I joined Verily and Onduo because I believe that harnessing health data will unlock solutions to big problems - including the challenge of health equity - but only if we use it responsibly, safely and build trust where it’s lacking.
We hear a lot about the value of data - but we have to remember that data is simply a tool. Tools are only as good as the intention and skill placed behind them. At Verily, we're using our skills - and our commitment to making health more equitable - to build the most detailed understanding of how health works at an individual level. In doing so, we are opening up opportunities for transformative change.
When we talk about health equity, we use the word “community” a lot and for good reason - it’s communities where the pain of health disparities is felt most sharply. I’ve seen this firsthand working around Louisiana, seeing towns and neighborhoods where a lack of access to care doesn’t just mean more preventable illnesses and suffering for individuals, but fewer opportunities and more financial stress for all who live there.
But communities are made of individuals, not statistics. And while demographics can show where work needs to be done and common threads that we can follow, the individuals that make up any one community are diverse within themselves.
That’s why we use data to paint as full a picture as possible of what’s happening in one person’s life - and why we reassess and update that data on an ongoing basis as health needs change. Onduo is collecting, organizing, and activating individual health data, so that we and our partners - health systems, payers, employers, and other health innovators - can deliver tailored interventions at moments that matter.
For example, it’s one thing to know that African Americans are at a greater risk for diabetes or that stigmas around mental health care are prevalent in some Latinx communities, but we have to be able to take meaningful action. Identifying and collecting data on a broad range of social determinants of health helps us craft solutions that fit the individual and allow us to take a more proactive approach to care. We have to look beyond just clinical attributes to information about housing status, local employment rates, food insecurity or transportation challenges for each individual.
In the past, these social determinants were overlooked, often not seen as healthcare problems. Although we may not feel responsible for solutioning every single one of those, we are responsible for trying to knit those resources together in the community and deliver them in such a way that gives an individual a chance to live their best life.
By building an individual profile for each patient, we can tailor a response that puts them on the path to better outcomes. We may notice lifestyle patterns - like sleep or even phone usage - that lead to a warning that a person is showing signs correlated with mental health challenges which are often underdiagnosed in communities of color. Or we may pinpoint where a diabetes patient is facing challenges adhering to a treatment regimen. And more broadly, we can help innovators find individual clinical trial candidates to ensure that the next generation of care reflects the diversity of our world.
This is what it looks like to meet people where they are, and when we do that at scale, we can make health fairer and better across the board.
There’s one more reason that I have faith in our mission: we’re deeply committed to not repeating the mistakes of the past. During my time as a quality leader of a health system, I remember meetings where it was questioned if we should be spending time collecting race and language information when scoring our value based purchasing work. To me, there is no debate - closing your eyes to a factor like race does not make it go away, it simply limits what you can see, if there is a disparity in the care that you're delivering, you won't find it.
That’s why Onduo and Verily are doing something that a lot of ambitious technology-driven companies have not always been so great at: listening to others and questioning ourselves. While the history of injustice in America is marked by open cruelty, it is equally the story of more subtle, systemic failures. We must not - through intention or carelessness - recreate that in the digital space. From the way we handle sensitive data to how we engineer artificial intelligence, we are making sure that our processes are thoughtful and inclusive so that we don’t inadvertently leave out communities or build in biases.
I am heartened to see the growing concern of so many peers and colleagues around solving health equity challenges. I know that data is a powerful tool to help us get there - as long as we use it responsibly. And I know that Verily and Onduo are poised to be strong, committed partners to like-minded innovators who understand just how important it is to create a fairer and healthier future.
About the Author:
Vindell Washington, M.D., M.S., is the CEO of Onduo and Chief Clinical Officer of the Verily Health Platforms group. Vindell previously served as chief medical officer and EVP at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, where he oversaw network operations and contracting, medical policy and quality, disease management, and pharmacy benefits. Prior to that, he was National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), where he provided high-level executive direction and leadership for ONC programs, operations and policies. Vindell received his medical degree from the University of Virginia and his M.S. degree in healthcare management from the Harvard University School of Public Health.