Co-Designing Social Care: Payers and Providers

Sherry supports efforts to implement Kaiser Permanente’s system to screen members for social needs and facilitate their linkage to social care via interactive networks of community-based providers. In this role she works with a broad array of communities across Kaiser Permanente’s footprint, and partners with other health plans and providers. She participates in collaboratives aimed at addressing social determinants of health.

Before this position, Sherry was Managing Director of Community Benefit Programs for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region where she oversaw the Northern Region’s community benefit portfolio, which included charitable care and coverage; partnerships with community health centers and safety net institutions; research, training and education; and investments in programs and services that address community health needs across the region’s 14-county service area.

Previously, Sherry served for ten years as Executive Director of the First 5 Association of California, where she represented California’s 58 First 5 County Children and Families Commissions.  Before that, she worked for 15 years in the California Legislature, serving as Chief Consultant to the Assembly Human Services Committee and specializing in issues related to child and family services, early care and education, income support programs, health care for low-income individuals, disability, and long-term care.  She was the chief Assembly staff negotiator of CalWORKs, California’s version of the federally-mandated welfare to work program.  Throughout her career, Sherry has advocated for the rights and well-being of underserved, vulnerable and disenfranchised populations.

Sherry holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In her role, Ji’s responsibilities in community health include working with internal and external stakeholders to integrate and align community health priorities for addressing social determinants of health, fostering cross-sector collaborations, and developing strategic partnerships focused on identifying opportunities for growth with the goal of improving health equity. Before joining Dignity Health, Ji was Director of Community Benefit for Northwell Health in New York. Ji brings program development, strategy, process improvement, and technology integration experiences from Yale- New Haven Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and George Washington Medical Center as well as IT business consulting experience in the high-tech sector from Accenture.

Ji holds a Master’s degree in Health Management from the Yale School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Art degrees in Economics and Philosophy from the College of William & Mary. Ji received the Tomorrow’s Leader award from the Catholic Health Association.

June is nationally recognized for her leadership in the administration of health care organizations. Since founding Partners in Care in 1997, Simmons has led the organization’s pioneering role in developing and scaling evidence-based care models, leading to innovative and effective interventions for the management of chronic conditions, the challenges of aging, and better-coordinated care to improve health care outcomes.

Recognized for her innovations, insights and management skills, Simmons frequently speaks on these topics at conferences and seminars. She has been honored with numerous awards by academic and national professional organizations. In 2018, she was inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction, a program within the California Social Welfare Archives that ensures the advances and lessons of the profession remain available to future practitioners and researchers.

Throughout her distinguished career, she has been instrumental in envisioning, creating, funding, and operating, forward-looking health and social services research and programs that meet the mutual needs of patient populations, providers, and health care delivery networks. These initiatives are designed to encourage the implementation of cost-effective, patient-friendly integration of care across settings, from primary care and hospital to home and community.

Simmons has been active as one of the co-founders of the national Evidence-Based Leadership Council. She continues to work in co-founding collaborations with other key leaders, most recently the Los Angeles Alliance for Community Health and Aging—a new public health partnership, designed to disseminate evidence-based intervention and education programs to achieve better health results for diverse populations. In fall 2015, she joined NCOA’s Board of Directors and has recently completed terms on the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Transforming End-of-Life Care.

Timothy P. McNeill is the founder of Freedmen’s Health, a Washington, DC healthcare consulting firm specializing in implementation of innovative models of care. Tim has led the firm’s consulting efforts serving customers including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA)/Administration for Community Living (ACL) and various Foundations and National Non-profit organizations. Under an HHS/ACL contract, Tim has been the lead technical assistance provider to establish and support integrated networks to deliver new models of care that address medical risks and social determinants of health supporting value-based contracting in 26 States.

In addition to currently serving as the Co-Chair of the Partnership to Align Social Care, Tim has started or expanded multiple sustainable health programs including two Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs, an IPA made up of FQHCs and independent physicians, a network of community-based free clinics, managed the operations of a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers, and established multiple regional networks to deliver Long-Term Services and Supports, contracting with MCOs, in support of State Medicaid Waiver implementation.

Tim is a Registered Nurse with a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and a Master of Public Health from Eastern Virginia Medical School. Mr. McNeill is also a retired U.S. Navy Nurse Corps Officer.