Lisa Nichols
Assistant Vice President of Community Health
Intermountain Healthcare
Lisa Nichols has 23 years of experience working in non-profit health care with underserved populations, including extensive experience with federally qualified health centers and Title X programs. She currently serves as the assistant vice president of community health for Intermountain Healthcare where she provides leadership for Intermountain’s collaborative initiatives including initiatives to address the social determinants of health. Lisa has a master’s in social work from the University of Utah and has completed the Health Care Executive Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
What’s a new professional resource (i.e. websites, measures, tools, books) you’ve found useful for improving your efforts?
Intermountain Healthcare is using Unite Us, a digital platform to support closed loop referrals between healthcare and social services. This tool has been helpful in coordinating follow-up for social needs such as food insecurity and housing. It also allows us to collect data about the prevalence of social needs and the gaps in resources through tracking of requests that are unable to be filled. Using a digital tool has allowed us to more objectively understand the needs of our most vulnerable community members.
Thinking about the future, what do you think should be the focus of research in the field of workplace health and well-being?
I see a need to overlay data regarding the social determinants of health to more adequately understand the correlation to health outcomes, healthcare costs and workplace productivity. It would be helpful to use predictive analytics that include social data to better understand a person’s needs and how best to meet those needs.
What innovative internal program are you most excited about in your workplace?
I am most excited about Intermountain Healthcare’s Anchor initiatives. This is work to use Intermountain’s assets to contribute to well-being and economic opportunity in our communities. I am also excited that Intermountain has hired a social well-being manager to begin to understand and address the social needs of our employees.
