental health of their physicians and administrative staff, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning to telehealth visits. “We want to support doctors doing the right thing,” Cave says. “It feels good that we belong to a company that will.”?

As a B Corp, Northwest Permanente also uses the B Impact Assessment process to identify areas for improvement. Cave says this includes paying a living wage to employees and prioritizing purchasing from companies in the community owned by women or people of color.?

“We want to create healthy communities,” Cave says. To help more people in Oregon access medical services, Northwest Permanente threw its “support behind two initiatives – Cover All Kids and then Cover All People – that now allow these individuals to access quality health care.??Our leaders testified in support and our government relations teams put their weight behind passing these groundbreaking measures.”?

Another B Corp in the health care industry looking to provide better health insurance options for both employers and workers is Burnham Benefits. The Irvine, California-based company recently launched a health insurance plan called B Healthy as an alternative for B Corps. It’s structured as a health insurance captive, or self-insured plan, which is designed to help businesses partner with like-minded companies and reduce their financial risk.

Kristen Allison, President and CEO of Burnham Benefits recently told me that B Healthy is designed for businesses that value worker well-being as part of the stakeholder mindset. It reflects the workplace atmosphere at Burnham Benefits, which encourages collaboration and innovation.

“Women play a big role in employee benefits; they lead with their heart. They’re trying to help employers help their employees and their families, and provide the right coverage and affordable care based on their wages,” Allison says. “I think why Burnham has been super special is it’s a low-ego company; we are super collaborative, consultative. … We really have nurtured women in the industry to think the sky’s the limit. We allow you to find your path and support you and trust you. There’s a huge loyalty with that.”

As a result, she told me the company has very loyal employees, and they "haven’t seen the effects of the Great Resignation because we feel so tied to one another,” she says. “It also brings in the right clients. If we have a client that says, ‘I want to pay the least amount and I don’t want to do the minimum for my employees and nothing for the dependents,’ that's not our type of client. When companies care about their employees and want to help keep them healthy, we think there should be more affordable options.”

Cave says the Burnham team sees its efforts to improve its social and environmental impact as a journey rather than a destination.?

By continuing to improve its impact on society and the environment, Burnham Benefits sees the assessment as a journey rather than a destination. “Every time we go through the assessment — the original or the recertification — we have some really cool takeaways,” Cave says. “You consider what you can attack on that list now, and what we can start thinking about differently.”