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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
How EmblemHealth is Fighting Food Insecurity and Advancing Community Health
00:21:14
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- [00:00]
A
Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the Becker's Payer Issues podcast. Thrilled today to be joined by Heather Tamborino, who is the Chief Financial Officer at Emblem Health. Heather, thanks so much for taking the time to be with me on the podcast today.
- [00:13]
B
Thank you so much. I'm here and excited to talk with you.
- [00:17]
A
Likewise, Heather, and we appreciate you taking the time to sit down with us before we dive into everything, we want to talk with you both. With you about. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, your background in healthcare, and what it is that you're doing today at Emblem Health?
- [00:32]
B
Sure. Absolutely. I've been in healthcare for over 22 years now, with the majority of that being within nonprofit health plans. More specifically, over the last 10 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, etc.
- [01:39]
A
Fantastic. So, Heather, I wanted to get us started today by talking a little bit about some important work just recently announced by Emblem Health. The company has pledged $2 million to food 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 made this investment feel really urgent right now?
- [02:11]
B
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. Their last report showed that over 18 million 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 most 1.2 million city residents, that's almost 15% of New Yorkers were food insecure. So we're hearing that right, that's happening broadly on the a broader stage. And we at Emblum 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 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 Emblem Health members. The other thing about these sites is they're co located in many instances with our Advantage Care, 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 to 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 average family of three people. When we arrived, 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 basically handed out our full complement of food in 15 minutes. So you hear the federal impacts, you know that the, with reductions in food support, with snap, et cetera, you see the increases of our members coming into our community centers and we have an 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 million to our security initiative. And you said, well, 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 Emblem Health neighborhood care centers and also then hosting pop up food distributions and farmers market with our community affairs teams. 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.
- [07:10]
A
Well, this really sounds like it's going to be such an impactful initiative, Heather. And as you explained, you're really seeing that the demand is there across the city, both anecdotally and then through some of the data you shared with us, that 15% figure. So clearly very comprehensive infrastructure is in place across your 15 care centers across all five boroughs. To really tackle this head on. I wonder if we're looking more broadly at this from an industry perspective. We hear from health plans all the time about how they are really starting to try to incorporate more food is medicine based initiatives as part of their healthcare efforts, as part of benefits programs, not just as community outreach efforts, but as tied in with, with reimbursement 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. And where do you think things are still falling short?
- [08:08]
B
It's an important question because we can look at one initiative that we just talked about, but it is absolutely broader than that. We know hunger and health deeply intertwined and you can't just 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 Emblem Health, 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, et cetera, 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 it's not just a community outreach where you're seeking reimbursement. And so you ask, 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, our 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 Emblem Health is leaning into these types of community investments, not just the food initiative, but by establishing these co located neighborhood care centers, partnered with physicians offices, delivering support in language, providing unique, tailored local programming 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 in 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 pivotal 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 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.
- [12:22]
A
Absolutely. And I think it's such a great point that you've 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 I think in the spirit of talking about, you know, the connectedness of the healthcare system, looking forward 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 Emblem Health, from providers across the city, and then of course from, from local and state policymakers to make food security a lasting part of public health infrastructure. And, and as part of the work that you do at Emblem, I think.
- [13:03]
B
We have to be specific, right. We can talk about it. But when you have a multi factored 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 of health that we're providing and investing in at Emblom, 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 the 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 at 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 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 because it's tied to the cultural norms and cultural needs that are prevalent in certain microcosms within our service area 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 ACPNY 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 downstairs to someone who can help beyond just the health visit. So we're doing this all as well. You talk 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 electives. I think this level of partnership, sort of consistency, connecting needs to resources is what we're striving to achieve with our investments at Emblem Health. 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.
- [18:21]
A
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 before we Go. Is there any final thoughts that you would offer them or final bits of advice as they continue on? Like I mentioned, in different stages of this Food is Medicine and access journey. Any parting words for them?
- [18:48]
B
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 a signal. Health equity is not charity. It's a strategic imperative and it's good business. Right. If you want to 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 state 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.
- [20:52]
A
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 Emblem Health. We really appreciate it.
- [21:03]
B
Thank you so much, Jacob.
- [21:05]
A
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