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Welcome to The Healthy Bottom Line

A Podcast for Employee Benefits Professionals Focused on Better Health and affordability. Brent Smith’s journey into health care started when his first post-college employer offered an incentive to employees to complete their annual physical. Short on cash and buried in student loans—he went. That visit led to a diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome and changed the course of his life. It sparked a deep curiosity about health in America, a personal commitment to wellness, and the realization that an employer’s benefits strategy can change lives.

Welcome to The Healthy Bottom Line

Healthcare

Network Innovations

MarketScale
May 22, 2025
Brent Smith
community-based providers
Day-Vene Gilliam
Elevance Health
+more


Brent speaks with Day-Vene Gilliam, VP of National Network Optimization & Business Development at Elevance Health, about how Anthem is evolving its network strategy to deliver greater value to clients and members. From expanding value-based care contracts with over 650,000 providers to leveraging digital tools like HealthOS for real-time data and gap-closure, Anthem is enabling better outcomes through stronger provider partnerships. DayVene highlights efforts to support small, independent, and community-based providers, ensuring equitable access and clinical success across diverse populations. A powerful look at how smart network design drives real, human impact.

Recent Episodes

food as medicine
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Food As Medicine

Dr. Kofi Essel, community pediatrician and Elevance Health’s Food as Medicine Director, joins Brent to discuss how nutrition is becoming a central lever in both preventing and treating chronic disease. With millions of Americans living with diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, Dr. Essel explains how Elevance is building interventions that help members access high-quality food and…

inclusive care
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Inclusive Care

Sammy Gonzalez, Regional Vice President at Elevance Health, joins Brent for a deeply personal and impactful conversation on health equity and inclusive care. Sammy shares a powerful story of medical misdiagnosis tied to cultural assumptions, underscoring how bias—even unintentional—can hinder care quality. He highlights Elevance’s work to improve diversity in provider networks, enhance cultural competency,…

sydney health
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Sydney Health Demo

In this episode, Christina Firouztash, Executive Advisor of Digital Solutions at Anthem, gives a dynamic walkthrough of the Sydney Health app—Anthem’s flagship digital member experience. Christina showcases how Sydney delivers personalized, simple, and equitable navigation across benefits, including virtual care, pharmacy, financial transparency, and social services access. From contextual chatbots and ID card access to…

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