2023 Power Players in Health Care

José A. Pagán, Ph.D., is chair of the Board of Directors of NYC Health + Hospitals and professor and chair of the Department of Public Health Policy and Management in the School of Global Public Health at New York University. Pagán is a health economist who has led research, implementation, and evaluation projects on the redesign of health care delivery and payment systems.

Mr. Mario J. Paredes is the CEO of SOMOS Community Care. Mr. Paredes has over 30 years of experience as an executive in health care administration and has extensive experience as a leader in business development. His expertise encompasses international diplomacy, finance, philanthropy, business development, and health care. He has worked extensively with nonprofits, governmental organizations, and religious entities. Before joining SOMOS, Mr. Paredes served at Merrill Lynch as vice president of business development.

What influenced his career in health care?
As a firm believer in the universal right to health care, I immediately embraced the opportunity offered by Dr. Ramon Tallaj to be part of SOMOS’ mission to provide meaningful health care services to the most vulnerable.

What is the biggest challenge currently facing New York’s health care system?
The inequality in the distribution of health care, and how the high prices in our health care system don’t match the low quality of some of the services provided.

What can policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality health care?
Leave personal interests aside and focus on the wellness of the individual as part of a higher good.

Richard Park, M.D. is a health care investor, entrepreneur and board- certified Emergency Medicine physician. Dr. Park is the co-managing partner of Ascend Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm that specializes in investing in health care. In addition, he is also the co-founder and CEO of Rendr, the leading primary care focused, multi-specialty physician group dedicated to serving the underserved Asian community in New York City.

Assembly Member Amy Paulin has served the 88th New York State Assembly District since 2001. She chairs the Assembly Committee on Health and serves on the Committees on Rules and Education. A full-time legislator, Assembly Member Paulin annually ranks among the state’s most productive and successful lawmakers. Over 350 of her bills have been signed into law to date. Her diverse legislative agenda includes health care, education, reproductive rights, child welfare, support for families, domestic violence prevention, sex trafficking elimination, government reform, sustainability, animal welfare, and gun control.

Joe Pecora is the president of the Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA), a union representing nearly 40,000 of New York’s home health care professionals, mainly comprising underrepresented immigrant women of color who care for society’s most vulnerable members. Mr. Pecora has played a key role in the union’s lobbying efforts, testifying before legislative committees, and advocating for and negotiating improved wages and better working conditions. He also led countless membership recruitment campaigns across New York.

What is the biggest challenge currently facing New York’s health care system?
Compared to the number of home health care workers in the state, New York faces a massive shortage of home care professionals where nearly one million New Yorkers will require home care by 2035. Wage increases are the solution to combating this shortage but according to industry experts, home care wages have been stagnant over the past two decades, and home care workers make approximately 40% less than nursing care workers.

Kenneth E. Raske is president of the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), which represents more than 160 not‑for‑profit hospitals and health systems, both voluntary and public, in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. An expert on health care policy and finance, Mr. Raske plays a key role in shaping the health care delivery system and has helped guide GNYHA’s hospital and continuing care members through dramatic changes in the health care marketplace.

Wayne J. Riley, M.D., is president of the State University of New York, Downstate Health Sciences University. Dr. Riley is a distinguished physician, academician, clinician-educator, and administrator; the institution that he leads is the only academic medical center serving Brooklyn. In February 2021, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed Dr. Riley as one of four co-chairs of the New York City Covid Recovery and Health Equity Task Force. He is also chair of the Board of Trustees of the New York Academy of Medicine.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera represents the 33rd District in the Bronx. Since taking office, he has focused on addressing health inequity. In 2018, he became chair of the Senate Health Committee. In this role, he collaborates with colleagues, stakeholders, and constituents to improve health outcomes, increase access to care, and ensure a viable health care system for all. He is the sponsor of the New York Health Act to establish a single-payer statewide health care system.

What influenced you to pursue a career in the health care field?
I believe that health care is a right, not a privilege. The Bronx has ranked as New York’s unhealthiest county for over a decade, so I’m focused on policies and investments that eliminate glaring health disparities and gaps in care for our state’s most vulnerable communities. We need to invest in our health care workforce and facilities to achieve health equity for my neighbors and New Yorkers across the state.

What is the biggest challenge currently facing New York’s health care system?
Working to guarantee access to care for families, low-income New Yorkers, rural communities, and communities of color. We must transform our current profit-centered health care system into a system that treats patients equitably regardless of their income or insurance plan. We must ensure that financial barriers don’t delay or discourage New Yorkers seeking medical care and support our health care providers so they can make decisions with their patients, not based on what insurance companies will cover.

How do you describe your position to people outside of the health care industry?
I’m an advocate for my neighbors in The Bronx and communities like ours that deserve resources to build healthier communities. I’m a lawmaker who works with colleagues in government and experts in the health care field to identify short and long term solutions that will improve our health care system health outcomes for all New Yorkers. I’m a public servant who connects my constituents with local resources to be healthier in their homes, schools, and lives.

What can policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality health care?
Help me pass the New York Health Act. A single payer system will improve New Yorkers’ health outcomes through guaranteed access to primary and preventive care, provide our health care providers what they need to best serve every New Yorker regardless of their ability to pay, and make our health care system more financially viable. Critical funding should not be going towards the profit margins of health plans, it should be invested in direct care for patients.

Therese R. Rodriguez is the Chief Executive Officer of Apicha Community Health Center, formerly known as Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS. She has led the organization since 1997. Under Therese’s leadership, Apicha CHC transformed from an AIDS Service Organization to a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in 2015. A long-time resident of Queens, Therese was born and raised in the Philippines. She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Business Administration degree from St. Theresa’s College in the Philippines.

Todd brings a wealth of knowledge, industry experience and innovation to the health information exchange space, where he has worked in leadership positions over the past 10 years. He originally joined Healthix in 2015 as the senior vice president and chief information officer, providing the vision, strategy and day-to-day operational leadership for all technical aspects of the company. Leading Healthix as president and CEO since 2019, he has grown Healthix to be one of the largest publicly funded HIEs in the nation, managing records of over 20 million individuals, with data coming from over 8,000 participating health care facilities across New York State.