CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oak Street Health (NYSE: OSH), a network of value-based primary care centers for adults on Medicare and the only primary care provider to carry the AARP name, today issued its inaugural environmental, social and governance (ESG) report, highlighting its priorities for ESG and progress made to date. The report reflects Oak Street Health’s commitment to health equity and improving health outcomes for seniors across the country.
“Oak Street Health is a mission-driven organization founded on the principles of ESG, in particular solving inequities in healthcare access and quality based upon one’s income or background,” said Mike Pykosz, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder. “We are pleased to share our ESG strategy and inaugural report, and we look forward to continuing to rebuild healthcare as it should be, improving health outcomes for our patients and improving health equity across the country.”
The comprehensive report delivers an assessment of the material ESG issues for Oak Street Health, defining five focus pillars. It also draws attention to recent actions taken and the programs already in place to support these priorities. Oak Street Health looks forward to sharing future updates as it continues to build a primary care platform addressing the rising costs and poor outcomes of healthcare in the US.
Key highlights from the ESG Report by strategic pillar include:
- Empowering health equity: we continued our commitment to high-quality care for the underserved, with a patient population that was 42% Medicare-Medicaid eligible and with over 50% of patients identifying as African-American, Latino, or Indigenous in 2021.
- Investing in our communities: in 2021 we invested over $350 million in our communities and created over 1,600 new jobs across 19 states, between opening new centers and developing our existing center base
- Building a great place to work: in 2022 we released our inaugural DE&I report, which included demographic data on Oak Street employees and managers, highlighting that over 70% of our workforce identifies as a minority, versus only 27% in the US healthcare system
- Protecting our stakeholders: our board took on ESG oversight in 2022 as we further articulated our ESG priorities and risk oversight structure
- Providing sustainable care: we continued our investment in sustainability, with all new centers constructed in 2021 and 2022 California Title 24 compliant for water and electricity efficiency
To read the inaugural ESG report and to learn more about Oak Street health’s impact and its ongoing ESG work, visit https://investors.oakstreethealth.com/esg.