‘360 support with whatever they need,’ MetroPlus Health’s
new leader outlines plan to help combat breast cancer
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
When it comes to helping breast
cancer survivors, MetroPlus Health
Plan is dedicated to ensuring that all
of them receive the full care they deserve.
“As an insurer we somewhat go
against the current,” said Dr. Tayla
Schwartz, president and CEO of
MetroPlus Health Plan, which covers
over half a million New Yorkers.
“We want to focus on vulnerable populations
that need health care, the populations
that need support. We don’t
shy away from them, we proactively
try to bring them into MetroPlus . .
. because we know that we can provide
them with comprehensive support
here, true hands on what we call 360
support with whatever they need.”
In order to ensure that members
are staying up to date with yearly exams,
MetroPlus Health constantly
checks member data to determine
who are the women who qualify for or
need breast cancer screenings. Once
the company determines that a member
should see a provider, they use all
means of communication, phone calls,
texts, e-mails, letters to get in touch.
In order to best communicate with a
diverse membership, the health plan
tries to contact members in the language
that they speak and boasts a
multi-lingual staff along with easy access
to language lines.
If for some reason a member is unable
to get in touch with her physician,
a MetroPlus Health employee
can call a provider and schedule and
appointment for her. To encourage
members to prioritize their health,
MetroPlus incentivizes women to
schedule a yearly mammogram by
offering reward points which can be
used to purchase items from the company’s
rewards catalogue. In order to
not just have the responsibility placed
on the member, MetroPlus also fi nancially
incentivizes doctors to make
sure that their patients are up to date
on their early exams.
MetroPlus Health understands
that it is not always easy for members
to make to a doctor’s appointment and
will bring health care to the community
by holding public events where
women can be screened on the spot. In
2018, there were 37, 403 mammograms
performed on MetroPlus Health members.
The health plan currently has
1,600 members undergoing treatment
for breast cancer, a number that has
stayed stable over the last fi ve years.
During member data analysis
and out in communities, MetroPlus
Health takes special care to encourage
higher risk demographics, especially
African American women, to
undergo breast cancer screenings.
According to the Center for Disease
Control, black women are 40 percent
more likely to die of breast cancer
than white women.
“It’s very clear that any time you
want to make a dent in a health issue,
there isn’t one approach that works,”
said Schwartz. “You have to attack it
from multiple angles.”
A Doctor’s Passion
MetroPlus Health Plan is not your
typical health insurance program and
that is in part because of the passion
and care of Dr. Tayla Schwartz, president
and CEO of MetroPlus Health
Plan, a pediatrician by training. Dr.
Schwartz has known that she wanted
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O 6 CTOBER 11-17, 2019 BTR
to be a physician since “the time she
could speak” and brings her need to
care for other into every position she
holds.
“We are tremendously lucky to be
who we are,” said Dr. Schwartz.
After serving in the military in
her native Israel, Dr. Schwartz studied
at the Sackler School of Medicine
and came to New York for a residency
in Pediatrics at Maimonides Medical
Center in Brooklyn. Schwartz
worked as a pediatrician at the Children’s
National Medical Center in
Washington D.C. and simultaneously
conducted basic research at the National
Institute of Health. Two years
after her fellowship, Schwartz began
working for a healthcare consulting
fi rm where she was fi rst able to view
healthcare “through a different lens”
and subsequently became more interested
in the business side of healthcare.
Schwartz has been president
and CEO of MetroPlus Health Plan
since 2006.