Episode 17:5 Sarita A. Mohanty on accessibility, equity, and the importance of intergenerational connections

Sarita Mohanty, MD, MPH, MBA, President and CEO of The SCAN Foundation, shares their goal of improving the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. Learn how this grant making and impact investing organization supports older adults in home and community.

About Sarita

Sarita A. Mohanty, MD, MPH, MBA, serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The SCAN Foundation. The SCAN Foundation is an independent public charity that envisions a society where every older adult has the choices and opportunity to age well. Its mission is to ignite bold and equitable changes in how older adults age in both home and community. Previously, Sarita served as the Vice President of Care Coordination for Medicaid and Vulnerable Populations at Kaiser Permanente.

Sarita was formerly Assistant Professor of Medicine at USC; Chief Medical Officer of COPE Health Solutions, a health care management consulting company; and Senior Medical Director at L.A. Care, the largest U.S. public health plan.

Sarita completed her Internal Medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. She earned her MD from Boston University, MPH from Harvard University, and MBA from UCLA. She completed undergraduate work at UC Berkeley. She currently is an Associate Professor at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and is a practicing internal medicine physician with Kaiser Permanente.

Sarita enjoys international travel, tennis, and spending time with her husband, three kids, and her dog, Apollo.

Key Takeaways

• Americans do not have an accessible system of care. The infrastructure does not serve all populations equitably. There is a lot of fragmentation and a lack of care coordination and seamless focus on the individual.

• Vulnerable populations include lower income older adults and communities of color, and those in underrepresented geographies. We need more inclusive, equitable policies with private sector investment and integrated community support.
• Technology solutions are not being created equitably to address health disparities and access to quality care.
• In the next years, next 10 years, we will have more adults than children in the US. We need to invest in older adults so they can contribute effectively to society.
• The narrative on aging is starting to shift, yet still wrought with stigma and discomfort. Older adults need to be viewed as valued, actively contributing members of our communities, rather than framing them as a burden.
• Intergenerational housing models are a growing trend. Older adults and people with disabilities, caregivers and their families, live in independent living units clustered around shared spaces in exchange for labor for caregiving, receiving good wages, childcare and other benefits.
• There's not enough workforce to support the growing aging demographic, so intergenerational constructs will be critical.