Objectives in Action
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Accelerating the Hiring Process, Especially for Hard-to-Fill Positions
August 26, 2025–Welcome to “Objectives in Action,” our ongoing series that features teams from across the organization that are working to make our four Top Company Objectives a reality. These strategic objectives, when executed well, will help us achieve our vision. Top Company Objectives featured in this article: In the spotlight: The HR Talent Acquisition team The hiring situation: Until earlier this year, the Talent Acquisition team was using Workday to track job candidates as they move through the hiring process. While Workday is a strong system for HR, payroll and finance, it has limited functionality when it comes to tracking job applicants: Key parts of the hiring process—like sharing resumes and collecting feedback—often had to be done outside the system through emails or other manual methods. Also, the reporting and analyzing of hiring information required manual workarounds to extract data, making it difficult to view trends or make real-time, data-informed decisions.
How Team Members Are Harnessing AI in Their Daily Jobs
July 14, 2025–In his July CEO Zoom, CEO Dan Savitt introduced VNS Health’s new Top Company Objective: Harness AI to transform how we engage, support, and care for those we serve, empowering our teams to achieve superior health outcomes. This transformation has already begun, with team members from across the organization using AI to empower how they do their daily work. If you would like to share how you are using AI, please click here to answer a very short survey. We’d love to hear from you! To give you just a small example, here is how 16 team members said they’re using AI to help them in their jobs:
Using “Rachel,” an AI Care Specialist, to Connect with Health Plan Members
May 13, 2025–Welcome to “Objectives in Action,” our on-going series that features teams from across the organization that are working to make our Top Company Objectives a reality. Top Company Objectives: Teams: Health Plans (including the Health Plans Business Implementation Team, Member Experience, and Member Retention), Care Management, CCSS, Compliance/Legal, IT (including IT Data Architecture Services), Provider Operations, and Provider Relations. The situation: Last fall, our Health Plans team enrolled around 10,000 new members in our stand-alone Medicare Advantage (MA) health plans—Easy Care and EasyCare Plus. While the annual enrollment period was extremely successful, to get this record number of new members on-boarded quickly was a challenge. That’s because the health risk assessment process—a key part of on-boarding, which ensures the member gets the right level of care—requires a real-time phone interview, and these MA members can be hard to reach. Zoom in: Because EasyCare and EasyCare Plus members are quite active
Creating a Meaningful and Attractive Work Experience for Our HHA Team Members
December 10, 2024–Welcome to “Objectives in Action,” our continuing series that features teams from across the organization that are working to make our Top Company Objectives a reality. Top Company Objective: Make our field-based roles the obvious choice for top talent. Team: Personal Care The Situation: Just as with clinicians, demand for talented home health aides is great. To recruit and retain top HHA talent, the Personal Care team realized it needed to take additional steps to provide a meaningful and attractive work experience for our HHA team members. Top Company Objective in Action: To enhance home health aides’ work environment, the Personal Care team created a VNS Health Rewards program, which rewards HHAs who meet specific performance benchmarks with financial bonuses that are then added directly to their weekly paychecks. By fostering a culture of recognition with VNS Health Personal Care, this program has become a cornerstone of workforce retention. The
Expanding the Reach and Impact of Behavioral Health Services in the Bronx
August 20, 2024–Since early this year, Frontline has been highlighting teams from across the organization who are working to make our Top Company Objectives a reality. Today’s “Objectives in Action” team in the spotlight: Behavioral Health. Top Company Objective: Expand the reach and impact of care management and behavioral health solutions serving high-need populations. Team: Behavioral Health The situation: In neighborhoods of the Bronx that have large percentages of residents living below the poverty line (including the South Bronx), health and wellness resources are limited and can be difficult to access, particularly behavioral health resources. As a result, residents tend to receive services in a fragmented way and aren’t getting the comprehensive, integrated care they need. To make the situation even worse: These communities also have high rates of mental health and substance use disorders that often go untreated. Top Company Objective in action: For years, VNS Health has provided mental health
Reaching Even More Vulnerable New Yorkers Across New York State
June 4, 2024–Here is the latest in our series, “Objectives in Action.” Each month, we feature a team from across the organization that’s working to make one of our 4 Top Company Objectives a reality. Today we feature our Health Plans team. Top Company Objective: Lead New York State in integrated long-term care (VNS Health Total) Team: Health Plans The opportunity: VNS Health is looking to grow its integrated health plan, VNS Health Total, available to New Yorkers eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, and MLTC (long term services and supports). We are actively expanding our service area to include additional counties in Upstate New York. Our Total product became available in July 2023 in Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady Counties; it will also be offered in the fall to residents in Erie (Buffalo) and Monroe (Rochester) Counties for 2025, pending DOH approval. The existing footprint of our MLTC plan now extends to over thirty-five
Improving Hospice Quality of Care by Supporting and Empowering Families
April 30, 2024–Here is the latest in the series, “Objectives in Action.” Each month, we’ll feature a team from across the organization that’s working to make one of our 4 Top Company Objectives a reality. Next up, our Hospice Care team. The VNS Health Hospice Care team has a challenging pair of Objectives: To lead the New York City hospice market in quality and improve the financial sustainability of our Hospice program. By making this happen, the team will also be helping VNS Health achieve our Top Company Objective of bringing our operating margins and cost structure in line with the rest of the industry. Here’s the story behind the many exciting patient-centered initiatives the Hospice team has launched to achieve their Objectives and support and empower families, all with an eye towards improving quality of care. The situation: The goal of hospice care is to have a patient remain comfortable and
When Listening Turns to Action
March 26, 2024–Here is the latest in the series, “Objectives in Action.” Each month, we’ll feature a team from across the organization that’s working to make one of our 4 Top Company Objectives a reality. Next up, our Home Care team. Top Company Objective: Make our field-based roles the obvious choice for top talent. Team: VNS Health Home Care The situation: Newly hired home care clinicians were feeling overwhelmed and unsupported when they started working at VNS Health and, as a result, many were leaving the organization after just a few months. As if that’s not challenging enough: Additionally, due to the nationwide clinician shortage, longtime VNS Health clinicians have had to take on more caseloads and were experiencing burnout. Top Company Objective in action: To help improve the work experience for both new and longtime team members, the Home Care team has been holding frequent listening roundtables with field clinicians
Objectives in Action:
“No Medicaid? No Problem!”
February 20, 2024–Welcome to our new series, “Objectives in Action.” Each month, we’ll feature a team from across the organization that’s working to make one of our 4 Top Company Objectives a reality. First up, our Health Plans’ Medicaid Operations team. Top Company Objective: Lead New York State in integrated long-term care (MAP) Team: Medicaid Operations The situation: About one-third of the people who apply to our two Medicaid long-term care plans—Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) and Total (our Medicaid Advantage Plus, or MAP plan)—have errors or lapses in their Medicaid coverage that need to be fixed before they can enroll. As if that isn’t challenging enough: Processing the paperwork and getting state approval to enroll someone into a plan was taking a long time—79 days on average. Top Company Objective in action: To address these issues, the Medicaid Operations team, which is part of the Health Plans’ Medicaid Eligibility Unit (MEU) and consists