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Speaker 0: This is Laura Diet with the Becker Healthcare podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Aaron Drink water, Chief of government Relations and strategic partnerships at Metro plus Health. Aaron, it's a pleasure to have on the podcast today? Speaker 1: Thanks so much. My I excited it to be here. Speaker 0: No, I'm really looking forward to our conversation and learning more about how you're thinking about a future at Metro plus. But before we dive in, I was wondering, could you tell us a little bit more about yourself in your background? Speaker 1: Absolutely. I joined the team at Metro plus, Almost 2 years ago. It'll be 2 years in September. And prior to that, I work at New York city's Department of Social Services, which was... There is the umbrella agency over New York City's, human resources administration and the Department of Homeless Services. And so in that role, really focused on 12 public benefits, that are administered in the city of New York, as well as, the shelter system, for those of you who are listening who are not aware of in New york City, has a right to shelter. And so on any given night, we provide shelter for individuals and families who otherwise have no place to turn to provide you know, a safe roof over their head. And when the opportunity to join Metro plus came along, I was really excited about the opportunity. Metro plus Health is a provider owned plan, but unique in that space is that we are owned by the city's municipal hospital system. So we are an integrated system, working closely with nation's largest municipal hospital system to provide, free and low cost healthcare to individuals living in the 5 borough of New York City. And in addition to our health and hospitals partners, we also have a wide network of providers who exist in our network, some local institutions like mom, and why you land own, Mount Sinai, among others, 34000 providers are in our network. And we're serving approximately 700000 New Yorkers across all of our lines of business. So excited to be here today and talk a little bit about our work and looking forward to our focus for the future. Speaker 0: Well, that's great to hear. And, you know, given your focus in the work you're doing at Metro plus health, what are some of the biggest trends and headwind that you're following right now? What's top of mind for you? Speaker 1: Yeah. That's a great question. So we are always looking at the members that we are currently serving and enrolled with we have placed significant effort into ensuring that our members are being rec certified as the public health emergency. Continues to unwind and making sure really that our members are informed about their obligations in terms of rec can make sure that there's not a lapse in their benefits. 1 of the things that I do in my role is I advocate at the City state and federal level in regard to pending, you know, legislation, rules or regulations that impact the delivery of health care as well as the insurance sector. Something really exciting happened this past legislative session in New York as it relates to red, which is that in New York state now if you are enrolled in Medicaid or chip as an individual who is 0 to 6 years old. Those families will not have to rec certify every year. This is great in terms of the burden that is place on families as it relates to, you, maintaining their health care coverage, but it's also great for the state in removing know, administrative costs that the state has to incur for those red. We very much see this as a first step we recognize that the state has a lot of discretion in terms of making the access to benefits easier and reducing bureaucratic burdens for families and individuals as they access health coverage. Speaker 0: That makes a lot of sense. And you know, really is helpful to know and think about especially on level. I I know things and and policies can change all the time, but to have that ability, you know, to really work it and move forward, you know, within those community invest is so helpful. And, you know, given that, how are you thinking about growth and development for the future? Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you for the question. You know, we are looking at our various populations and lines of business. We, you know, are looking at the supplemental benefits that we're able to offer our members We in New York City are 1 of 3 Hiv Snip plans, special need plans, and we're really proud of the work that we've done with that line of business. This is for individual to are eligible for Medicaid, but also have, Hiv diagnosis and or are experiencing homelessness or transgender, and those individuals have additional case management, but also additional benefits in the supplemental portion of their benefits. And we're looking at this across all of our lines within this We have exciting news in regards to our food as medicine program, really, honing in on the importance of Food medicine, recognizing the, outcomes for our members as it relates to their health outcomes, but also looking at, the cumulative effect of reducing health care costs overall. So we're really excited about that and from my point of view, I oversee a community relations staff and as we think about growth and expansion what's really important for us here at Metro plus. Is ensuring that we're a plan that is representative and really responsive to the needs of New Yorkers. And what that means is being sure that our provider network is reflective of the the demographics of New York City. We know that people are more inclined to seek out medical care when they feel safe. When they have a trusted relationship with their provider and that can extend to things like making sure a provider can speak their language. In New York city, we have over a hundred different languages spoken. And so ensuring that our network is reflective of our membership and that we have language access availability across our providers. Not only that, but recognizing that many of our providers also reflect a diversity of New York city in terms of race and ethnicity and things like that, gender. And so as we are doing work to expand our membership, the work that my team is doing on the ground in communities across New York and really building relationships and hearing firsthand, what the community needs and how we can respond to those needs. You know, when we talk about things like outcome gaps and access to care. We know that people who are closest to the problem are also closest to the solution. And so really engaging with our communities across the city and hearing from them, what are the challenges for accessing healthcare. What are the barriers that they're experiencing? Is it transportation? Is it what of language access, is it office hours. There are so many reasons why somebody may be having difficulty establishing care and maintaining care over time and so part of the work that my team is doing is to really listen to those concerns and be responsive. Speaker 0: That's amazing to hear in what powerful important work that you're doing in the ability to engage communities and take their feedback to heart and provide the services as you mentioned that are really truly needed and desire such an important aspect of closing goes gaps and care in and eliminating health disparities. Before I wrap up here, I was wondering, could you tell me about a project or initiative from the last year or so that yielded the best results? Speaker 1: Absolutely. 1 of the things that we're super proud of here at Metro plus is bringing our behavioral health services in house. We had previously been contracting those services. And what we realized with that by bringing them in house, we were able to provide integrated services to our members. You know, we hear a lot in the media, the concerns and challenges around gaining access to important behavioral health services, both in the way of, you know, day to day, therapy and access to therapy, as well as, you know, more impactful services for individuals with, you know, severe and persistent behavioral health diagnosis. We have seen some really good outcomes in the short time that we've had, the behavioral health program in health. 1 of the things that we've done to really again, build on what we're hearing from our clients and our members is having a very strong peer network in our behavioral health work, and that is proving to be very positive in terms of the outcomes that we're seeing for our members. So we're gonna continue to focus on that and to build that out as we serve New Yorkers and their behavioral health. Speaker 0: That's amazing to hear. Aaron, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been extremely informative, conversation, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon. Speaker 1: My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.