Reimagining primary care access through tailored service and integrated delivery.

 

Role

Executive Director

Responsibilities

Vision & Strategy
Capital Planning & Board Reviews
Service Design & Clinical Model
Tech Development
Onsite Experience & Real Estate
Marketing & Communciations

When

2018 - 2019

 

UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare Neighborhood Clinics were conceived as a social-purpose initiative to improve access to primary care for underserved populations, especially Medicaid members and the uninsured. Rather than applying traditional clinic models, this initiative tested a digital-first, integrated care delivery model designed to remove barriers and shape a new kind of primary care experience for high-need communities.

 
 

Problem + Opportunity

Medicaid patients often experience limited provider access, lower quality care, and bias within traditional care systems, in part because many providers do not accept Medicaid. These systemic barriers contribute to poor health outcomes and erode trust in the healthcare system.

The opportunity was to design and launch community-embedded clinics that would:

  • Improve access to person-centered primary care

  • Reduce barriers like travel time and scheduling constraints

  • Enable continuity of care through integrated clinical and digital pathways

  • Serve as iterative learning labs to inform broader primary care strategy

 

Approach

 

1.

Strategic Planning & Problem Framing
Aligned with the CEO’s social purpose agenda, we established Neighborhood Clinics as a tangible step toward equitable care. We defined criteria for pilot markets — including Medicaid density, neighborhood variability, and partnership potential — and worked closely with local health plans and community stakeholders to identify high-impact neighborhoods for clinic deployment.

We also designed the initiative to be financially disciplined, establishing a break-even goal within three years and assembling a Steering Committee to guide strategy and decision-making.

 

2.

Multi-Disciplinary Work Teams
To operationalize the initiative, I designed a 16–work-stream cross-functional collaboration model spanning every major domain required to launch a new care delivery platform: real estate, finance, partnerships, governance, staffing, clinical operations, regulatory compliance, technology enablement, and innovation measurement. Each workstream had clear objectives, owners, and deliverables, enabling coordinated progress and rapid problem solving.

 

3.

Concept Deployment
Over a 16-month period, we executed strategic planning and deployment in parallel, opening the first clinic in Houston, TX, followed by a second in Phoenix, AZ. These sites served as prototypes for a new primary care model that combined:

  • Integrated care teams with task-shifted clinical roles to enhance efficiency

  • A digital-first workflow to streamline patient intake and continuity

  • Concierge support systems including patient advocates and triage protocols that connected in-person care with telehealth services
    This design reduced common barriers to care — including travel, time away from work, and fragmented navigation — while maintaining compliance with clinical and regulatory standards.

 

Outcomes

  • Successfully opened multi-site prototype clinics in underserved neighborhoods

  • Demonstrated a new operational prototype for a hybrid digital-first, community-embedded primary care model

  • Built organizational and partnership frameworks that informed future delivery models within UnitedHealthcare

 

Reflection

The Neighborhood Clinics initiative taught us that access and experience are deeply interconnected: improving health outcomes requires not just offering services, but rethinking how care is delivered, navigated, and perceived by historically underserved populations. It reinforced the importance of cross-functional work-streams, iterative prototyping, and community-centric design in healthcare delivery innovation.

 

What This Work Demonstrates

  • Strategic translation of vision into operational prototypes

  • Cross-domain coordination across clinical, operational, and community stakeholders

  • Pioneering a digital-first, integrated care model in complex delivery environments

  • Expertise in shaping novel care delivery systems that inform enterprise strategy