An Interview with Keith Patterson, VNSNY’s New Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

On January 25th, Keith Patterson became VNSNY’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, as former EVP and CFO Dan Savitt prepared to move into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer. Frontline VNSNY spoke with Keith shortly before he started his new job.

Welcome to VNSNY! You lived in New York City early in your career. How does it feel to be back?

I am very excited to be here. I’m especially pumped to be joining VNSNY. There are near endless possibilities here, within an organization that’s already been incredibly successful. I’m a huge fan of Dan Savitt and the leadership team. It’s been great getting to know them, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know more people across the organization. Everyone who has interacted with VNSNY has nothing but good things to say. And my grandmother is a VNSNY donor, which I didn’t realize until recently! My grandparents lived in SoHo their whole adult lives—my late grandfather was a jazz musician who played with John Coltrane. So I’m very fond of the city as well.

You’ve worked for several Fortune 500 companies, and most recently you were with a startup. How would you describe the journey that brought you to VNSNY?

Well, I grew up in Philadelphia, and I continue to follow all things related to Philly sports. I’ve had 76ers season tickets for years, and I actually was at the Super Bowl in Minnesota the year the Eagles won it all. It was one of the best days of my life. After high school, I went to college at Florida A&M University, then I began my career at J.P. Morgan in New York, working in strategic finance. I was there when the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 occurred, which was quite an education. I moved to J.P. Morgan’s healthcare team in 2010, right after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had been passed, which was another great learning experience. My role focused on managed care companies and hospitals, so I got to know both sides of the healthcare business. From there I took a mergers and acquisitions position with a company called Coventry Healthcare in the Washington, DC area. They were sold to Aetna not long afterwards, and I ended up serving as interim CFO of the individual business (CoventryOne), helping to launch its ACA health exchange offerings and also doing more traditional financial planning and analysis.

From there you went to UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest insurer. What was that like?

A senior colleague at J.P. Morgan had gone to UnitedHealth to become CFO of Optum, United’s provider business. At the time, Optum was looking to consolidate its different divisions into more of a unified platform, and I was brought on board to help drive that alignment. So I moved out to Minneapolis, where UnitedHealth Group has its headquarters. I’d been an East Coast kid my whole life, so it was quite a change. They have serious winters out there. I was in that role for three years. Then Optum acquired a company called the Advisory Board, and I shifted to become their CFO and manage their integration, which brought me back to the East Coast.

Most recently you worked for a fairly new healthcare company, Ready Responders. What do they do?

Ready Responders provides on-demand healthcare services in a number of U.S. cities. The care is delivered by EMTs and paramedics who are connected with physicians and nurse practitioners via video. I wanted the chance to work with a startup company, and they have an interesting model. Working for a startup is very different—there were a lot of challenges, especially with the pandemic. But it gave me an even more direct experience with the provider side of healthcare.

Pivoting to your new role at VNSNY, what is your vision for the organization?

VNSNY embodies all the things that have always been important to me, both professionally and personally. The importance of the mission at VNSNY is critical—but at the same time, you’ve got to be sustainable financially in order to carry out your mission and continue serving. So my job is to help continue and advance the efforts already underway to achieve both those things. VNSNY is on a path to being a more fully-integrated home- and community-based healthcare organization—caring for those most in need and delivering value to key stakeholders. The organization has proven its ability to improve outcomes for complex patients, providing care in a lower-cost and more convenient setting. We will look for opportunities to expand our services and the reach of our vision to provide more care to more patients. Continuing to deliver for those we serve today and making strategic investments will position us well for growth. There are natural synergies between CHOICE Health Plans and VNSNY’s Provider Services. For example, our health plans offer an ideal platform for introducing new provider products and services. I also think the pandemic, as hard as it’s been, has accelerated the trend toward more digital and telephonic delivery of care, which is an area where VNSNY is at the forefront.

What do you see happening around reimbursements?

Obviously, we need to be reimbursed in a way that covers our costs and allows us to continue to serve. There will always be pressure in this regard, which is why VNSNY’s advocacy efforts are so important. We need to work with the government and other payers to reduce costs where we can, but we also need to remind them of the benefits we provide to their customers and the public. What VNSNY’s workforce has done, and continues to do, during the pandemic is a great example of that. The team at VNSNY shows just what a mission-driven organization can do, in terms of stepping up in a time of need. My father works at a nursing home, so I know very well how difficult this period has been for healthcare workers, and what VNSNY has accomplished delivering care during COVID-19 is phenomenal.

As you start your new position, do you have any additional words you’d like to share with your VNSNY colleagues?

Just that I’m happy to be here, and I’m humbled to be part of this great organization. I also want to give a huge thank-you to everyone for all they’re doing, especially everyone on the front lines. I’m here to learn, so don’t be surprised (or alarmed) if you hear from me in the early days trying to better understand a particular area of the organization. I’m also here to help: We need more of what VNSNY offers across our communities, and I want to do anything and everything I can to help drive VNSNY’s mission forward.