Health Net Names New Leadership Team to Help Improve Health Outcomes, Address Health Equity for Medi-Cal Members Across the State

Business Wire

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Health Net, one of California’s longest-serving Medi-Cal partners, announced today it has named a new regional leadership team, which aims to close care gaps, improve health outcomes, and address health equity for the health plan’s more than 2 million Medi-Cal members across the state.

For decades, Health Net has worked hand-in-hand with California to build the state’s Medi-Cal program. Today, more than two-thirds of Health Net’s members are Medi-Cal enrollees, which include low-income individuals, families with children, seniors, and persons with disabilities, among others.

“At Health Net, we believe healthcare is best delivered locally,” said Brian Ternan, President and CEO of Health Net. “To best serve our Medi-Cal members and deliver on our mission to improve the health of our local communities, we are updating our leadership structure to ensure every community we serve has regional leadership and improved access to high-quality care and services.”

Enhanced Medi-Cal Regional Leadership Team Structure

Martha Santana-Chin will continue to serve as Health Net’s Medi-Cal President, providing executive oversight to Health Net’s Medi-Cal program. Santana-Chin has more than three decades of healthcare leadership experience working with independent physician practices and hospitals, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and health plans, serving Medi-Cal and low-income communities. Santana-Chin, who often shares her story of growing up in extreme poverty and was the first in her family to pursue higher education, prides herself on understanding first-hand the struggles that many Medi-Cal enrollees face – from food insecurity and transportation issues to homelessness and racial inequities among other social determinants of health.

“Martha’s career exemplifies a commitment to advancing health equity and serving our most vulnerable populations by working with providers at the local level,” said Ternan. “As California envisions the future of Medi-Cal under CalAIM, Martha and her team bring experience, relationships, understanding and national best practices to help transform care delivery and enhance our state’s healthcare safety net.”

Health Net also announced the following leaders to oversee the specified geographic regions:

Karen Richmond, Vice President, will oversee Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. For more than three decades, Richmond has held leadership roles at Southern California government-funded managed care plans and provider organizations, including responsibility for Medicare-Medicaid Dual Eligibles/Cal MediConnect and improving HEDIS and CMS Star quality scores.

Kathleen Lang, Vice President, will oversee San Diego and Imperial counties. Lang has served in healthcare quality, programmatic, and operations roles since 2001. Previously, she held leadership roles at the Imperial County Behavioral Health Services and Public Health Departments and County Executive Office before joining California Health & Wellness and Health Net Medicaid.

Nai Kasick, Vice President, will oversee the Central Valley. Kasick has more than 20 years as a health care executive serving low-income or underemployed culturally and linguistically diverse beneficiaries. Previously, served as the senior director of health services at the nation’s largest public health care organization. Her proudest professional accomplishment includes securing the prestigious NCQA Multicultural Health Care Distinction.

Amber Kemp, Vice President, will oversee Northern California. Kemp has more than a decade of leadership experience in developing and operationalizing Medicaid and Covered California policy. Her most recent leadership roles included serving as Vice President, State Medicaid Policy, for the California Association of Health Plans; Vice President, Health Care Coverage, with the California Hospital Association; and roles with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) director’s office and the Board of Equalization under member Betty T. Yee.

Harout Torosian, Senior Director, will oversee Fresno, Kings and Madera counties. Born and raised in Fresno, Torosian is an experienced healthcare leader with nearly 20 years of experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

In addition to the new regional structure, Health Net announced the appointment of Dr. Pooja Mittal as its Health Equity Lead. Through this role, Mittal will oversee Health Equity strategy and execution for Health Net’s entire Medi-Cal population, with a focus on eliminating care gaps due to structural racism and serving underrepresented communities.

Health Net’s continued focus on health equity and innovation has boosted the health plan’s quality scores^* and earned it the highest ranking in customer service among health insurers, according to a recent third-party analysis.^** To learn more, visit www.HealthNet.com.

About Health Net

At Health Net, we believe every person deserves a safety net for their health, regardless of age, income, employment status or current state of health. Founded in California more than 40 years ago, we’re dedicated to transforming the health of our community, one person at a time. Today, Health Net’s 2,600 employees and 85,000 network providers serve 3 million members. That’s nearly 1 in 12 Californians. We provide health plans for individuals, families, businesses of every size and people who qualify for Medi-Cal or Medicare — Coverage for Every Stage of Life^TM. Health Net also offers access to substance abuse programs, behavioral health services, employee assistance programs and managed health care products related to prescription drugs. We offer these health plans and services through Health Net, LLC and its subsidiaries: Health Net of California, Inc., Health Net Life Insurance Company and Health Net Community Solutions, Inc. These entities are wholly owned subsidiaries of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), a Fortune 25 company that offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation. For more information, visit HealthNet.com.

* Health Net improved its state quality scores in 85% of the counties it served between 2015 and 2018. In the last two years alone, the company boosted state quality scores by more than 3%. From 2019 to 2020, Health Net’s quality measures met or exceed the 50^th percentile in national rankings in 70% of the counties it served.

** Health Net received the highest performance rating in customer service among health insurers in Forrester’s proprietary 2021 CX Index™ survey. The ranking was based on responses from 12,824 US individuals measuring 17 brands in the industry. The proprietary survey results are based on consumers’ opinions of the experiences with the brands in the survey. Forrester Research does not endorse any company included in any CX Index™ report and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any particular company based on the ratings included in such reports.