New Collaborative to Address Chronic Disease Disparities in Southeast US

Managed Care Cast

In January 2022, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Meharry Medical College, and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine announced the receipt of a $12.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop the Southeast Collaborative for Innovative and Equitable Solutions to Chronic Disease Disparities. The center’s work aims to reduce disparities seen in the southeast United States, with particular focus on cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and other related conditions among African Americans and Latino populations. Currently, over 20% of this region lives in poverty, while racial and ethnic minorities comprise nearly 40% of the population. Southern states also tend to be the least healthy in the nation and account for the majority of Medicaid expansion holdouts under the Affordable Care Act. To learn more about geographic disparities in chronic disease rates, The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) sat down with Consuelo Wilkins, MD, MSCI, professor of medicine, senior vice president and senior associate dean for health equity and inclusive excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Wilkins discusses factors that impede progress on chronic disease prevention and outlines the next steps for the Southeast Collaborative. This episode of Managed Care Cast is part of the new AJMC® Podcast Prevention Series, bringing you the latest news on prevention advancements in disease.