Kameron Matthews, ’06, Spotlighted for Healthcare Policy Work

From CVS to Google, here are 20 healthcare executives to watch

Healthcare is complicated, and few people know that better than the executives leading the industry.

Over the past decade, the industry has seen a massive shift in coverage under the Affordable Care Act, more emphasis than ever on value-based care, an ongoing technological revolution and increasing demand that it take a stand to address health equity.

To get a better look at healthcare's transformation, the Fierce Healthcare team caught up with 20 executives who are leading the charge and changing the game. These executives to watch represent sectors across the industry, forming the front line of the industry's evolution.

Meet the 20 we're highlighting here, and let us know on Twitter at @FierceHealth the executives you're watching.

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Kameron Matthews, Cityblock

By Jacqueline Renfrow

Kameron Matthews, Cityblock

Kameron Matthews, M.D. (Cityblock)

Kameron Matthews, M.D., is an integral figure in forming healthcare policy that impacts underserved patient populations.

She is a clinician, advocate, administrator and academic. Initially having worked in correctional medicine, she transitioned to administration within federally qualified health centers before joining the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2016—where she served as chief medical officer of the largest healthcare system in the world.

Having worked in corrections, Matthews was “blown away” by the inequity of care for those of the marginalized community. Later, she worked to scale a program to address behavioral health care for veterans while working for the VA office in Chicago. These experiences taught her that, through leadership, she could help make real transformations.

Starting up at Cityblock was a dream come true for Matthews, as she saw the potential for moving along great ideas at a faster pace. At Cityblock, she is able to combine her skills as a practicing physician with her administrative roles to build inclusive, whole-health systems that meet people where they are, understand their barriers and innovate to improve their access to healthcare.

Matthew’s immediate goals are to continue to address population health concerns, health equity and quality outcomes at Cityblock.

“You can’t change clinical care without addressing the barriers, such as financial burdens,” Matthews said. “It’s not about billing and coding and productivity, but about the quality of outcomes that we can achieve and to seek out more transformations for more patients.”

Her personal goals are aligned with Cityblock’s in that they hope to continue to impact healthcare on a wide scale and open up their services in more markets. Plus, she wants to help build trust among the community in general, as so many members have a distrust in healthcare due to trauma.

Matthews says the most impactful healthcare leaders are the ones who show humility.

“The lack of humility leads us to inequities. If we are not humble enough to understand patients, then we can’t be equitable,” she said.

“I see people building out solutions that are very black and white, but we need to work in the gray,” she added. “And we at Cityblock approach transformation in the gray.”

Read more at Fierce Healthcare