Episode 048: How CVS Health Turned Menopause Taboo Into a Business Advantage

Menopause doesn’t pause at the office door. It shows up in sleep loss, hot flashes, brain fog, anxiety—and too often, in silence. We wanted to break that pattern. So we sat down with Dr. Joanne Armstrong, VP and Chief Medical Officer for Women’s Health and Genomics, and benefits leader Carmilla Tan to unpack how CVS Health scaled a menopause support strategy across retail stores, call centers, pharmacies, clinics, warehouses, and corporate teams—without losing the human touch.

We talk candidly about the barriers women face: undertrained clinicians, misdiagnosis, stigma, and the time squeeze that pushes care to the bottom of the list. Then we map the fixes. You’ll hear how we trained MinuteClinic clinicians with Menopause Society education, expanded networks with menopause-trained providers, and used data science to proactively connect people to care. We share the playbook for culture change—CRGs like WISE, manager training, peer groups guided by clinicians, and even a simple breathing exercise that makes saying “menopause” feel normal. It’s practical and scalable: comprehensive coverage, over-the-counter credits for symptom relief, robust EAP sessions, and flexible access through retail, virtual, and phone-based care.

This conversation also looks beyond day-to-day symptoms to long-term health. We dig into cardiovascular risk, bone health, mental health, and the habits—sleep, nutrition, movement, community—that set the stage for the next decades. If you’re an employer, you’ll leave with clear steps: assess your women’s health strategy, inventory what you already offer, use a menopause-friendly checklist to spot gaps, and bundle benefits into a simple guide people can actually use. If you’re navigating midlife, you’ll find language, resources, and community to make your journey easier—and more supported.

If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review. Want the checklist or to explore accreditation? Visit midovia.com or menopausefriendlyus.com and let’s build workplaces where women thrive.

With more than 20 years in the field both as a practicing OB-GYN and health policy expert, Dr. Armstrong’s mission is to help solve for women’s health needs through clinical, policy and societal lenses. Dr. Armstrong is vice president and chief medical officer of women’s health and
genomics at CVS Health. She is also associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTH).

Carmilla Tan is the head of benefits for CVS Health. In this role,
Carmilla leads strategy, implementation and oversight of the
company’s benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse
needs of more than 300,000 colleagues.

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MiDOViA is dedicated to changing the narrative about menopause by educating, raising awareness & supporting women in this stage of life, both at home and in the workplace. Visit midovia.com to learn more.

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images & other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting the Stage: Why Menopause Matters
• 1:28 The Case for Workplace Support
• 3:40 CVS Health’s Workforce and Reach
• 5:52 Building the Strategy: Training and Networks
• 8:28 From Stigma to Culture Change
• 10:58 Using the Checklist to Find Gaps
• 13:09 CRGs, Education, and Manager Training
• 15:12 Specific Benefits: Coverage and Access
• 18:03 Scaling Support Across Job Types
• 20:08 Signs of Culture Shift and Engagement
• 22:05 What’s Next: Scaling and Lifespan Health
• 24:17 Advice for Employers Getting Started
• 26:04 Final Takeaways, Resources, and CTA

Transcript

April Haberman: 0:00

Welcome to the MiDOViA Menopause Podcast Business Edition. Your trusted source for insights on menopause and midlife in the workplace. Each episode features meaningful conversations with inspiring guests. Tune in and enjoy the show.

Kim Hart: 0:16

Welcome everybody. We are in menopause month. This is the Super Bowl of those in the menopause business. So thanks for joining us today. We are excited to have Dr. Joanne Armstrong and Carmilla Tan, both from CVS Health. Dr. Armstrong is the vice president and chief medical officer of women's health and genomics. That's a hard word to say. She is a physician, a health policy expert, and a national leader in women's health and genomics. And at CVS, she directs the strategy, program development, and innovation to improve outcomes and reduce disparities for women across the U.S. Carmilla Tan leads the benefit strategy for CVS Health, overseeing programs that support well-being of more than 300,000 colleagues. She previously headed Global Benefits at Bank of America and held actuarial and leadership roles at Brighton Health Plan Solutions, IBM, Mercer, NYL Care, and Guardian Life. We are excited to have you both. Thanks for joining us today. Great to be here. Thanks for having us. Yeah, sure. So Dr. Armstrong, as a women's health clinical leader, what motivated you to champion menopause support at CVS?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 1:34

Great. So, you know, you know, as you said in the introduction, I'm the head of women's health, and we really spent a lot of time thinking about the needs of women across their lifespan. So when you take a step back and say, like, who are women in this ecosystem and how do you think about it? Um, a few things are really important and they relate to how women experience a menopause journey. Uh so women are the dominant healthcare consumer and decision maker in their homes and in our country. They make about 80% of all healthcare purchasing and homeless decisions. That's a lot. It translates to 80% of a $5 trillion health spending um activity in the country. Women have a lot of challenges actually in making sort of good decisions for themselves and in many cases for their families. So, what are some of those challenges? Women have enormous pressure on their time. About two-thirds of all care unpaid caregivers in the country are women. About 15 or so percent of all households in the country are led by single women. And um that puts a lot of pressure on them. About a third of women say that they miss care because of time and cost. Another challenge of women's health is many of the areas, uh the conditions that women experience over their whole life course are under research at sort of a national science level. It means that there's a lot about women's health that we just don't know, observed outcomes that we just don't know a lot about. And menopause actually sits a little bit in that in that space. And then importantly, a lot of women's health is uh just pure clinical care is stigmatized for historic reasons, maybe cultural reasons, it's surrounded by embarrassment, so that women don't talk about it, um, and in many cases don't know how to get education around the conditions that they experience, and when they do um perhaps there's some shyness or embarrassment about it, and all of that leads to poor outcomes. So menopause actually sits sort of at the nexus of all of those challenges, right? And so what does it mean? So now we're gonna drop down into menopause. So um just in terms of the experience, all women, if they live to the age of about 51, will go through this life, of course. Um, about 80 ish, 80-ish percent of women are embarrassed to talk about it, and that embarrassment is like in their families, in their workplace, with their physicians, and so a lot of needed care um just doesn't take place. So we know that about a third of women are misdiagnosed um when they present with menopause uh symptoms, thinking that it's some other condition. Some of the reasons why that happens is the workforce is woefully undertrained in this space. About 20, maybe 30% of physicians say that they have been formally trained in menopause. So when women do recognize the symptoms, say complex that they have, bring themselves to a position where they can talk about it, they enter a clinical practice, and um, most of the physicians that they will encounter are not formally trained to help support it. So that is a large cohort of women. You know, Carmela will talk about like this sort of false idea that things happen in healthcare in one silo, but they don't come into a workplace. That's just not true. Um, so that's what, you know, that's sort of a high-level issue in terms of what women experience, lots of disruptive symptoms, um hot flashes, mood changes, sleep disturbances. If you don't sleep well, it's very hard to perform at the top of your game, you know, the next morning. Um, and then a bunch of cognitive changes, you know, short-term um um memory challenges, etc. Um if only this were short-lived, and a lot of people think like, you know, menopause is a single point of time in time, it's not the average uh set of symptom complexes last about seven years, but the long tail of it can be as much as 14 years for women. And um, it happens both pre you know, pre-menopause and after, and technically I should say what menopause is is that point in time after which menstrual periods stop for 12 months. So it's kind of a look back diagnosis, but the whole process, which really represents hormonal changes in the function of the ovary, over years before that menopause the technical definition of menopause hits, and then years after. So we talked about the external symptoms, these disruptive symptoms, but there's a lot of other medical changes that are happening under the surface, not fully appreciated by women, but really critical in terms of setting the stage for our health for the next 30, 40 years. Some of those changes include like changes in cholesterol and lipid profiles, which influence heart health. You know, we have a pretty quick elevation or escalation of cardiovascular disease in women after menopause. Estrogen is important in maintenance of um bone structure. So you start as menopause, as estrogen levels wane, you start seeing osteopenia and osteoporosis, that's bone loss, mental health challenges, um, rates of depression, anxiety increase. So all of these are really important things that are happening under the surface, but without a conversation about what it means and how do you think about holistic health? And for these women, it's a challenge. Um, and it is common. You know, nine to ten women will have some type of menopause experience. And when, as I said, it doesn't respect the front door of your home. And then when you walk into work, you know, there's absentees and productivity issues, etc. So, you know, creating a strategy, bridging these gaps, thinking really strategically, pragmatically about what you can do to help women in all the places that we live, work, and play, right, have solutions, understand what this is about, and then build solutions. And a lot of that involves the workplace.

April Haberman: 7:31

Yeah, absolutely. And I love um, I love that holistic approach. Um, having worked alongside CVS Health, we know that you took a holistic approach when you introduced menopause support within your organization. And I think I'll pass this one over to you, um, Carmilla, from a benefits perspective, um, Dr. Armstrong unpacked a lot of reasons why menopause support, midlife support, women's health is important to look at in the workplace and the why. But from a benefits perspective, why focus specifically on menopause? Um, from CVS Health's perspective, why was investing in menopause support a business priority for you specifically?

Carmilla Tan: 8:15

Again, April and Kim, thanks for having me. This is a great discussion, and I always love presenting with Dr. Armstrong. So, as head of benefits at CVS Health, maybe we'll start a little bit about who we are and then share a little bit about our journey. But, you know, we are the nation's leading health solutions company with more than 300,000 colleagues. You may know our brands. We have Aetna, CAREMARC, the Minute Clinic. Hopefully, uh, you're customers of our CVS pharmacy, and we have clinics like uh Oak Street Health and Signify Health. We have a view of a unified capabilities to help uh members and patients. So we have healthcare benefits, we have um uh pharmacy benefits uh manager, we have um retail pharmacies and many clinicians. You know, by the numbers, um we have about 9,000 CVS um pharmacy retail locations, we have a thousand walk-in medical clinics, we have hundreds of uh primary care clinics, um, we have the leading pharmacy benefits manager, and you know, our ethna business um takes care of more than 36 million people. And when you think about our diverse colleagues, right, and with diverse needs, 300,000 colleagues. Um, you know, the types of work that our colleagues go to every day, um sometimes they are in stores, they're in pharmacies, they're in warehouses or transportation, um, clinician corporate offices, and you know, some people are on call centers and also focused on technology. When it comes to benefits at CBS Health, we pride ourselves in offering great benefits for great people. We offer a variety of programs and resources uh designed to meet the needs of our colleagues and their families. Um, we're focused on physical, emotional, and financial wellness because all three are really interconnected. Um, you know, the aging workforce uh continues to play a vital role for our company, right? Midlife women are now leaders and key valuable contributors. You know, there are nearly, I think, 75 million women in the workforce, 20% are going through menopause. And, you know, menopausal women um specifically will soon make up the biggest demographic of the U.S. Umce. And then to make it personal to CBS Health, 70% of our workforce is made up of women. So we have a real focus on women's health. Um, to stay competitive, we need the best minds, especially in clinical care, pharmacy, data science, all sorts of careers. And having women at the table, um, and Dr. uh Joanne Armstrong is one of my MV advisors. I, you know, whenever I have a question, uh, she's so great to talk to and I get her thoughts. So we design solutions that meet the needs of our colleagues. And, you know, job seekers care about women's health support, and there's a clear demand for menopause care and resources.

Kim Hart: 11:20

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a that's great. And and uh, I think many people don't realize how broad a business you have at CVS Health. Like, you know, everything from warehouse to frontline, you know, frontline workers to office workers. And so it's a really great example of what you can do to support women in diverse work workplaces. Um, Dr. Armstrong, you've been working on women's health support well before you joined the Medovia um membership. And when we first met you, there was only a few things that you you hadn't done uh for women in this space. Where did the journey begin for you?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 12:00

Um, so it was a long journey. I think you can hear from Carmilla like how important women are, right? Internally, it's a huge constituent group, right? And she she talked about this demographic movement that's happening, right? It's gonna be a key part, key, key part of the workforce. So some of it begins with just understanding like who are you as a company, who are you as a culture, who are you serving? Um, some of the ways that we get insights from that are just like different ways of listening to women, right? What are their barriers? What are they facing in navigating their health? And I shared some of those early on. Um, and then as we started sort of coming down the funnel to say, what does this mean in midlife care, menopause in midlife care, um, we really started thinking very intentionally about what those barriers are, right? And it probably took us about a year and a half of all this intentional work um before we got the accreditation. But but as you noted, it was, you know, it was work um really systematically thinking about what is the problem, what's the barrier, how how do we approach that? So the barriers we talked about um before, some of those are just for the clinicians. What does training look like? How do we bring training into our own environment? We have about 900 minute clinics, nurse practitioners that are providing primary care, uh including longitudinal care. How do we get them trained up to understand what menopause is and perhaps what it is not so that they can help in this space? What do the network of other physicians look like for our customers, including Aetna? Can we get menopause trained providers in there? We cannot wait a generation or even two generations so that all the residents are trained in menopause and then become available to uh women uh in the workforce in the United States. So those are some of the barriers, and other big ones are education um stigma. How do we talk about it? Like how do we build a floor underneath our colleagues here and you know, customers, women work, and other organizations so that they are both um appropriately educated about this, um feel empowered so they can talk about it, perhaps um get coaching and some other services so that they um can move sort of into a health journey. So we've done all of that. As I said, to do that, like you can hear that it really takes an enterprise-wide commitment to this part. Carmela is my thought pro uh partner, my key and uh important, you know, work sister.

April Haberman: 14:31

Listeners can't see, but she just made a little heart.

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 14:37

Because she has the voice of our colleagues, 300,000 people, 70% of whom are women, right? Very pragmatic. What are pragmatic things that we can do to help to translate these ideas into actually concrete solutions for um folks? So we work with um our benefit leads for sure. Uh, we work with um our network strategists so that we can bring providers that are able to deliver the care right now. Uh, we work with data scientists to say how do we connect people to the services that we have just built. Um, we work with our front store. What are the products and services that are that are there that help women? Um, and how do we make it easy and convenient? And there are many other ways that we did that. So, what I want to say here is that it is an enterprise um approach. It takes many different sort of folks that Carmella talked about in the in the early part of the call, like who are we as CBS help? And then um joining Modovia really helped us refine it, right? Identify the gaps. And we had a few gaps um um and um helped us sort of put kind of some um capabilities in place um that we could sort of adapt rather than build ourselves. So that's sort of how we did it over about a year and a half.

unknown: 15:49

Yeah.

April Haberman: 15:50

Well, what you're really talking about is that um cultural shift. It's it's a holistic approach, but it it's a long-term sustainable solution. Um, and and we love that. Medovia really puts a stake in the ground with that um menopause friendly means something to us, and it equates to cultural change. And it does take really everyone committing to it within the organization to make that happen. Um, I'll I'll throw the next question out to either one of you, Dr. Armstrong or Carmilla. You mentioned, Dr. Armstrong, that there were a few gaps that needed to be filled. And we've heard from several individuals from your organization that when you joined the membership, you used our menopause friendly checklist, which by the way, um listeners, you can download that for free from our website. But you used that to identify those gaps. And then we came in alongside you to fill those gaps. Can you share what some of those action steps were?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 16:57

I can start and then Carmelo, maybe I'll hand it to you. Um, some of the gaps that we had were kind of formalized educational content. We already had what we call our colleague resource groups, where we sort of talk and use that venue where we're actually talking to our own colleagues, providing education, et cetera, but more sort of online content uh we didn't have. Um, I think we sort of recognize that in order to feel comfortable talking about menopause at work, you need to also train other folks in the ecosystem, managers perhaps, talk to senior leaders, be comfortable about, you know, talking about this topic at work, but we needed the training. Um, you know, the the checklist showed us that we really didn't have, you know, manager content, for example. And that really helped us at Adobe, helped us fill that gap. Um, Carmelo, do you want to share some of the work that you've done um to sort of make all the information available to our colleagues?

Carmilla Tan: 17:52

Yeah, and and before that, you know, I will say when when Dr. Um Joanne Armstrong pulled this together, I remember we did this breathing exercise, um, you know, Dr. Joanne, where we go inhale, exhale, say the word menopause, and everyone goes. And all together now. All together. And it's funny because you know, some people think you actually need to be in menopause to even think the word, much less say it out loud. And so, you know, just the work working together has been great because you know, we had men on the group, we had, you know, people in in different demographics, and just having, and even like when we won the award, and you know, going back to the stigma, we had leaders talking about you know the accreditation, and you know, um, and the this is not sacred, these are not sacred words. And so it was that really great. But you know, just going back to um, you know, your your original question, you know, here at CVS Health, we have our colleague resources group. Um, it's voluntary colleague-led and represents, you know, a wide range of professional culture, all with other affinities and interests, and many large employers have CRGs. Um, and so we worked with them, we have more than 29,000 colleagues who um participate in one of our 17,000 CRGs. I'm sorry, 17 CRGs. And so one of the CRGs that um Dr. Joanne and I participate in is the WISE CRG, Women Inspiring Success and Excellence. And this is a team of passionate leaders uniting our voices to elevate and inspire women across the world. I love that mission. And so going back to that focus on holistic care for female colleagues navigating midlife changes, you know, that checklist was really important because as we thought about, you know, opportunities and where you know we could, you know, strengthen what we already offer, right? Education, peer support, and coaching, training, benefits, right, um, to make sure that specialized benefit programs and these resources and trainings could, you know, it's not enough to have the message and the program. You actually need to communicate it um throughout the organization. And I I feel really strongly, uh, Dr. Joanne, that just our efforts, including the work of our CRGs, really amplified some of the um communications related to what we offer in terms of menopause support.

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 20:19

Oh, that's great. I like to offer there what's interesting when we hosted our first CRG discussion on let's talk menopause, um, we had um, I think 800 to 1,000 people sign up within about 24, maybe 36 hours. Yeah. Um, so that really illustrates that there is this need for information education community, right? And a place to talk about this and importantly to get resources, right, to get pointed in the right direction. So that was a bit of an aha moment. It was about a year ago or so. We have had subsequent um conversations like that with our colleagues. We've got a number of them planned also for this month. Uh, but I use it just as a proof point uh that um colleagues want this, they need this, and um, it represents sort of this opportunity actually for everybody, all employers, to kind of think about um how you're serving the health needs and the wellness needs of their of employees.

Kim Hart: 21:18

Yeah, on that note, um, Carmilla, why why did you decide that the accreditation mattered for your employees? And thinking about that, have other companies in the broader business community, have you made an impact? Have you heard from others? Like you guys are doing amazing work. Let's talk about it. What are you doing? Right.

Carmilla Tan: 21:36

Absolutely. You know, for us, pursuing the Manipause-friendly accreditation really validated the work that we've been doing to help ensure our colleagues have access to the resources they need to live as healthy as possible. So, and as a result, um, we were so proud, so proud that we were the first US company to receive this accreditation. Uh, it was really great seeing this external validation of our commitment to women's health. And our goal is not to be the only employer to receive this recognition. You know, we're talking to our peers on the why and the how. You know, every meeting I go to where there are benefits leaders, I always say, I'll show you the way, just ping me. Uh, I'll show you like the game plan, what you need to do. Um, but it really is, it enables the whole organization to say, hey, this is not a sacred word. We can talk about it. And given that all employers have women, um, you know, it it really is so doable. And so um, you know, again, a lot of companies, you have all the basic um sort of building blocks to um get this accreditation. It's just a matter of putting it together and you know, taking your taking you up Madobia on your your checklist um to see the path on on how to get this accreditation.

Kim Hart: 22:58

Yeah, thank you.

April Haberman: 22:59

I love that. The the roadmap, right? The roadmap um is what people are looking for. But um to your point, Carmilla, most organizations have um a lot of the a lot of the essentials that we would call it in place. They just don't know it. So it's bringing it all together and putting that puzzle, the pieces of the puzzle together. I think um, you know, at this point in the podcast, we've probably sparked curiosity. Um, I'm sure we have. I'm sure that a lot of organizations and individuals that are listening are curious now. And I'm wondering if we can dive just a little bit deeper. Um, either Dr. Armstrong or Carmilla, or maybe both. Can you share some of the specific initiatives that CVS put into place? You mentioned the holistic approach, you mentioned communications and training and education and manager training, but I'm thinking about some of the special small pieces that perhaps we haven't mentioned. I believe you have coverage for supplements within your CVS locations, or at least they have um, you know, a credit to spend towards supplements if they choose that supplemental care. Um perhaps you're covering hormone therapy. Can you can you talk a little bit about some of those specific initiatives that have really made a difference?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 24:25

Um I can start, Camille, if that's if that's good, and uh, you know, we can just go back and forth. So there are a number of you know things, right? So um we talked about education and how we use um our colleague resource groups um to sort of you know to create a place where we can be educated, et cetera, and then turning that into actual real uh training material that's in our uh learning center. We've created peer support and coaching uh programs for our colleagues. Um these peer support sessions are guided by professional clinicians so that colleagues can you know interact, ask questions, learn about it. Um we've talked about our let's talk menopause team channel. We have this is popping all day long with people, you know, and it's really a group support um issue, you know, learning from each other. Um, you know, in the healthcare delivery side, we brought the menopause society in to train our Minute Clinic nurse practitioners. We've also worked with our network folks to bring in um uh provider groups that are menopause society trained, right? And I talked about that, including using data science to say these are patients that may actually benefit from this, you know, in proactively letting folks know um that these services are available, and we did that actually for tens of thousands of people. Um we looked at a formulary or to make sure that it is comprehensive and it is. And then um, we have some plans that have um what are called over-the-counter um benefits that they can use basically supplemental dollars for menopause and other related health services, and that's in place as well. Um, Carmel, do you want to talk about sort of how um, you know, how your team work to sort of put it together in a in a way that people sort of can understand their benefits comprehensively?

Carmilla Tan: 26:25

And so for our colleagues, our own CVS colleagues, um, we provide access to clinicians trained in menopause care, and we have offerings tailored to support midlife health. So we also have it, it's great to have these, you know, assets that we can influence. Um, so we have in-person and virtual services at Minute Clinic within network virtual providers specializing in menopause. The specialty actually matters. Um and you know, we also have for our colleagues who are in our company um sponsored medical plans, we cover medically acceptable means of diagnosis and treatment of menopause. For all our colleagues, um, we actually put it all together, and I'm sorry you can't see me because this is not a video podcast, but we have our menopause and midlife uh cure support guide, um, which has all the you know important information to navigate um life events, which menopause is, for all our colleagues. And as with any of our life guides, we we also translate this into Spanish. Um, and so you know, sometimes people need to, it's not enough to have the policy. You need to make sure that you can bundle it in a way that people can absorb it and say, oh, yep, that that's me. And you know, how do I go navigate? And then, you know, as we said, you know, physical, emotional, financial, the emotional part is is also important, right? The no-cost confidential counseling available through our EAP program. You know, we offer up to 20 visits, um, confidential counseling, you know, per year. So real making sure that you have like a holistic support for your for your colleagues.

Kim Hart: 28:06

That's great. And you know, I when we've talked to some of the companies, they're like, there, uh we don't we have too many employees. I don't know how we would implement something like you know, what you're talking about, but you have over 300,000 people in, as we said earlier, in many different environments: office, retail stores, pharmacy, clinical. You talked about all that. How do you look across all of those environments and kind of make sure that you're serving all of those folks in a in an appropriate way, in a way that they that meets them where they are?

Carmilla Tan: 28:39

Yeah, I think just understanding that um, you know, there really is different backgrounds, health needs, and situations for whether you have a thousand, a hundred colleagues, a thousand, or three hundred thousand. And personalizing care to meet the unique features and conditions of people's needs is really important and necessary to make sure they have access to good quality health care. You know, we're focusing on menopause and personalized care for this demographic. There are other life stages and conditions that can be personalized too, but we're starting with, you know, with menopause. And so being able to train managers, empower them with resources. You know, we talked about that breathing exercise, which, ladies, I think we need to do at the end.

April Haberman: 29:26

The you know, I was gonna say we should have started the podcast like that.

Carmilla Tan: 29:31

Yeah, that's not a sacred word. Um, but you know, just having some, you know, people who can understand that, hey, this this is real, and being able to shy away from the stigma or being able to just say the word and also being, you know, um actively listening for hey, you know, I think we have benefits specific to that. We have a lot of flexible resources that are available to women, um, wherever that where and when works best for them, whether it's resources. Sources for living or virtual and in-person minute clinic services, you know, it really helps with the physical and emotional wellness.

April Haberman: 30:10

Carmilla, I love that example of the breathing exercise that you mentioned. And I know we've talked a lot about cultural change and cultural shifts. Do you have any other gold nuggets like that? Um, examples that you can give us of how you've really seen the culture shift within your organization? Because that stigma is something that we hear often. We know that menopause menstruation, women's health in general sometimes can carry that stigma. And it's hard to get people in organizations talking about a topic that they're not usual or are not used to talking about. Are there any other gold nuggets that you have that are examples of how you've seen that culture shift?

Carmilla Tan: 30:56

Yeah, you know, I'll say, you know, Dr. Joanne and I have done several um conversations together. And it it really is a sign that there's an audience out there. Again, we're 70% women. Why wouldn't we talk about women's health? Um and so it's a sign that, you know, our employees and also other employers are are eager to hear more about menopause support. Um, we've seen great engagement internally. Um, and you know, even later on, you know, I think Dr. Joanne is hosting a uh Manipause documentary viewing party. Um so that that is going to be very cool with our colleagues. Um I'll just say personally, I love working here at CVS Health because we can, you know, influence, you know, business. Um, we can take care of our colleagues. We have a mission, and we're really focused on making sure we have the best minds thinking about you know these these you know problems and finding solutions for them. So thank you, Dr. Joanne, for for working with for us being able to work together.

April Haberman: 31:59

Yeah. A party sounds like fun. Yeah. A speaking party, first of all. Yeah. That's yeah, I would love that. That's fantastic. You know, um, Kim and I often say we work with so many organizations, um, you know, who who we would work for at the end of the day if we weren't doing what we're doing with Medovia and what you're doing at CVS Health is remarkable. And we both have said, yep, that's an organization we would work for. So we can we can uh applaud you on that front. Yep.

Kim Hart: 32:34

So Dr. Armstrong, what's next, what's the next steps in this health space, in the in this space for CVS?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 32:41

Well, um, so you know, the recognition that employers are really important, right? We spend employed women, we all talked about how large part of the workforce this is. We spend 40 plus hours a week, right, in in an environment. We want to bring our whole selves to it. So it's a health issue, it's a human talent, a human capital issue. And as we said, there is no front door that closes that says no one in the workplace, and you know, all the symptomatology goes away. So when you think about it that way, you know, our goal is to bring this to employers to help them understand it is a workplace health, wellness, productivity, and it's a business issue as well. Um, and so um what we are trying to do is to kind of make us not be the exceptional um company, although I think we are an exceptional company. Uh, and I think you know, behind Hermela, I mean, we've got comedic people, wonderfully talented teams that are very passionate about um personalized health for all people. In this case, it's non-processing women's health. So, um, what we are trying to do, what's next for us is to bring this to employers, uh, to recognize that it is so important in women's lives that we bring alternative, creative, innovative ways to bring health to women, recognizing that women have less time, more demands on their time. So, bringing digital health solutions, retail health solutions, telephonic health solutions. And if you you know listen to how Carmel and I talked about this, we really leaned into it. How do we bring telephonic uh providers of menopause trained uh, you know, care um to folks? How do we use uh data science uh techniques to bring people to the services they need? So um a key focus for us going forward is like scaling this for other customers, um, keeping our own colleagues engaged, um learning, bringing them new things. And you know, as Cameron said, we're gonna have a screening this afternoon of um, you know, of a film for our colleagues, right? To sort of bring the voice of other experts in the space to them. So um that's what we have uh planned for um coming up. And I would say the other thing is recognizing, you know, for us and programming around the fact that menopause has a lot of disruptive symptoms. That's kind of a little bit of what shows up at work. But the, you know, two kind of clicks down are medical conditions that don't necessarily show up at work, but are really important to sort of um to optimize. So cardiovascular disease, um, bone health, mental health, those sort of come along the journey of aging and and midlife care and what we're doing some programming in that space.

April Haberman: 35:24

That's fantastic. Uh it's it's the postmenopausal stage that you're mentioning now with the bone health, the cardiovascular health. And of course, there are things we can do uh as preventative measures to ensure that we don't end up with things like osteoporosis, right? So I love that that focus is uh really for lifespan, uh not just this one moment in time that we often think about when we think of menopause. And I'll come back to that original um comment that you made at the beginning of the podcast, Dr. Armstrong, that menopause isn't just a moment in time. It's important that we follow this through, if you will. I'm wondering, um, Carmilla, if an organization is listening to this podcast, what's one piece of advice that you would give them if they want to follow your lead?

Carmilla Tan: 36:14

I think it it would be, you know, start with assessing whether you have a women's health strategy. And if so, what it means in your um organization. Right? You know, I I think about, you know, early on, I didn't even, you know, think about, hey, you must, you just assume everyone, all the doctors are trained on everything. But the reality is you you need specialized training if you have a specialized issue. And so, you know, after you assess, you know, your strategy, you know, offering tailored benefits is a is a good way, um, and making sure it's you know comprehensive and holistic and supporting um the population, which in this case is women. It's so it's so important to make a business case for women's health and making sure that wherever you are, whatever company or plan you represent, that there is you know some vision to um make sure you can carry out support um for your colleagues, your employees, their families. And once you have all the pieces, and I'll I'll tell you, if if you are in a company that, you know, whether it's a small company or large company, I suspect you already have the business blocks to get the accreditation. So I would say go and find the checklist. Um, and I'm sure, you know, April and Tim, you'll find you hopefully you'll link out to the checklist. And because most companies and plan sponsors have the building blocks, it's just a matter of putting it all together.

Kim Hart: 37:42

Yeah, that's that's great. You know, we um have wanted to have this conversation with you since we started partnering about a year and a half ago. So it's really amazing to uh be able to come together today to talk about this because you've done so much work. Um, Dr. Armstrong, what kind of message would you want to leave our listeners with during this World Metopause Month? Why does this work matter? Why, why are you what would you recommend for people that are trying to move forward with this strategy in their own workplace?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 38:13

Yeah, so it matters because there are a lot of people affected by this, and it is a natural part of um aging and the journey that we're all on if we're again we're fortunate enough to live to about 50 or so. Symptoms can be uncomfortable, they can be hard to talk about, but it is a natural part of aging, right? And that is why we need to talk about it. We need to be educated to take proactive steps. Um, I think also important for women is recognizing that while we kind of all experience this, um, the journey is very unique. The set of symptom complexes are very different, how we approach it may be different. So, what is really key is um having access to resources and using them, um, resources that are you know trained and knowledgeable and can be helpful. I'd recommend to listeners that um they look at the menopause society. Um you can search the portal on their website and find providers that are trained. They'll say I'm part of a my own community chat, and this question comes up all the time. How do I find a provider trained in menopause? So that's that's one of the answers. Um, if you feel, if you're a patient and you feel like what you're reporting is not being uh to your clinician is not being affirmed, get another opinion. We do this in all areas of life, but it's really important. Again, it set the stage for wellness through the rest of our life. Um thinking about managing holistic health, it's not just about sleep disturbances, like when that's gone, you're you're good. It's that's not the case. Actually starts before 50, and you know, staying on a wellness journey is really important, right? So managing your sleep, managing your weight, thinking about your diet, thinking about socially how do we build communities, and then one of the communities that's really important is for this stage of life. So find your group. You know, we have a wonderful one at uh here at CDF Health, and the chat goes off like all day long, but it just means that people want to talk about it, they need to talk about it. So there are other groups um that like Lex Talk Menopause has some really terrific um content. So create that. Um be free to talk about it, be a champion for people around you uh to talk about it, and that really helps um um everybody else. That's fantastic. Thank you.

April Haberman: 40:26

I love that you mentioned community too. Um, I think we often forget that. Um, we talk about building your tribe, building your community, and having that support. It's really key to happiness. It's key to being able to share our journey and for individuals to feel like they're not alone. So thank you for mentioning community. Um, as we wrap up here, we end all of our podcasts by asking the question: what piece of advice, best piece of advice rather, have you ever received? And it doesn't have to be menopause related, it certainly can be, but really anything, just from a personal perspective, so we can share those little gold nuggets with our listeners. Uh, either Dr. Armstrong or Camilla, whoever wants to go first, I'd love to hear from both of you.

Carmilla Tan: 41:19

I'm happy to go uh first. So uh I'm an actuary by way of background, and you know, the advice that most actuaries get is risk is opportunity. Um, and so some you know, sometimes you take a calculated risk, but you know, risk is opportunity. So whether it's this or some other um initiative or opportunity, you know, take a swing. Love it. That's a good one.

unknown: 41:46

Dr.

April Haberman: 41:46

Armstrong, do you have something you'd like to share?

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 41:48

Yeah, I mean, I'm an optimist by nature, and I think what I try to infuse in my kids and people around me is, you know, lead with positive intention, enter new interactions with positive intention, keep that curiosity there to ask why. Why does this person think this way? Why is this system set up that way? And I think if you lead um like that, you enter new situations like that, you will both surprise yourself and you'll find out actually where your interest and other people's intersect.

Kim Hart: 42:18

Guys, those are good. Those are good ones. Thank you for sharing them. Where can people find you and information about CVS if they want more information?

Carmilla Tan: 42:31

Well, uh, I think it's at CVS.com uh is one place to start. But you know, whether it's the internet, we're both on LinkedIn. Um, and again, uh if if any employers are out there thinking, how do I get started? Feel free to find me on LinkedIn and ask me. I'm happy to share.

April Haberman: 42:51

Yeah, I think that's um, you know, that spirit of um community, we hear, we're hearing that thread throughout this podcast. And, you know, we need to applaud you. Let's take a moment um to, you know, kind of give the little hand shout out here and applaud you because the listeners can't necessarily see us, but we're celebrating right now because truly it has been a wonderful journey working with everyone at CVS Health to bring you to that accreditation. But I applaud your efforts even before you started working with Modovia. As listeners, you've heard uh with the discussion today. You really laid the groundwork before we even came into the picture. And so thank you for your efforts in really um championing women's health and supporting women's health. We can't wait to see what you do next. Um, but mostly I want to thank you for being a leader in this space. You did receive the first accreditation here in the US, so bravo. But what I love is your heart and your passion and your willingness to share with other employers. So thank you so much for your passion, your hard work, um, and for being willing to pioneer. You know, pioneering can be hard, but it can also be exhilarating. And I feel the celebration here as we sit on this call together. So thank you so much for all that you do. We appreciate the partnership.

Dr. Joanne Armstrong: 44:22

Great. Thank you for that recognition and thank you right back at you for Adobe, who sort of kept us on a straight and arrow, being very strategic focused on Visa gaps. Here's how we can help. Um, so it's been a really wonderful collaboration, both in our company with Carmilla and team and many, many others, and with you as well. So thank you.

April Haberman: 44:42

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Let's go help more people. Right. We can advance women's health. Pardon me?

Carmilla Tan: 44:50

Should we do our breathing exercise?

April Haberman: 44:51

Yeah, I was just gonna say we can't end without doing our breathing exercise. Carmilla, do you want to lead us with that? And listeners do with us. Okay, okay.

Carmilla Tan: 44:59

Everyone inhale, exhale, say the word menopause. Menopause. Menopause.

April Haberman: 45:05

I love that. Okay, everybody's gonna start their day with menopause. Let's break the stigma, everyone. And for listeners, if you're interested in membership or accreditation, we'd love for you to join other employers like CVS Health. You can reach us at medovia.com or menopausefriendlyus.com. Either one of those websites, you can download the checklist for free. We'd love to come alongside you. Kim, any words of wisdom before we end?

Kim Hart: 45:36

No, but I'll maybe I'll get to use your ending. Hey everyone, find joy in the journey. And until next time, have a great day. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong and Camilla.

April Haberman: 45:48

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Medovia Menopause podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe for future episodes, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend. Medovia is out to change the narrative. Learn more at Medovia.com. That's M I D O V I A.com.