Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
Becker's Pay Your Issues podcast.
Thrilled today to be joined by Brendan Harris,
who is the Medicaid president at UPMC Health
Plan. Brendan, thanks so much for taking the
time to be with me on the podcast
today. Jacob, it's great to be here, and,
thanks for the opportunity to come and and
talk about, some of the work that we're
doing. Absolutely. We we we're we love having
you on the podcast with us, Brandon.
Before we dive into everything we wanna talk
with you about, all the good stuff that's
happening under your leadership at UPMC,
Can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself for our audience who might not
be familiar, your background in health care, and
the part of the company that you now
lead today?
Great. Great. I'll start with a little bit
of my background and then can lead into
some of, the the, you know, kind of
what I have to to manage today. But,
I actually, prior to joining UPMC, I've been
here a little under eight years.
I, I I was a I'd like to
call myself a reformed bureaucrat now, but I
spent twelve years at the Pennsylvania Department of
Human Services working in a variety of roles,
you know, really supporting the Medicaid program predominantly
across,
all the different, elements that we have in
Pennsylvania. And since coming to UPMC, I've kinda,
taken an interesting, trajectory,
across the board here starting with, you know,
running our MLTSS program, our managed long term
services and support program,
known here in Pennsylvania as Community Health Choices.
But now I also have responsibility,
over most of our Medicaid portfolio, which, not
only includes our MLTSS,
but also our physical health Medicaid plan,
our CHIP program. And then one of the
the my favorite parts of the work that
I get to do and what I'm gonna
talk a little bit about is our, Center
for Social Impact,
which is really leading the charge,
across, the UPMC world
in looking at health related social needs and
social determinants of health and how we can
really meet people where they are and support
them through,
some of the unique programs that we've developed
through the years.
Sure. Yeah. And let's dive right into that,
Brandon, because we were talking with some other
leaders at UPMC recently
about what the center is doing, specifically about
the Pathways to Work program, which for our
audience who might not know,
UPMC's Pathway to Work program provides
job skills training to Medicaid recipients so that
they can, find a career.
They can get health benefits and and access
to tuition assistance.
So what's the latest with that, Brendan? How
is the program going? Any latest,
stories, stats to share with us?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, this is this is
one of my favorite programs that we've had,
the opportunity to develop, and it's it's really
it's taken on a life of its own,
and really just been an incredible model when
we look at it. So one of the
big things, and I'll I'll I'll rewind us
to about five year or so years ago
when we really started this program.
One of the big things is,
that's unique about UPMC is we're actually the
largest nongovernment employer in the state of Pennsylvania.
So,
you know, we have,
over 40 hospitals, doctors' offices, you name it,
let alone the health plan that we run.
And and one of the big challenges that
we struggle with, and we're not alone in
this across the country, is is our workforce
and finding people to fill jobs at all
levels within the organization.
And and we really do an incredible job
doing that, with over a 100,000 employees,
but we also have a significant number of
job openings on any given day.
Thousands upon thousands of jobs available across,
our footprint in Pennsylvania here.
And, you know, one of the the unique
things is, you know, that we decided at
the time about five years ago was
what can we do? What more can we
do? Are there some nontraditional
ways that we can look to develop the
workforce?
And that really, led us to a partnership
with, you know, our local workforce,
investment board here in Allegheny County outside in
that's, Pittsburgh,
here in Pennsylvania,
and and really approach them about, you know,
what can we do to maybe look at
the folks that are on our Medicaid program
and enrolled with us to receive benefits for
Medicaid,
and maybe look at how we can support
them and give them an opportunity
to really find gainful employment with us.
And it it really kinda took off.
It started off as a unique conversation.
We got into some disability employment as part
of it as well,
and and we really just, you know, crossed
the an incredible threshold with over 10,000
individuals,
have left our Medicaid program
and joined UPMC's
workforce,
in either full or part time positions.
And and, you know, that's really just an
incredible milestone, especially in light of all the
conversations about employment with Medicaid today.
Right now, we're hiring more than 200 people
a month,
from our own Medicaid plan. Now it seems
like, you know, we're, you know, hurting ourselves,
but in the end, we're giving these individuals,
skills and and jobs that match their skills,
that they may have or
getting them plugged into programs that actually develop
skills,
and then getting them into
family and life sustaining jobs here at UPMC.
And it's really just been an incredible thing,
and, you know, we see this as as
part of our core mission
across Pennsylvania,
and and it's really just an incredible opportunity
that we've seen so much success with this.
And one of the big things is, you
know, when these folks come to us, we're
paying significantly higher than minimum wage,
for these positions.
And, you know, at the end of the
day, they're getting access to all the benefits
that, you know, all of us have as
employees,
which includes tuition reimbursement, other things like that.
And we've some seen some incredible,
you know, success stories of of individuals that
started in the program
and that continued on and that are now
joining and going to medical school and nursing
school and really kind of rejoining that that
workforce and making a significant difference
for the people that we serve having been
some of the people that we serve. And
it's really just been an incredible program,
that we've been able to to to build
and and really drive and promote self sufficiency
across the region. And one of the great
things that we've been able to do is
it started here in Allegheny County, but we've
expanded it to other parts of our footprint
in the Northwestern part of the state in
Erie, as well as in Central Pennsylvania outside
of Harrisburg.
And we're seeing some of the same success
that we had here in those locations as
well, and it's it's really just incredible,
especially with, you know, as we understand the
intersection of Medicaid and work,
and and what that actually means.
Wow. I mean, those really are some incredible
numbers you just cited there, Brandon, in terms
of 10,000
people placed into career roles since this program
started, 200 people a month being hired. It's
really amazing.
And I wanna ask you, you know, you
you mentioned that this these are Medicaid members,
where they where they're starting from. And, obviously,
as you alluded to, there's so much going
on right now with the Medicaid program more
broadly,
of course, work requirements coming down the pipeline
nationally.
So when you're thinking about this this program,
why is UPMC Health Plan so passionate about
removing some of these barriers that these individuals
face? What what is really behind all of
this for you?
Well, I I mean, I think it's it's
at the core of who we are. I
mean, we're
a a regional health plan here in Pennsylvania,
and
not only is our health plan business here
in Pennsylvania for the most part, our hospitals,
for the most part, other than a couple
exceptions,
are here in Pennsylvania, and we're embedded in
these communities. We see it day in and
day out. We see the impact that we
have
in those communities, and and, fundamentally,
community is in our DNA,
and that's really where we saw this. And
we saw some of our community members that
needed help,
and,
really, what we wanted to do was find
a way to help them. And it it
also helps our business as well.
And, you know, so it really kinda checks
a lot of the boxes for us as
a nonprofit health plan, health system here in
Pennsylvania
to really do good and give back to
those communities that we serve.
Because at the end of the day, if
those communities are thriving and being successful, so
are we. And, you know, one of the
other big things, and I'll I'll just throw
this out there because they did come from
their get their health care coverage from Medicaid.
Now they get coverage through our commercial benefits,
and that's been a big shift, for these
folks as well in getting that access point
too.
No. That's absolutely amazing. And like I said,
I we really appreciate you filling us in
on on what the latest is with this
program, some of the latest stats there, Brandon.
I wanna shift focus to another community initiative,
that I know is really at the center
of of what the health plan is focused
on right now. You've got new neighborhood centers
in Pittsburgh and now Erie. The Erie Center,
of course, opening just this past center.
So talk to our listeners about this, what
these centers are, how they position the health
plan to really go beyond just
actual health care and and,
really deliver or or at least address some
of those SDOH,
that you mentioned at the start of our
conversation today.
Oh, absolutely. And and and I will say
these are incredibly near and dear to my
heart because
I actually put a lot of,
sweat equity, physical equity,
and work into, setting up our first neighborhood
center in the East End Of Pittsburgh. But,
you know, these really
truly embody
a lot of what I just mentioned about
our commitment to our communities.
You know, one of the big challenges that
we hear
is, you know, we've got a lot of
different community groups that are working within these
communities to support our members and those communities
as a whole. So one of the big
things that, you know, we were presented with
an incredible opportunity with this gigantic space in
the East End Of Pittsburgh,
more than a few years ago,
and it was a blank slate.
And it was
what can we do with this? And knowing
where we were in the East End Of
Pittsburgh and some of the challenges that, some
of the communities in the East End had,
we kind of hatched this idea of meeting
people where they are and meeting people in
those communities.
But not going with a top down approach,
really going at it with a different approach,
creating a platform in those communities,
but then really making that platform adaptable to
the needs of that community. And that and
that's been one of the the the incredible
successes
that we've had, and and and it's rooted
in the the concept of we're embedded there.
We live in these communities too, and we
wanna be able to kinda really find ways
to support them.
And we wanna be able to meet the
people that we serve where they are. And
that becomes incredibly important with all of the
folks that we serve across all of our
Medicaid programs,
and and all our programs in general, really,
when it comes down to it. We all
live in neighborhoods at the end of the
day.
And, you know, really, what we wanted to
be able to do was find, an opportunity.
But too often,
you know, groups can come in, and they
think they know what that community needs. And
we really wanted to flip that on its
head a little bit because
the community knows what they need. They know
what they're seeing day in and day out
and the people that are being served there.
So, really, our goal was to go in
and create a platform.
And at that platform, we have access to
a bunch of different things that we we
provide
at UPMC as a whole. So we have
access to telehealth at that platform. If someone
needs help or benefits,
we can get them signed up when they
walk in the door. If they're having trouble
navigating
how to find a doctor, where they can
go to get help, we'll help navigate them.
And we have community health workers,
manning all of these facilities,
to to really help them guide. And then
we're also creating a platform for those various
community groups. So
creating, a place where you can go and
you can get access to,
food and nutrition and and healthy produce,
and shelf stable foods there. But then also
using the space that we have and some
of that infrastructure to support community groups that
are doing fantastic work, but they may not
have the infrastructure to provide some of the
things that they need. So, you know, be
it trainings, be it groups, and and it's
everything from,
citizenship classes
to, you know, employment and training programs. Some
of what I talked about with partner for
work, some of the training they do actually
takes place at the neighborhood center.
And, you know, really having that platform through
that. And we've had over 200
different community groups
use the East End,
neighborhood center since its inception and and creation.
And, you know, one of the things that
we decided was we wanted to take the
show on the road. So Pittsburgh obviously is
is near and dear to our heart, and
and the name obviously being rooted in Pittsburgh,
with mister Rogers.
So we want it to be a good
day in the neighborhood for those communities that
we serve, and that's why we came up
with the name of the neighborhood center. But,
you know, really, we didn't wanna stop at
just Pittsburgh. We wanted to take this to
new locations, and, we we decided to go
into Erie,
and the East End Of Erie,
and really find,
a different way. So it's, the Erie Neighborhood
Center, it's different than what we did in
Pittsburgh, which is exactly the point. It's not
going in with a a cookie cutter approach.
It's going in creating that platform and then
using it. And the East End Of Erie,
has a lot of challenges. They've they've really
struggled.
It's a food desert.
It's a childcare desert. There's a whole host
of issues facing that neighborhood.
And, really, we're going in to really develop
and support that neighborhood in partnership with some
of the things that we've been doing.
So the UPMC Foundation,
with, the UPMC Hammett Foundation,
in Erie has been investing a lot in
in in some of the locations in the
East End, and this is really meant to
supplement that.
So we've got some really incredible partnerships there
with, a Second Harvest, which is the food
bank, in Erie, Pennsylvania.
And what they've actually created is a one
of a kind marketplace
where people can go in and get access
to healthy foods. They're not running to the
convenience store than bodegas that are down the
street. They're really getting access to healthy produce
and food at the neighborhood center.
It's it's really an incredible partnership,
and it's like I said, it's a little
bit different than what we have in the
East End, but it's providing a lot of
really good opportunities for that. And and we
also have access to street medicine. We have
access to a whole host of services that
are there,
and it's really meant to focus on what
that neighborhood needs and what we can do
to really support it. It's got a lot
of the same things that we do in
the East End, but we've really expanded it.
And I will tell you, I I was
doing a walk through before the the the
grand opening, and we had people knocking on
the door, and and we were able to
get them help. We had a gentleman walk
in, who was having trouble finding a doctor
and a dentist. And, literally, we got on
the phone with him, as I was standing
there with the team, and we got him
a, doctor's appointment, for a couple days later
and found a dentist to get him in
there too, which is exactly the point. It's
it's meant to be that community resource
to really support that community and really give
back and find those creative solutions to best
support the our our membership in those areas.
Yeah. No. Absolutely. And I'm sure that feels
really great for you and your team on
a on a personal level being to be
there on the ground and and see the
impact you're making firsthand
with your members.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And and and it really I
I think it it was it was great
for me because I don't always get to
see all the folks that we serve on
a regular basis, and I and I love
to meet them, hear their stories,
and and that experience. And then when we
did the grand opening, I was hanging out
for a little bit afterwards and had the
same type of interaction with some folks that
just needed some help. And and that's really
what it was meant to be. And our
partnership with those community groups that are there
is is only continuing to get stronger.
We have classes that are going for,
you know, pregnant moms,
you know, teach them what they should be
doing with their kids. We have caregiver classes,
because we have a a lot of seniors
in in those areas. So trying to to
help support
the people that are are really spending all
their time in blood, sweat, equity supporting the
people, that we have in those those areas
and those members. And it's really it's it's
not meant to be only UPMC.
It's really a broader aspect of of how
we can give back to those communities and
really support them.
No. Certainly. And, you know, 200 community,
organizations already. That's incredible. I'm sure many more
to come.
Brendan, before we go today, anything else we're
missing? Any other tidbits you wanna share with
the other health plan leaders listening right now?
It's it's an incredibly busy time,
for for everybody listening in. What else do
you wanna share today? It's it's incredibly busy,
and and, you know, Medicaid's always had its
its challenges through the the years. And I've
been working in Medicaid for twenty years now.
And, it's, it's it's it's always going through
the ringer when we look at those things.
But but, really, I think it's it's in
in these times, it's really about listening to
the people you serve,
and going and meeting them where they are.
You can't forget about it. It's one thing
to to to be a leader. It's another
thing to really go out and listen to
those communities, really spend the time and the
energy with them. That's such such an important
component of it, to have their stories to
be able to to to give back to
our regulators,
and to also help inform us. I learned
so much from talking to the people,
that are enrolled with us, going on visits
with our teams. It really gives you a
a a good perspective on how you should
be functioning and and how you can do
the best to serve them and meet people
where they are.
Wonderful. Well, Brandon, I wanna thank you so
much for taking the time once again to
sit down with us, share your insights with
our listeners on sharing about all this, clearly
very impactful work going on under the leadership
of you and your team at the health
plan. So thank you very much.
No. Thank you for the opportunity, and, you
know, appreciate you taking the time to to
hear some of what the great things that
we're doing. Absolutely. And to our listeners, if
you wanna listen to more podcasts from Becker's
HealthCare, you can visit beckershospitalreview.com.