Why Our 4 Top Company Objectives for the Next 3 Years Are So Important

By now, everyone at VNS Health should be familiar with what we want the organization to look like in 3 years. If we are successful, by 2026, VNS Health will:

• Serve 100,000 patients, members, and clients on any given day
• Achieve 5-Star Quality and Consumer Experience across the organization
• Produce 3.5% profit margin across all our businesses
• Retain more than 95% of our team members every year

But how do we make this success a reality in just 3 years? That’s where our 4 Top Company Objectives come in. They’re a key part of our Strategic Plan, designed to help us achieve our vision by giving us focus.

Here’s a quick look at these four Objectives and why they’re so important to our mission.

• Top Company Objective: Lead New York State in integrated long-term care (MAP)

Why it matters: When it comes to extending our mission by doubling the number of people in our care to 100,000, enrolling more members into VNS Health Total, our MAP (Medicaid Advantage Plus) plan, will be essential in getting us there. Here’s why: MAP plans are the gold standard for enabling low-income New Yorkers with long-term care needs to live, age and heal in their homes, instead of in a facility. With our decades of experience integrating care for these vulnerable New Yorkers, we will lead the way in expanding access to this coordinated set of Medicare- and Medicaid-funded services.

How we get there: We need to ensure that VNS Health Total—like all our health plans—provides the very best quality and consumer experience for every member, every time. We also need to expand the footprint of our MAP plan across New York State.

• Top Company Objective: Make our field-based roles the obvious choice for top talent.

Why it matters: Recruiting and retaining more field team members means we can spread the work around more evenly, particularly for those in the field, reducing the pressures they feel when we are understaffed. It will also allow us to accept more referrals, which will help drive the growth of our Home Care, Hospice, Behavioral Health, and other lines of business in our Provider Services. Today, due to a shortage of field-based team members, our Home Care and Hospice teams receive more referrals than we can handle—so in addition to teams experiencing added workloads, we’re having to turn referrals down. 

How we get there: We need to focus on doing everything we can to support our team members in the field, so they love their jobs and spread the word to others that VNS Health is the best place to work—enabling us to hire even more people. 

• Top Company Objective: Expand the reach and impact of care management and behavioral health solutions serving high-need populations.

Why it matters: Today, lack of access to social, behavioral, and medical services—an issue that was exacerbated by the pandemic—is contributing to increased medical spend and poor outcomes across our communities. Providing people with community-based Behavioral Health and Care Management support is essential in order to address this crisis, improve quality of life for many, and reduce overall health care costs. Our Behavioral Health and CMO teams have established themselves as leaders in their respective areas, so expanding their reach and impact offers a promising pathway for growth.

How we get there: We need to remain focused on the execution of our existing Behavioral Health and Care Management programs and relationships, proving the value of these services in an increasing impactful manner. Doing this will make it much easier to expand our existing programs to new payers, and to build new programs as well. VNS Health also needs to market this expertise to other “buyers” of our services such as insurance companies.

• Top Company Objective: Bring our operating margins and cost structure in line with rest of industry.

Why it matters: To achieve our first three Top Company Objectives, we must be financially sustainable. VNS Health requires a surplus in order to invest that money back into our organization so we can develop new programs and invest in you, our teams and team members! That will let us do the things we need to do as a leader—be differentiated, be an employer of choice, and extend our mission.

How we get there: To bring our operating margins and cost structure in line with our industry, we need to continue finding efficiencies in how we work while also pursuing profitable, revenue-generating opportunities.

To view the full VNS Health Three-Year Strategic Plan, click here.