Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
Becker's Payer Issues podcast.
Thrilled today to be joined by Heather Tamberino,
who is the chief financial officer at EmblemHealth.
Heather, thanks so much for taking the time
to be with me on the podcast today.
Thank you so much. I'm here and excited
to talk with you.
Likewise, Heather. And we appreciate you taking the
time to sit down with us.
Before we dive into everything we wanna talk
with you both with you about,
can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself,
your background in health care, and what it
is that you're doing today at EmblemHealth?
Sure. Absolutely.
I've been in health care for over twenty
two years now with the majority of that
being within
nonprofit health plans.
More specifically, over the last ten years, I've
been lucky enough to work in
integrated health plan provider groups so we can
bring more of a unique proposal to the
members and communities we serve. And I have
to say, I'm most proud to be part
of the team at Emblem where I do
truly feel it's a unique health plan.
You know, our social missions
at the heart of everything we do and
the fact that we bring both the health
plan and the physicians together to serve the
community
on their path to health is truly
what I believe is a model for the
future.
Here,
I have overall responsibility for the financial health
of the enterprise.
I work with the broader leadership team on
strategy,
both on the health plan and on the
physician side,
support resource allocation,
and, you know, the traditional financial functions that
you would expect, tax, treasury,
actuarial,
underwriting,
etcetera.
Fantastic. So, Heather, I wanted to get us
started today by talking a little bit about
some important
work, just recently announced by EmblemHealth.
The the company has pledged $2,000,000
to food security efforts across New York City.
So fill in our audience who who isn't
familiar with this initiative,
where did this money come from? Who is
it going to? And what were you hearing
or seeing on the ground in,
your neighborhood care centers that that made this
investment feel really urgent right now?
Absolutely.
And I'm glad you're asking this question because
it's an important initiative, but it's it's also
an important moment in time.
I know your listeners are hearing on their
news feeds and through their government affairs teams
about the recent federal rollbacks
and the reports on rising cases of food
insecurity.
Critical programs like SNAP
are being pressured.
We're even seeing that the USDA's
decision to stop tracking and releasing annual data
on food insecurity.
You know, their last report showed that over
18,000,000
Americans
were facing food insecurity and hunger.
And as these resources
dwindle and food pantries are strained,
more and more New Yorkers are struggling.
And in fact, the New York City mayor's
office of food policy last reported that
almost 1,200,000
city residents, that's almost 15% of New York
were New Yorkers were food insecure.
So
we're hearing that. Right? That's that's happening broadly,
on the on the
broader stage. And we at Emblem are uniquely
positioned
through what we have our neighborhood care centers,
and we're seeing this issue firsthand.
You know? So as you said, it's a
it's a different and unique model,
but Emblem has invested in 15 sites across
the five boroughs in what we call neighborhood
care centers. Think of them almost as, like,
community hubs.
Anybody in the community can come in for
assistance with social determinants of health. It could
be a housing issue,
food distribution,
cooking and fitness classes. How do they get
access to care?
Someone to help them in language,
understand
mailings, or even just for a cup of
coffee. And when we think about social determinants
of of
of health, two top issues facing,
Americans now and New Yorkers here specifically is
both loneliness and food security.
And so
we offer these free services to any member
of the community, not just EmblemHealth members.
The other thing about these sites is they're
collocated in many instances
with our AdvantageCare
physician,
PCP, and specialist groups. So if there's a
health issue,
we can get that individual
almost immediate access to care.
So that's the construct. That's what we have.
And in these neighborhood care sites today, we're
tracking.
And in comparison to just a year ago,
we have a 17%
increase
with individuals coming into the centers
struggling
with getting access to food.
And I'll give you an example. In early
February,
at our Chinatown location, we had announced a
food distribution event. This has been part of,
ongoing programming that we have. And we had
announced a food distribution event for 11AM where
we had hoped to hand out
200 bags of food, which feed about an
Edgards family of three people.
When we arrived, our our team members arrived
to open that day at 7AM. We already
have a line around the block.
So if you know New York in February,
this is not a pleasant time to be
out and about.
But we launched earlier and and basically handed
out our full complement to food in fifteen
minutes. So you hear the federal impacts. You
know that the
with reductions in food,
support with SNAP, etcetera,
you see the increases
of our members coming into our
community centers,
and we have the opportunity to say, well,
what can we do?
So what are we doing? And you identified
it, the community food security initiative.
We recognize that there's this profound connection
between health outcomes and access to food,
So we're expanding
our food security programming
and
adding $2,000,000
to our security initiative. And you said, well,
where's where's that going?
We're providing donations to critical partners
who deliver services and support families in need
already in existence,
trusted,
groups with the Campaign Against Hunger,
the New York Common Pantry, and City Harvest.
Additionally,
we are
supporting
dozens of food distribution events each month through
our EmblemHealth
neighborhood care centers
and also then hosting pop up food distributions
and farmers market with our community affairs teams.
Our our goal here is to ensure that
families have easier access to free,
nutritious food right in their neighborhoods,
whether that's coming to a brick and mortar
neighborhood care center that's close to them
or at these pop up events so that
we can meet the communities where they are
with our partners.
Well, this really sounds like it's gonna be
such an impactful
and as you, you know, explained, you're really
seeing that the demand is there across the
city, both anecdotally and and then through some
of the data,
you shared with us that 15% figure. So
clearly, very comprehensive
infrastructure is in place across your your 15
care centers, across all five boroughs to really
tackle this head on. I wonder if we're
if we're looking more broadly at this from
an industry perspective. You know? We hear from
health plans all the time about how they
are really starting to try to incorporate more
food as medicine based initiatives
as part of their health care efforts, as
part of as part of benefits,
programs,
not just as community outreach, efforts, but as,
tied in with with reimbursement and and social
determinants of health. So I wonder
how how do you think the industry's approach
to social needs like nutrition
is evolving from from where you sit, Heather?
When where do you think things are still
falling short?
It's an important question because you can look
at one initiative that we just talked about,
but
it it is absolutely broader than that.
We know hunger and health deeply intertwined,
and and can't just switch health outcomes
directly in the doctor's office. It has to
be addressed in the kitchens. It has to
be addressed in neighborhoods and communities.
So to your point at EmblemHealth,
we're seeing that our neighbors are having to
make these very difficult decisions.
Do I pay rent? Do I put food
on the table? Or do I buy medicine?
And in this environment,
food and housing
will become the priority.
Health and fitness, etcetera,
will fall by the wayside.
And our internal analytics show a very clear
pattern.
Members that are experiencing
food insecurity
have higher rates of chronic diseases, such as
diabetes,
hypertension,
or heart failure.
They also show
higher ER utilization
and avoidable admissions.
So this is a health issue. And to
your point, it's not a charitable giving issue
or or it's not just a community outreach
where you're seeking reimbursement.
And so
you asked, well, why does the industry need
to think or engage in a different way?
When members don't have reliable access to nutritious
food, no amount of benefit design where the
traditional care management
can close that health gap.
So we, you know, are mission driven, community
focused, nonprofit health plan. And so we believe
our role is as a steward
of community health. We go beyond, like, traditional
benefit management.
And we understand that we have to adapt.
Look. I'm the CFO.
People ask me,
why are you the leader of this initiative?
Right? That's unusual.
And one, I would say, one, I wholeheartedly
believe in our mission.
But two, it makes financial sense.
Investing in food security is an upstream
strategy.
You know, preventing avoidable hospitalizations,
lowering long term costs,
most importantly,
improving the dignity dignity and quality of the
life of our members. It's a win for
everyone.
And and
addressing
food insecurity
is more than just the right thing to
do.
It can support
medical cost management.
If we intervene early,
we address the root causes of poor health
rather than try and treat the more expensive
downstream consequences.
So EmblemHealth is leaning into these types of
community investments, not just the food initiative,
but by establishing
these co located neighborhood care centers that partnered
with physicians' offices,
delivering support in language,
providing unique tailored local programming.
If as health plans,
look at any one of our mission statements.
It could be a for profit. It could
be a not for profit.
But almost all of us will have a
focus on improving the health of our members
and our mission and vision statements.
But we cannot continue to lean on aged
practices.
We need to be in the community. We
need to be focused on specific concerns as
they are emerging. Like, we're seeing this pivotable
point
in time right now for New Yorkers and
the country.
And we need to think local, and we
need to serve local.
I think that's where
we have to see as you asked specifically,
I think that's where you have to see
health plans thinking about it as a broader
element,
not just the traditional.
It it really is if you want to
address the costs
of care. Right? If you think about it
from a for profit perspective,
let alone the social mission and
care of our members aspect of it. I
think that's why we have to see people
lean in differently
more through partnership, more through connectedness,
more through understanding
very specific local needs.
Absolutely. And I think it's such a great
point that you you made, Heather, that and
it sends such a great message of, why
the CFO is overseeing,
an initiative like this. It all ties back
together. It's all connected. And And I think
in the spirit of talking about, you know,
the connectedness
of the health care system,
looking forward on on something like this, and
we can take this just from the New
York City perspective.
What do you think it will take from
from payers like EmblemHealth,
from providers across the city, and then, of
course, from from local and and state policymakers
to make food security a a lasting part
of public health infrastructure and and as part
of the work that you do at Emblem?
I I think we have to be
specific.
Right? We can talk about it. But when
you have a multifactor,
difficult
sort of challenge in front of us,
and you use the word connections or connectedness,
we really do have to think about how
do we connect
our community affairs team
with our care providers.
How do we focus on consistency
of that application?
How do we
highlight partnership and collaboration
across all those groups you just noted? You
could be a payer. You could be a
provider. You could be elected official.
But how
do each of us think about that? I
do think in many ways right now, the
model
health that we're providing
and investing in at Emblem,
you know, we talk about neighborhood care as
being different.
Those care centers are focused on not just
the
not just food distribution, but it's on education
and empowerment.
So in addition to providing free and healthy
food,
we're hosting nutrition workshops,
culturally tailored cooking demonstrations.
We're helping families
take fresh ingredients, and how do you turn
those into healthy,
affordable meals
that align with their health goals. So so
when I talk about nutrition classes,
a couple of the nutrition classes we have
are like, how do you make healthier choices
when you're eating out? Some folks would say,
well, eating out, like, they can bear you
know, some
of our our constituents can barely put money
on their table. But what will happen is
they will go to
quick, easy, cheap, not necessarily always nutritious fast
food.
So how do you make a healthier choice
if you're in that option?
Having series on plant based foods, heart health
nutrition.
We even have like, you can go to
our website today.
There's cooking demonstrations.
So, again, with limited healthy food,
how do you make it you know, how
do you make it spread? How do you
make it
seem nutritious? And how do you link it
to your specific condition?
So
another thing we do is really design classes
around chronic conditions that are most prevalent in
the neighborhoods we serve.
So we we know
almost ZIP code by ZIP code, we track
what are the most prevalent chronic disease conditions.
Is it diabetes? Is it hypertension?
Is it heart disease?
And we focus
on some of our population health activities and
leveraging
these neighborhood care centers
to reflect
the people that we're serving and their needs
in those local spaces.
So so, really, you're connecting not just the
food access,
but you're connecting it to health literacy,
and you're connecting it
to community belonging.
Right? Because it's tied to the cultural
norms and cultural needs that are prevalent in
certain
microcosms
within our service area,
you know, that helps create more sustainable outcomes
that can improve health.
And so I I talk a lot about
neighborhood care, and so maybe other
plans don't have that same investment that we've
made. But they do have community affairs teams.
They do have partnerships
with large provider systems.
And we do. We couple our community affairs
teams. We partner with ACP and Y and
other provider groups.
Our events teams
are out there pointing members to resources available
to them through community based organizations
or through our neighborhood care sites.
Our neighborhood care team members can actually connect
people to PCP appointments right on the spot,
or they can connect them to SDOH resources.
In our PCP offices,
they can walk people down stairs to someone
who can help beyond just the health visit.
So we're doing this all as well. We
talked about that third leg of the stool,
in concert with elected leaders across the city,
reaching out and talking to them through our
community affairs and government affairs teams,
understanding
and learning what is most critical to their
constituents,
making sure that we're leaning in and standing
up to that specific need in partnership with
those on the bids. I think this level
of partnership, sort of consistency, connecting needs to
resources is what we're striving to achieve with
our investments at EmblemHealth. Any health plan, though,
or large provider system, they have those same
capabilities. They have community affairs and government affairs
functions.
They have population health teams. They have big
data.
This isn't unique. It doesn't have to be
unique to a nonprofit
mission based health plan like ours.
This connectedness
of data,
resources,
partnerships
to extend nutrition,
extend health and education
and empowerment.
I think that's where we have to see
people lean in to really get to something
that's more sustainable.
And, Heather, you're really you're speaking directly to
a lot of the other health plans listening
in right now. You mentioned some of the
smaller plans and where they may be at
in their journey, in the space that we're
talking about.
And before we go, is there any final
thoughts that you would offer them or or
final bits of advice,
as as they continue on, like I mentioned,
in in different stages of this food is
medicine and an access
journey.
Anything any parting words for them?
Yeah. I mean, I would say
I do believe we're unique in our mission
and where we are on our path
because we have continued to believe and still
believe that we are
envisioning a health plan model that addressing
social determinants of health and true community health
needs, it's not an add on.
We've already made it to that step that
we believe it's a core part
of our benefit design and our population health
strategy.
And we are seeing and believe that making
these types of investments
in whether it be food security initiatives
or
access to care in underserved
populations,
but leveraging
our resources where we can,
we believe we're sending the signal.
Health equity is not charity.
It's a strategic imperative,
and it's good business.
Right? If you wanna move the needle
on outcomes
for underserved
populations,
we have to reimagine
what it means to be a health plan.
That could mean,
depending on where you are in your journey,
it could mean leaning into food. It could
be leaning into connections,
leveraging your data.
I think those are all things where we
can be.
We, as an industry,
can identify
opportunities
to deliver a different health outcome.
I mean, we do believe that these types
of investments that we're making, whether it be
in food security or establishing
these community hub type neighborhood care centers
or not everybody's along that path yet. Investing
in primary care practices in underserved areas.
You know, we'd like this to serve almost
as a rallying cry to other insurers and
providers.
You know, we can lift our communities.
We can help
our members and the members of our community
on their path to health, but we need
to do it together, and we need to
be consistent about it.
Wonderful. Well, Heather, thank you so much for
taking the time to sit down with us
and for sharing
about the impactful work going on under your
leadership at EmblemHealth.
We really appreciate it. Thank you so much,
Jacob.
And to our listeners, if you'd like to
listen to more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare, you
can visit beckershospitalreview.com.