, three healthcare officials discussed how the concept of meeting people where they are could help improve the whole industry.
“This mantra that really emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘meet people where they are,’ was responsible for helping ensure that hundreds of millions of shots went into Americans’ arms, three million deaths were averted, a trillion dollars of economic losses were prevented,” Panjabi said. The business model works, she explained, by reducing healthcare costs related to these patients down the line—costly visits to the emergency room, which often become the only option for people who couldn’t see a doctor sooner. Panjabi pointed to Cityblock Health as the kind of organization the industry and government needs to prioritize scaling up.
In that way, pharmaceutical companies can not only make treatments more representative of different communities, but also can overcome barriers they face in reaching those communities, such as a lack of trust.