Hartford Business Journal

29 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | OCTOBER 18, 2021 POWER 25 HEALTHCARE Most notably Lembo has been at the forefront of advocating for a public health plan that would compete with private insurers. But his efforts have been rebuffed, in part by strong oppo- sition from the state's powerful health insurance lobby. Veltri was appointed the first head of the Office of Health Strategy when it debuted in 2018. Under her leadership the office has launched a healthcare quality scorecard and cost estimator tool to help consumers compare the quality and cost of health care in Connecticut; incorporated the first cost caps for hospital and hospital system mergers and acquisitions to contain healthcare price growth; and started development of a healthcare affordability standard in the state. She is now forming a working group that will study and recommend chang- es to how the state regulates mergers and acquisitions of Connecticut physi- cian practices. Andrew Mais The Connecticut Insurance Depart- ment was once considered a rubber stamp for the health insurance indus- try. Carriers would put forward pro- posed rate hikes — sometimes major double-digit increases — and the insurance department would approve them. That rarely happens these days. More often than not insurers are now seeing their initial rate requests pared back as they get closer inspection from the insurance commissioner in response to public outcry from the escalating cost of health care. Andrew Mais is the man currently in charge of the office, and he wielded his regulatory power in September when he pared back insurers' average 2022 rate requests for the small group market (from 12.9% to 6.7%) and the individual market (from 8.6% to 5.6%). Mais has an extensive private and public sector background. Previously, he was a member of Deloitte's Center for Financial Services, where he served as a subject-matter specialist and resource on insurance regulation. Prior to that, he was a director at the New York State Insurance Depart- ment. Dr. Manisha Juthani The Department of Public Health (DPH) is often an agency that gets overlooked in state government. But not during a pandemic. Dr. Manisha Juthani has the difficult task of taking over the agency while COVID-19 still remains a threat to public health. Juthani was nominated as DPH commissioner in July by Gov. Ned Lamont, a position she has taken over from Deidre Gifford, who was in- terim commissioner throughout most of the pandemic. Juthani has been an infec- tious-diseases physician at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, specializ- ing in the diag- nosis, manage- ment and prevention of infections in older adults. Her most recent area of interest has been at the intersection of infectious diseases and palliative care, including the role of antibiotics at the end of life. She completed her undergraduate training at the University of Pennsyl- vania, attended Cornell University Medical College, completed residency training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Campus, and was a chief resident at Memori- al-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She arrived at Yale School of Med- icine in 2002 for infectious diseases fellowship training and joined the faculty full time in 2006. She assumed the role of infectious diseases fellow- ship program director in 2012. As DPH commissioner she will play a leading role as Connecticut tries to finally put the COVID-19 pandemic in the rear-view mirror. Tiffany Donelson The Connecticut Health Founda- tion is an influential philanthropic organization that has helped focus policy and actions by philanthropists, government and advocacy groups on the fact that individuals from disad- vantaged racial and ethnic groups in our state are less healthy. And in 2020 the foundation tapped a woman with significant private-sec- tor experience to replace founding CEO Patricia Baker. Tiffany Donelson is a former deputy chief of staff for national business- es at Hartford health insurer Aetna. She was also previously a consultant for accounting and consulting giant PwC in Chicago. She joined the foundation in 2014 and previ- ously served as its vice president of programs. In her role as health foundation CEO, Donelson has led the organiza- tion's COVID-19 response focused on supporting communities of color. Over the past year-plus, the foundation has awarded grants to five health departments in major cities, including Hartford, to hire community health workers to support COVID-related outreach activities. It also awarded messaging grants to community organizations to share information about COVID-19, the vac- cines, and resources for those who need assistance. The foundation has long focused on advancing health equity for people of color, something that's gained much wider attention over the past year. Donelson said her broad goal is to make sure the state builds on this new recognition and works toward assuring structural changes occur to advance health equity. Sabrina Trocchi Mental health care came into sharp focus during the pandemic and one of the major providers in the state is Wheeler, which has steadily expanded its services over the past 18 months. Sabrina Trocchi is responsible for leading the $85-million organization, which offers in- tegrated primary care, behavioral health, preven- tion/wellness, child welfare, community justice and special education services to over 50,000 people annually. Trocchi became president and CEO right before the pandemic hit Connecticut's shores in Nov. 2019. Under her leadership and through- out the course of the pandemic, the organization continued its efforts to become more of a statewide integrat- ed healthcare provider. During this pe- riod, Wheeler's fifth federally qualified community health center opened in Plainville; it expanded its community healthcare facilities in Waterbury and New Britain; and broadened services at its Hartford community health center. During the pandemic, Trocchi and her team also spearheaded the con- version of services to virtual telehealth and collaborated with communities to implement COVID testing and vac- cinations. Wheeler also launched a companywide diversity and inclusion initiative. Trocchi holds a Ph.D. in public health from UConn and a master's in public administration from the Univer- sity of Hartford. Andrea Barton Reeves Perhaps one of the biggest regu- latory changes employers will see in 2022 is the official roll out of the state's paid leave program, which was created by state lawmakers in 2019. The program will provide up to 12 weeks of paid family or sick leave and become available to qualified workers in Connecticut on Jan. 1, 2022. Overseeing the program is Andrea Barton Reeves, who was named CEO of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority in early 2020. Reeves has already gotten the program off the ground. At the begin- ning of this year, the authority began collect- ing employee payroll deduc- tions — half of 1% from worker paychecks — that will fund the program. At the end of the first quarter, the authority registered 108,911 businesses and collected more than $102 million in contributions. The paid leave program raised concerns from some in the business community and many will be watching it in the year ahead as it moves from concept to reality. It will also force em- ployers, to some degree, to change the way they manage their workforce, with the possibility of losing more workers for longer durations. Reeves was formerly the president and CEO of Harc Inc., a nonprofit that provides services to the intellectually disabled. Galo Rodriguez Galo Rodriguez is one of the top so- cial service nonprofit executives in the region, serving as CEO of The Village for Families & Children. And he's making a big bet on downtown Hartford. Earlier this year The Village purchased a downtown Hartford office building and plans to relocate some of its mental health programs there. The Hart- ford-based nonprofit said the three-story, 32,000-square- foot building at 450 Church St., will one day house a children's outpatient clinic and early intervention home visitation program. Before that, however, the partially vacant site will have to undergo renovations, likely lasting into early 2022. The Village said up to 100 employ- ees will work out of the new location. Last October the Village reported it had 517 employees and an annual budget of $44 million. "Our expansion in Hartford demon- strates our commitment to the com- munity and also the growing need for the mental health services and other supports we provide," Rodriguez said about the expansion. "I'm also pleased we will be able to renovate a highly-visible property that's mostly empty and in need of repairs. Fixing it up and adding dozens of employees to downtown is a real positive." Rodriguez was formerly a physician in Colombia, where he delivered more than 200 babies over a decade spent in family medicine. He earned a master's in public health from UConn in addition to his medical training at the University of Cartagena in Colombia. Andrew Mais Dr. Manisha Juthani Sabrina Trocchi Andrea Barton Reeves Galo Rodriguez Tiffany Donelson

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