Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MAY 27, 2024 17 "You have to work sometimes on the weekends. Like, that is just a reality," she said. "But now, most people will do that from their house, right? So, if you have to work a Saturday, and you want to go watch your daughter's dance class or soccer game, that's okay. You do that, and then you'll come back and sign on." It also means improving mentorship and visibility for women and other diverse candidates. "When people come in as an intern, they see the room filled with lots of women, lots of women partners, minorities working on their teams," Jackson said. "It's not a situation where you don't see yourself. Everyone, whoever they are, sees themselves in someone else." 'Equitable environment' Part of that mentorship may extend around key professional achieve- ments like passing the CPA exam, where there's still a distinct achieve- ment gap between men and women. And it means achieving pay parity. "I think you'll see a lot of studies out there that the pay equity gap is closing," said Susan Martinelli, who has led the Hartford office of accounting and consulting firm RSM for some six years. She says closing the gap takes conscious effort. "When you take the bias out of the process, I think that's really important, but you really need to train people on how to do that too," Martinelli said. She says the accounting profession Susan Martinelli Trinity Health Of NE, UnitedHealthcare battling over new contract By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com T rinity Health Of New England and UnitedHealthcare are publicly fighting over a new contract to replace an agreement that expires at midnight on June 30. Both organizations have posted messages about the negotiations on their respective websites, with each claiming they are keeping their customers' best interests in mind. "Our goal is to reach an agreement that is affordable and sustainable for the people and employers we serve while ensuring continued network access to the health system," United- Healthcare's post states. Trinity Health Of New England counters on its website that it's trying to seek "new agreements that more adequately cover the cost of the care we provide to our patients with UnitedHealthcare Commercial and Medicare Advantage plans." It is the second time this year that Trinity Health has fought publicly over a contract with an insurer. In February, it reached an agreement with Cigna that took effect March 1, to replace a contract that expired on April 30. If the UnitedHealthcare contract expires, it would affect in-network access to the following Trinity Health Of New England facilities: St. Francis Hospital, Hartford; Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital, Hartford; St. Mary's Hospital, Waterbury; Johnson Memorial Hospital, Stafford Springs; Mercy Medical Center, Springfield, Mass.; Trinity Health Of New England Medical Group. UnitedHealthcare said Trinity Health issued a notice to end the contract and is demanding a more than 30% price hike over the next 24 months. That would increase healthcare costs by approximately $33 million for UnitedHealthcare's employer-sponsored commercial plans and is "not affordable or sustainable," the insurer said. Trinity Health claims UnitedHealth- care continues to "not reimburse us fairly and deny or underpay claims, so they can use those dollars to bolster their own pockets and those of their shareholders." It also states that the insurer "has not offered a contract that puts patients' health over their own wealth," and adds that Unit- edHealthcare Group had "record profits of $22 billion last year." is also driven by clients that want firms to diver- sify their workforce and management teams. "Many times in our proposal process even, they're looking for what are you doing to ensure that you're creating an equitable environment," Martinelli says of her clients. "I think it's a missed opportu- nity if you also don't have people in front of them that look like them or see themselves working with you." She notes that while gender parity overall is improving, it's not improving equally in all cases. "About one in four C-suite leaders are female, but women of color actually are less. It's about one in 16," she notes. Women who do make it into the corner office often foster an improved culture, Martinelli believes, in terms of empathy and emotional intelligence. "I think women bring a unique perspective," she said. "I think communication, collaboration, that's really important." It's a thought echoed by KPMG's Jackson. "I've always kind of thought that women bring a different tone to it," she said. "I think you see a lot of empathy and a lot of understanding. I think women look at each other, trying to understand each other's journey in some ways." GO TO >> WWW.HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM/HBJ-EVENTS/FAMILY-BUSINESS-AWARDS REGISTER TODAY! JUNE 12TH | 5-8 FARMINGTON GARDENS JOIN US IN HONORING SOME INCREDIBLE FAMILY BUSINESSES! PRESENTED BY BERKSHIREBANK 4 PRESENTING SPONSOR: SUPPORTING SPONSORS: SCAN HERE & REGISTER TODAY

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