EmblemHealth Wraps Up 2021 with Legacy of Community Service

Contact:

EmblemHealth Public Relations Office | Email: press@emblemhealth.com

Kwame Patterson | Email: kpatterson@emblemhealth.com 

New York, NY –In a year full of significant challenges and change, EmblemHealth’s family of companies concludes 2021 by reflecting on its contributions toward improving public healthcare services for the diverse communities it serves.

EmblemHealth’s family of companies includes AdvantageCare Physicians, a primary and specialty medical care practice, EmblemHealth Neighborhood Care, a network of customer service and community resource centers, ConnectiCare, one of Connecticut’s leading health plans, and WellSpark, a digital wellness company.

“EmblemHealth began this year with a goal of investing more in our communities and improving access to care for the many patients, members, and neighborhoods we serve,” said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of EmblemHealth. “We accomplished these goals and we are planning to continue to build on that success.”  

2021 highlights included:

• As the school year began, EmblemHealth teamed up with local elected officials, community organizations, and government agencies to donate  thousands of bookbags and school supplies to children as they headed back to classrooms after more than a year of remote school instruction. EmblemHealth also partnered with community organizations and local leaders to host a Healthier Future Wellness Fairs series throughout New York City. The fairs provided thousands of residents with better access to care services, including flu and COVID-19 vaccines, health screenings, wellness resources, and fresh, healthy food.

• EmblemHealth Neighborhood Care (EHNC), EmblemHealth’s free community centers, opened three new centers this summer in Queens and on Long Island, NY. As social distancing practices continued, EHNC also instituted virtual wellness programming and hosted food giveaways and outdoor neighborhood fitness courses throughout New York City.  

• To better serve the Medicaid population, EmblemHealth doubled down on its Community Based Organization partnerships. It also continued strategic collaborations with Brooklyn-based Medly Pharmacy for at-home Rx distribution services and community immunizations and with value-based provider Cityblock, which combines comprehensive care with delivery models that address underlying social determinants of health.

• This year, AdvantageCare Physicians (ACPNY), EmblemHealth’s medical practice, was one of the first selected by New York State and the City to roll out and administer COVID-19 vaccinations to tens of thousands across the state, with a focus on the city’s most vulnerable communities. The practice also partnered with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), one of the country’s largest education unions, to vaccinate New York City teachers and school staff against COVID-19. Additionally, AdvantageCare Physicians teamed with New York Cancer & Blood Specialists (NYCBS), one of the leading oncology practices in the nation, to deliver comprehensive cancer care to its patients. ACPNY also opened four new state-of-the-art medical offices to serve the Jackson Heights and Flushing neighborhoods of Queens, NY, and the Long Island communities of Bethpage and Uniondale.

• ConnectiCare, a division of EmblemHealth based in Connecticut, celebrated its 40th Anniversary  by honoring our core mission of giving back to the community. In 2021, ConnectiCare focused on addressing food insecurity and mental health, two areas of continued need as the state emerges from the hardships brought on by COVID-19. In addition to providing financial support to organizations working in these areas, company employees volunteered across Connecticut to assist residents alongside notable nonprofits such as CT Food Bank/Food Share, Mental Health CT, and Habitat for Humanity.

• As employers began return-to-work planning in 2021, WellSpark Health, EmblemHealth’s disease prevention and management company, provided innovative means to support employees’ mental health and treatment of underlying conditions. As employers, especially those with essential workers, searched for solutions to help people deal with burnout and fatigue, WellSpark’s life-dimensional approach to care was a just-in-time solution to usher in employee benefits in a post-pandemic American workforce.

• EmblemHealth Health@Work, formally known as the Occupational and Environment Health Center of Eastern New York (OEHC), also launched in 2021 to provide enhanced access to preventative care and safety for working people in Eastern New York. The revamped regional health center included redesigned and renovated office space and a new website (healthatwork.emblemhealth.com).

• And to better understand and communicate with patients and communities about their care, EmblemHealth released two pioneering, national studies in 2021 regarding the effectiveness of healthcare communications and the emerging industry shift toward value-based care. The first focused on the language surrounding COVID-19 that helped guide conversations about vaccines and vaccine hesitancy among various populations. The second focused on the importance of educating consumers on the value-based care model to help lower the overall cost of care while raising awareness of the model’s benefits for the broader public.

“The country has been whipsawed by the pandemic,” said Ignagni. “Our responsibility as community health plans, physician practices, and a wellness company is to bring the best in class services to the people we serve where and when they need it. That’s our mission and our commitment.”