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Saurabh Tripathi, chief financial officer, Highmark Health
March 27, 2020 was one of the lowest points in my life — an unimaginable tragedy happened in our family. I received a phone call informing me that my mother had passed away. Due to a global COVID-19 shutdown, there was nothing I could do from 10,000 miles away — there was no transportation, no means to travel to India at any cost. We watched her funeral on Zoom, and then mourned, wiping tears and trying to comfort each other over FaceTime from all corners of the world.
This time in my life is still difficult to put into words. I never imagined that I would go through something like this — especially being unable to attend the funeral of my mother, who sold all her jewelry to send her son abroad for higher education. I felt helpless in so many ways.
I know that I am not alone. As the world mourns the loss of more than 6 million people to this invisible enemy, many people have similar and even more tormenting stories. The pandemic has been a lifetime experience for all of us, humbling the mightiest of the mighty, and challenging us in unprecedented ways that have brought out the best and worst of humanity. As those who know me may expect, I wish to focus on the best.
During these trying times, especially in the early days of the pandemic, many organizations took somewhat of a “shelter in place” approach to saving themselves and surviving. Highmark Health took a different approach: We went out into our communities, met with customers, and actively looked for ways to help. Whatever challenges came our way, one thing was evident: We would never give up!
Instead, our organization and its 37,000 team members stepped up to face the pandemic head-on. In the first phase, our leadership team had daily calls to assess what was happening and direct our response. Later, when vaccinations became available, we conducted more than 60 mass vaccination clinics. In addition to the clinicians and health professionals involved, hundreds and hundreds of employees volunteered their time, sometimes enduring freezing cold and rain to help out. In western Pennsylvania, we have delivered about 430,000 COVID-19 vaccination shots to date. Of course, our clinicians and staff have been on the frontlines the whole time, from caring for patients to conducting research to advising the public on the best course of action each time the invisible enemy changed its war tactics with new variants.
While we were fighting the everchanging pandemic — arguably a “black swan” event in terms of enterprise risk — we not only kept our business operations running smoothly, we accomplished things that would be impressive even under “normal” conditions. For example, we launched partnerships with Google and Verily to innovate better technology solutions as part of our Living Health strategy. We expanded the scale of our insurance business through affiliation with HealthNow New York (now Highmark Western and Northeastern New York Inc.) and by acquiring full ownership of Gateway Health (now Highmark Wholecare). We also continued to advance our commitment to bringing world-class health care closer to our communities, opening a state-of-the-art hospital in Wexford, and four new neighborhood hospitals.
There are many ways to measure and talk about an organization’s strength, but the past two years have shown us what strength really means. During a period of great difficulty and many challenges, we cared, we cured, we served, we innovated — and we gave back to our communities in every way we could, including nearly $1.4 billion of support for our customers, providers, and communities.
I have highlighted just a few ways that our organization stepped up with outstanding performance for the people that we serve. Our capacity to do that also depends on our organization’s financial strength.
Recently, we reported our annual financial results for 2021, and I am pleased to say that, due to the unwavering grit, passion and perseverance of 37,000 team members, Highmark Health once again delivered strong financial performance. We grew our top line by more than 22%, from $18 billion to $22 billion within a year. A strong balance sheet led AM Best, one of the premium rating agencies, to upgrade the credit ratings for Highmark Inc. and its subsidiaries. And if you combine our Blue Cross Blue Shield plans with other innovative insurance products and services provided by affiliates and subsidiaries nationwide, we now serve about 29 million members, an increase of 1.1 million year over year.
As Highmark Health’s chief financial officer, I must give 37,000 thanks, one for each team member whose hard work and resilience and problem-solving are behind these strong financial results. Looking beyond the bottom line, I am just as grateful and proud of how they advance Highmark Health’s mission every single day, creating a remarkable health experience that frees people to be their best. It is both inspiring and humbling to be part of what this amazing team has accomplished and the future we are working to build.
As COVID-19 moves from pandemic to endemic and becomes less disruptive to our lives, I believe we should hold onto the lessons learned and strengths discovered during this two-year period. As one practical example, the pandemic pushed all of us to become far more tech-savvy and showed just how valuable technology can be in supporting health. Few people would have considered an online visit with a clinician before this pandemic — and most providers didn’t offer that option. Now, our provider system has seen a 4000% increase in online clinical visits — with high satisfaction rates. We know what we are capable of and can continue using telemedicine everywhere it helps.
Work is another area where the pandemic taught us a new way of thinking — that “work” is best defined by what we do, not where we go. Here at Highmark Health, we saw increases in productivity during the pandemic as many people worked from home rather than coming to an office building every day. We became more nimble and lean, and we are building on these lessons through our “Work from Anywhere” initiative.
But this is much bigger than our organization. As difficult as the pandemic has been, it has also reminded us how connected and interdependent we are as humans. Disparities in impact have been real, but the virus itself knows no geographic or political borders. It has been a threat and disruption to all of us, regardless of race, religion, color, ethnicity or language. If we can carry forward the positive version of that lesson — that we are interdependent and must often work together to be our best — I believe the human race will come out of this hard time stronger, more resilient, and better prepared to face future global challenges.
Saurabh Tripathi is the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Highmark Health, a $22 billion national, blended health organization that includes one of America's largest Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers and a growing regional hospital and physician network. Based in Pittsburgh, Pa., Highmark Health’s 37,000 employees serve millions of customers nationwide through the nonprofit organization's affiliates and subsidiaries.
In his role, Mr. Tripathi is responsible for leading the enterprise's efforts to develop, plan, and implement finance strategies, serving as the primary liaison among regulators and ratings agencies, and overseeing the finance, real estate, tax, and procurement divisions of Highmark Health. A Fortune 50 executive, Mr. Tripathi has over 23 years of experience in managing global teams and multi-billion-dollar profit and loss accounts, and serving as a strategic business partner at the c-suite level to drive profitable growth.
Prior to joining Highmark Health, Mr. Tripathi most recently served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Fresenius Kidney Care, Fresenius Vascular Care, National Cardiovascular Partners, Fresenius Labs, and Fresenius Physician Practices at Fresenius Medical Care in Boston, MA. During his tenure as CFO of this $12 billion segment of Fresenius Medical Care, Mr. Tripathi provided financial leadership to more than 2,400 medical facilities across the U.S., and led a team of 1,000 finance professionals. Read More.
Highmark Health and its subsidiaries and affiliates comprise a national blended health organization that employs more than 42,000 people and serves millions of Americans across the country.
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