Editors' Note: This blog was updated from an earlier version produced in 2020 on Feb. 3, 2022. Theresa Brown and Jamie Coelho contributed to this post. In
from The Lily that examines how the role of doulas intersects with private and public insurance, race, socioeconomic status, policy and the medical community.
After protests spawned a national conversation about racism last summer, CVS Health began to take a hard look at what the company was doing to address disparities.
In July, CVS Health announced that it would invest about $600 million to “advance employee, community and public policy initiatives that address inequality faced by Black people and other disenfranchised communities.”
The company decided to focus on several areas with major disparities, including maternal and child health, said Joanne Armstrong, the chief medical officer for women’s health and genomics at CVS Health. Throughout the fall and winter, Armstrong met with employees to learn more about their birth experiences. Armstrong and her team also reviewed research about doulas, who support people during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Num