May 25, 2023
Paul Scott, HAAM CEO:
- Good afternoon, I am Paul Scott, CEO at HAAM – Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you about the impact of HAAM’s partnership with Central Health
- I would like to share with you my appreciation for the partnership and what it means for our musicians that are able to access critical healthcare services because of Central Health’s commitment to the Premium Assistance Program.
- Our Board of Directors, staff, and most of all our low-income musicians have a deep appreciation for how this partnership has transformed healthcare access for our musicians.
- A great example of the benefit of this partnership is a musician story I heard just this morning. HAAM hosted a pancake appreciation breakfast for our musicians, who came, brought their instruments, and had an impromptu jam session.
- I spoke with one of our musicians, and she has been a HAAM member for 5 years. She is a singer songwriter and a mom of a teenager. She recently had gynecological surgery she had been putting off but was able to schedule it due to being covered by Sendero insurance and made affordable because of the Central Health premium assistance
- As part of her recovery from surgery, she was provided a case manager who arranged for a Physician Assistant to come to her house for her primary care visit while she recovered, providing a small incentive for her to complete her primary care visit.
- She was enthusiastic about the support she is getting to manage her healthcare needs and emphatically stated that HAAM and its partnership with Central Health through the Premium Assistance Program has literally saved her life.
- Our partnership is a great example of providing quality access to healthcare for those in the most need in our community. On behalf of all HAAM musicians, I want to say thank you.
Rachel Hanss Blair, HAAM COO:
WELCOME & OVERVIEW
- Hello, I am Rachel Blair and I’m the COO at HAAM.
- I’d like to share two main things with you tonight: our gratitude and the impact of our partnership.
- I want to extend a big thank you to each of you for your continued support of the work between HAAM, Central Health, and Sendero Health Plans for the Central Health Premium Assistance Program and especially for the additional funding provided last December.
- The investment Central Health makes in our community through your program is critical and life saving.
- Central Health’s PAP program investment drew down over $7.4million in federal dollars resulting in a total impact of over $11 million invested in the health of low-income Travis County residents and the healthcare system
- These federal dollars create an amplified combined impact invested in low-income Travis County residents and in our local healthcare system – primary and specialty care which, as you know, provides essential preventative screenings and treatment for the effective management of chronic conditions.
- Our multi agency collaboration keeps our mutual client’s best interests paramount.
- Empowered decision makers are at the table with established problem solving practices that result in maintenance of insurance throughout the year, excellent satisfaction rates, and better health outcomes. For instance:
- Rate of continuous insurance over full coverage term: 99.8%
- Sendero plan satisfaction rating: 94% positive (good, very good, excellent) as opposed to other carriers at 81%
- For those of you who are new to this partnership, I’d like to mention that the funding provided for this CH program goes directly from Central Health to Sendero and is not a grant to HAAM.
OUTREACH
- HAAM and Central Health have shared goals of addressing racial disparities and inequities in healthcare
- We continued to invest significant resources in our outreach efforts to reach musicians of color
- We are making progressive improvements that are most visible in the new musicians we continue to bring into the program and Central Health’s additional allocation of funding mid-Dec of last year are an essential element to our outreach campaign.
- While we are encouraged that our outreach efforts are building momentum, we know they must continue and build further.
GOING FORWARD
- In closing, HAAM is grateful for our strong collaboration that makes insurance coverage affordable for HAAM musicians.
- The Central Health Premium Assistance program in partnership with Sendero Health Plans is an exceptionally high value, essential resource for the low-income Travis Co residents.
- We hope to present more detailed information on our partnership and welcome questions and dialog with the Board of Managers and CH staff.
Julio Suárez, Managing Director at DRiWaterstone Human Capital [waterstonehc.com]:
Central Health Board of Managers,
Thank you for the opportunity to ask a question. I am sorry that I had to drop off before the public comment section of today’s meeting, but I had to attend to a family commitment. Thanks for understanding.
My question the following. I read a story on The Austin Bulldog [theaustinbulldog.org] stating that the Central Health Board of Managers plans to solicit proposals from various executive search firms to help identify, recruit, and hire a new CEO.
I am a Managing Director with DRiWaterstone Human Capital [waterstonehc.com], a women-founded and led executive search firm consistently recognized by Forbes as one of the leading executive recruiting firms in the U.S. During our 22 years in business, we have completed over 1,000 executive searches from coast-to-coast, including in the great state of Texas. We specialize in working with purpose and mission-driven organizations to find, recruit, and hire experienced and talented purpose and mission-driven leaders. This includes nonprofits, hospitals, health centers, think thanks, and foundations.
We would like to be considered in the search firm solicitation process. While our firm is headquartered in Arlington, VA, many of our team members operate remotely, including from the wonderful City of Austin.
Where would we find the details about the search firm solicitation process? And what is the deadline for submitting proposals?
