Creating inclusive communities where Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) feel a sense of belonging and support is important to their wellbeing. Research shows individuals with strong social connections are 50% more likely to live longer and have a better chance of preventing serious illnesses like heart disease, stroke, dementia, anxiety and depression.

Here are five ways you can connect with BIPOC to cultivate culture, community and connection.           

1. Explore the values, beliefs and traditions of diverse cultures: Exploring BIPOC articles, books, documentaries, cultural museums, languages or cuisines can cultivate respect, empathy and inclusivity.
2. Seek authentic connections: Build meaningful BIPOC relationships by finding common ground, personally and professionally. Genuine cultural connections can emerge from supportive neighboring, discussing shared interests or embracing diverse perspectives to achieve common goals.
3. Engage in community activities: Volunteer to support the BIPOC community by assisting at events or with organizations serving BIPOC populations.
4. Promote services and resources that help BIPOC communities: Sharing information about services, resources and job opportunities online or through personal networks can aid BIPOC communities significantly.
5. Support BIPOC organizations: Strengthen community ties and show commitment to BIPOC concerns by supporting BIPOC organizations. This can include buying from local BIPOC businesses, amplifying their voices on social media and advocating for BIPOC needs in civic forums.

Together, we can build a more inclusive and supportive community for all. Every action counts in fostering culture, community, connection and BIPOC wellbeing.

For more information to increase awareness about BIPOC mental health and wellbeing and the importance of recognizing and addressing concerns, visit MagellanHealthcare.com/BIPOC-MH.

SOURCES:

• Human Connection: Why It’s Important I Psych Central
• Social Connection | CDC

Bryan Simms, a dedicated professional with 16 years of experience at Magellan Health, serves as the director of proposals. In his role he oversees a team responsible for crafting customized, competitive, and most importantly compliant proposals to meet the unique behavioral health needs of employers. Additionally, Simms serves as the product liaison for iMclusion, an employer diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) solution, where he plays a pivotal role in overseeing product development, driving customer implementation, managing the relationship between Magellan and its vendor, and fostering strategic enhancements to improve product efficiency and the overall customer experience.

Continue reading to learn more about iMclusion, and other ways in which Simms is encouraging DEI initiatives at Magellan and other companies:

What new and innovative projects are you currently working on?

In August 2023 we launched iMclusion which is Magellan’s first DEI solution. It’s designed to help develop inclusive and culturally competent organizations and individuals as well as foster a safe work environment for employees of all backgrounds to feel valued for who they are and what they bring to their organization. Since not every organization is at the same level of DEI readiness, iMclusion is able to assist our customers wherever they are on their DEI journey. We assist customers by first measuring their organizational readiness, meaning their ability to initiate, implement, and maintain a successful DEI program, and providing them with recommendations and deliverables to achieve their desired goals.

We then turn our focus to training with an emphasis on inspiring the employees to positively change their perspectives and create a DEI friendly culture within the organization. We found throughout the research that you can’t mandate DEI or treat it like compliance training because employees could end up viewing it as inauthentic. So, it should be viewed as organic to have any long-term success. Lastly, we guide customers through the establishment of a DEI council and ongoing support. The job of the council is to drive cultural change by creating accountability for the company’s DEI strategy as well as promoting a healthy work environment that fosters engagement and productivity.

I’m also proud to be an inaugural member of Magellan’s DEI council. We’re striving to persistently promote cultural awareness and competency as well as sensitivity across Magellan at every opportunity. We aim to create an environment where every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered. And we do this by cultivating and embracing their unique ideas, talents, and background.

Why is Magellan Health the best place to do these projects?

Magellan has a commitment to total wellbeing as well as valuing outside the box thinking. DEI is not looked at in our industry as a necessary component of a viable behavioral health and wellbeing solution. But Magellan’s willingness to challenge the status quo of what behavioral health and wellbeing looks like fostered the type of innovation that recognizes DEI necessary as a crucial piece to any holistic behavioral health and wellbeing solution.

What are your thoughts on Magellan’s culture? How has that culture impacted your projects?

Magellan promotes an environment of collaborations amongst our many different teams. Diversity of thought increases innovation and improves overall employee satisfaction, all of which allows us to serve our customers better and continues to demonstrate why Magellan is an industry leader in behavioral health.

When Magellan Health received word that it had been named a Fortune 500 company for the first time in our company’s history, it was cause not only for great celebration, but also reflection.

In recent years, we’ve experienced tremendous growth and momentum. Our purpose—“Leading humanity to healthy, vibrant lives”—fuels the work of our more than 10,000 associates, who are dedicated each day to making a meaningful difference in members’ health and their lives. One of our biggest growth drivers has been our ability to innovate and introduce new products that resonate and disrupt the industry across all areas of healthcare and pharmaceutical management, with the ultimate goal of delivering a consumer-centric model that improves health and health outcomes.

At Magellan, our model of care is unique in that it is both high-touch and high-tech, supported by an innovative and inclusive culture. Three keys to our success stand out.

When it comes to innovation, Magellan’s secret sauce is its culture. We continually seek people from outside the healthcare industry to challenge the status quo and help drive innovation around access to care and care quality with their unique perspectives. By providing our associates the space, flexibility and resources to experiment, we encourage creativity and offer the freedom to pursue ideas that push traditional boundaries. We put a great deal of trust in our talented colleagues instead of relying on a structure that in and of itself is defeatist for innovation.

We innovate with the member in mind. At Magellan, we’re dedicated to consumer-centric care that achieves improved outcomes by integrating healthcare across physical, behavioral and pharmaceutical services. By pioneering new strategies, we’ve been able to tackle the highest-trend components of healthcare expenditures using agile, clinically based technology and applying advanced analytics to develop next-generation solutions. This approach not only enables highly personalized services to be delivered, but also supports the best possible outcomes in the most cost-effective way for our members.

For example, roughly half of total pharmacy spend is driven by specialty drugs, with half of that specialty spend covered under medical benefits. This portion of specialty spend is typically unmanaged by pharmacy benefit managers and health plans. Magellan has differentiated itself in the specialty drug management space by pioneering innovative strategies focused on improved outcomes and value. We provide high-touch decision support tools that support specialty physicians in ordering complicated drug regimens. These tools help to ensure treatments are being administered at the most clinically appropriate site of service and are appropriately used.

We pursue atypical collaborations. Transforming healthcare requires unique collaborations to fuel new solutions that achieve disruptive change and improve health. A majority of our unique collaborations are in the digital therapeutics space. Two years ago, we partnered with Click Therapeutics to create FDA-approved therapeutic apps for treating common behavioral health conditions such as insomnia, anxiety and depression. One example is an app called ComfortAble^TM, which helps people suffering from chronic pain identify and change unhelpful thinking and behavior and learn new problem-solving techniques. At a time when our nation faces an opioid epidemic, much of which stems from difficulties in managing pain, ComfortAble^TM presents an opportunity to curb the use of pharmaceuticals in pain management.

An Eye Toward Tomorrow’s Healthcare Model

As Magellan has migrated to a culture of innovation, one of our biggest learnings is the need to innovate with a small “i.” We’ve learned over time that the best ideas aren’t always going to be big, bold-stroke, billion-dollar ideas. Ultimately, we’re innovating to help people live better, healthier and more vibrant lives. That’s a purpose all of our associates, from our senior leaders to our interns, not only embrace, but act upon.

At Magellan, all of our initiatives are centered on one objective: to provide highly personalized services that support the best possible outcomes in the most cost-effective way for our members. We will continue to innovate and introduce products that resonate, disrupt the industry and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.