Upward Health: Q&A with 3 New Leaders
Over the past few months, Upward Health has welcomed over 100 team members nationwide. We sat down with 3 from the New York area to learn more about what brought them to Upward Health and what they hope to accomplish in their roles.
Kyle Bailey, RN, CCM is our Regional Director of Clinical Operations who will oversee our field-based operations for the Northeast region. Kyle joins from Cityblock Health where he was a part of the founding clinical field team and helped build their national care transitions program. Amy Eisenberg, FNP-BC is a Family Nurse Practitioner serving our New York patients. Amy was most recently treating patients in the outpatient setting in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology. She’s been in practice since 2010 with additional years as an RN in hospitals. Nuzhat Quaderi, MPH, CHES is our Director of Centralized Operations, leading our Care Navigator, Community Outreach, and Transitions of Care teams. Nuzhat joins from Unite Us and brings deep experience implementing community health impact and access to care initiatives.
What was the main reason that you decided to join Upward Health?
Nuzhat: Each role throughout my career journey has focused on addressing the systemic and structural inequities that disproportionately impact access to care for marginalized populations. Although each of these opportunities placed value in the whole person care model, no single organization focused on providing a true person-centered, family-centered, and community-centered approach across the end-to-end continuum of care experience. That is what drew me here. I wholeheartedly believe Upward Health’s model is the care model of the future.
I was really drawn to Upward Health’s focus on the patient. It was clear to me that Upward Health valued its role as a provider above all else. Our technology and all other company aspects support patient care. In other companies, you might find that technology is the focus, for example. To me, our clear identity communicated high integrity, and I wanted to be a part of it.
Kyle Bailey, RN, CCM
In what way does patient care at Upward Health stand out to you?
Amy: In my past roles, I’ve never felt that I had enough time with my patients. At Upward Health, I’m looking forward to having that time. I want to connect with my patients and make sure they understand their conditions. When you can put in the time to help patients understand their health and create a plan together, they are more likely to be active participants in their care.
Upward Health cares. Every team member is laser-focused on serving patients to address every possible need with respect and humility. We don’t just make assumptions about what is best for the patient, we empower the patient to lead, and work with them in solidarity – shoulder to shoulder. To me, nothing could be more important than this kind of service orientation.
Nuzhat Quaderi, MPH, CHES
In what way does patient care at Upward Health stand out to you?
Kyle: Ensuring that the services we deliver are available in a consistent and equitable manner is important. I want our patients, who tend to be the most underserved patients, to experience that consistency. I also want to ensure operational efficiency. I know what it’s like to “build the plane while you’re on it.” I want to look for ways to ease operational demands on our team, including how we can standardize our approach.
I believe primary care providers and specialists need to share information in order to deliver safe and effective care. This is really important to me. I intend to put care coordination and provider collaboration into practice here, and I know it will make for a better patient experience and improve patient health outcomes.
Amy Eisenberg, FNP-BC