Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Arizona’s governor is under fire for standing in the way of legalizing the sale of homemade tamales, Riot Games has made progress since a gender reckoning five years ago, and CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch prioritizes the connection between mental and physical health. Happy Thursday!
– Mind and body. At Fortune’s Brainstorm Health conference in Los Angeles this week, CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch took the stage alongside DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez and former Fortune editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf.
Their conversation covered some big-picture themes, like how technology is transforming health care and the impact of the rising generation of American seniors on the health care system. But Lynch—whose leadership makes $315-billion-in-revenue CVS the largest Fortune 500 company to be led by a female CEO—mentioned another topic.
Asked about her company’s work to bridge mental and physical health care, she brought up a common example: postpartum depression. She pictures a health care system in which mothers are informed about the risk of postpartum depression as part of a hospital discharge plan. Care providers could tell patients, “This could be something you may experience,” she said, and point out tools that are available to address it.
Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS Health, at Fortune’s Brainstorm Health 2023.Stuart Isett for Fortune “A lot of women suffer from postpartum depression and we never talk about it,” Lynch said.
The issue of mental health care is personal for Lynch. Her mother died by suicide when Lynch was 12, as she told me for a Fortune profile as she began her CEO job at CVS in 2021. She’s always paid particular attention to mental health care as she rose the ranks in the insurance industry, before arriving at CVS through its acquisition of Aetna.
While CVS has made some major business moves recently—so far this year, it’s closed the $8 billion acquisition of home care company Signify Health and announced the $10.6 billion acquisition of primary care company Oak Street Health—it’s also made progress in mental health care. Last year, the company appeared on Fortune’s Change the World list, which features businesses that “do well by doing good,” for an effort to reduce suicide attempts through increased mental health screening. Aetna saw an 18% decrease in suicide attempts among its 16.3 million adult members with behavioral health care coverage as a result.
As CVS executes a mission to become a complete health care provider powered by technology, a holistic approach is critical, Lynch says. As she told the Brainstorm Health audience: “Your head is connected to your body.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Kinsey Crowley. Subscribe here.
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- Take off. Revenue at General Dynamics rose 5.2% in the first quarter of this year, but shares dropped 5.5% after CEO Phebe Novakovic announced that Q2 revenue would fall due to investments in the company's new business jet. Geopolitical instability caused by Russia's invasion has contributed to the business growth of the Fortune 500 aerospace and defense company. Reuters
- CEO departure. German engineering company ThyssenKrupp saw shares tank as much as 14.4% after CEO Martina Merz announced that she would be stepping down. Merz joined in 2019 to bring the company back from the brink of collapse and was struggling to shed the company's hydrogen and steel arms. Neither Merz nor the board provided a reason for her departure. Reuters
- 'Free the tamales.' Arizona was slated to pass a bill to allow the sale of home-cooked, perishable goods, but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the rare bipartisan legislation due to concerns over potential food-borne illnesses. Selling treats like tamales, tres leches cakes, and tacos provides an economic ladder for many Latina women in the state, but many have to do it underground to avoid the penalties currently in place. New York Times
- 'Stand and fight.' Vice President Kamala Harris will join President Joe Biden as his running mate in 2024, and her first speech on the trail made it clear that abortion rights will be a key priority in the campaign. The address at her alma mater Howard University served as a rallying cry. "We are living, I do believe, in a moment in time where so many of our hard-won freedoms are under attack. This is a moment for us to stand and fight," she said. NPR
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Bon Appétit's editor-in-chief Dawn Davis is stepping down and returning to her previous employer, Simon & Schuster. ChartHop has appointed Kirsten Liranzo as VP of sales. ŌURA is bringing on Dorothy Kilroy as its first chief commercial officer. Tracy Rosecrans will be president at mindbodygreen. Jessica Rawlins Smith is joining Innocence Project as chief development officer. Gerri Elliott is now a senior advisor at BCG. Velocity Global has announced Linda Lee as the next chief people and culture officer.
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- Move the needle. U.S. employers could save $1 billion in health insurance costs if the U.S. dropped its rate of childbirth via Cesarean section from 32% to 23.6%, according to Harvard Business Review calculations from IBM Marketscan Research Databases and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Healthy People 2030. Experts say that corporations have a stake in improving childbirth safety and outcomes. Harvard Business Review
- Gender reckoning. Video game producer Riot Games has invested in diversity and inclusion recruiting efforts since being sued in 2018 for sexual harassment, a case that it settled for $100 million. Back then, just two women were among the company's 23 executives. Today, women make up 25.9% of leadership positions. Fortune
- 'Stained glass ceiling.' Pope Francis has implemented a historic reform that allows women to vote at meetings of the Synod of Bishops. Catholic women's groups that long pushed for women to have more power within the church applauded the move, calling it a "crack in the stained glass ceiling." Associated Press
- Shrinking shares. Viewership for the Women’s National Basketball Association is on the rise, and last year the league broke a record for corporate sponsorship with $75 million in earnings. But the share of players' salaries is shrinking compared to the league's growing revenue. The pay disparity with men players in basketball is already one of the worst in sports. The highest-paid WNBA player earns $234,900, while the top-paid NBA player brings in $48.1 million. Bloomberg
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“‘Controversy’ is my middle name.”
—Broadway actress Patti LuPone, a star of the new film Beau Is Afraid
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