Chief Medical Director, Employee Health and Well-being
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Dr. Safeer is Chief Medical Director of Employee Health andWell-being at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Dr. Safeer completed his Bachelor of Sciencein Nutrition at Cornell University before graduating from medical school at theState University of New York at Buffalo (magna cum laude). He completed his residency in Family Medicineat Franklin Square Hospital Center, in Baltimore, Maryland. After which, hecompleted a Faculty Development Fellowship at the Virginia CommonwealthUniversity of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia. He is also certified in Clinical Lipidology. He’s achieved fellowship status in theAmerican Academy of Family Practice, the American College of Lifestyle Medicineand the American College of Preventive Medicine.
Prior to arriving at Hopkins, Dr. Safeer practiced familymedicine in Northern Virginia. He was then on faculty at the George WashingtonUniversity, serving as the Residency Director of Family Medicine in his lastyear at the institution. He was theMedical Director of an Occupational Health Center in Baltimore and WellnessDirector for the Mid-Atlantic region of the parent company, just beforestarting at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Baltimore, Maryland as theMedical Director of Preventive Medicine. He has been credited by some for bringing ‘wellness’ in to the realm ofresponsibilities of the managed care industry. He also led CareFirst BCBS to beamong the first cohort of health plans to be accredited for Wellness by NCQA.He holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the American University, where heteaches “Organizational Health”.
Amongst his responsibilities at Hopkins, includes leadingthe employee health and well-being initiative, Healthy at Hopkins. Dr. Safeer also advises the institution onmatters related to health plan benefits, occupational health and the employeeassistance program. He previously provided clinical care in the HopkinsHospital Lipidology clinic. He haspublished close to fifty papers in the health and wellbeing space andcontributed a chapter to a textbook on population health. He regularly speaksto national audiences on the employee health and wellbeing space, in particularhow to create healthy workplace cultures. He recently finished serving on theBoard of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, a professionalorganization he helped establish.
To support managers and other leaders as they create a wellbeing culture on their teams.
We're innovative in delivering care. We're old school when caring for eachother. We will focus on the employee experience. Creating a wellbeing culture at Johns Hopkins Medicine so that our employees are supported in whatever their wellbeing journey looks like.
We clearly emphasize our work around wellbeing culture. Our model includes six building blocks: Shared Values, Social Climate, Norms, Contact Points, Peer Support and Leadership Support.
I'm not sure I understand the question. We would want to reduce the cost of health care for our own employees, as this is one of our largest line items after salary and benefits. We'd also want to reduce the cost of employee recruitment, which is intimately tied of course to retention. Finally, we'd want to reduce workplace burnout. If you meant three diseases, then heart disease, cancer and depression.
It's highly likely that we've done this on a number of occasions. However, Johns Hopkins Medicine views our employee health and wellbeing strategy as an investment in our people and we don't measure an ROI in this work.
This is the foundation of our work. We have published paper on our framework. We are intentionally shaping our wellbeing culture by enhancing opportunities around social climate, leadership and peer support, contact points, norm building and shared values.
A big part of our current well-being problem is the reliance on virtual solutions. Nothing comes to my mind as an answer.
Social connectedness is an unappreciated element of good health, happiness, and longevity.
Learn how you can assess your current well-being culture and make adjustments or changes to offer the best of the best. Learn the importance of creating community and social connection between employees and how two organizations are trailblazing in making this happen.This session is for organizations looking to improve the employee experience and increase engagement, well-being, and ultimately, performance.
View session detailsRemember the mission to reach the moon? In 1962, President JFK set forth a vision. He initiated a movement that outlived him! Even in his death, the mission was accomplished seven years after his famous speech. Now we’re on a five-year mission, and it's not about us. This is a mission for you – the individual, the stakeholder, the employer healthcare and benefits professional. Join the mission to reduce costs, reimagine culture, and reinvent care.
Care
Moonshot #3
Provide 40% of healthcare services virtually and through technology by 2025.