Government Health Programs Expert John Gorman Announces Formation Of Nightingale Partners, The First Opportunity Zone Fund To Invest In Social Determinants Of Health
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- John Gorman, founder and former Chairman of Gorman Health Group and a former Clinton appointee to the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), today announced the formation of Nightingale Partners LLC, the first Opportunity Zone Fund to invest in social determinants of health with Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plans.
Based in one of DC's Opportunity Zones (OZs), Nightingale will leverage the OZ statute (passed in 2017 with final regs issued in late December 2019) to make major evidence-based investments in anti-poverty and complex care initiatives in partnership with insurers, such as housing, food security, non-urgent medical transport, community health workers and managed long-term care. Nightingale's unique business model will share savings with insurers to repay its investors and continually reinvest in program expansions to serve more vulnerable patients. The firm's goal is to invest $1 Billion in OZ capital over the next 8 years. Nightingale's lead sponsor is CapZone Impact Investments, a major OZ fund based in Connecticut.
"The biggest impediment to more holistic care for complex, vulnerable patients has always been money," Gorman said. "Because we spend less than 1% of our GDP on our social safety net, it falls to health insurers to meet basic human needs of the most expensive patients, and many times those insurers fall short of . Nightingale seeks to de-risk investments in social determinants of health by providing sustainable, long-term capital and monetizing the health care savings these investments generate. It warms my heart that we can invest in improving health care for low-income Americans using the OZ program."
"We are thrilled to work with John and his team on these high impact opportunities," said Gene Huang, CEO of CapZone Healthcare, a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund partner of CapZone Impact Investments. "Health status has a strong negative correlation with income which creates a significant opportunity to improve the health of individuals and families through investments in low income communities. Poor health also contributes to reduced income so addressing health issues reduces poverty."
Gorman assembled a team of experts to help carry out the Nightingale mission, including:
- Rita Mills, CEO. Rita's focus is on business and corporate development at Nightingale. Prior to joining Nightingale, Rita served as Chief Executive Officer at United Healthcare Community Plan of Tennessee, a health plan serving more than 500,000 government sponsored health care consumers and over $2.5B in annual revenue. Her expansive career has included both private and public executive roles from UnitedHealthcare to CMS, where she served as Director, Medicaid Managed Care and oversaw administration of federal Medicaid waiver programs. In addition, Rita serves on several corporate boards, including Brookdale Senior Living.
- Pamme Lyons Taylor, MBA, Chief Innovation Officer: In this role Pamme architects all Nightingale investments and offerings. Prior to joining Nightingale Pamme served as Vice President, Community Impact at WellCare, and as Executive Director of the WellCare Community Foundation. She served in senior executive roles in SDOH management at United Healthcare and at LACare Health Plan.
- Jordan Buxton-Punch, SVP, Finance: Jordan focuses on executing on and overseeing Nightingale's deal portfolio. Jordan's career has spanned various sectors of finance where he has cultivated extensive deal structuring expertise, including private equity, municipal finance, venture capital and Opportunity Zones.
- Gabriel Hitchcock, VP, Communications: Gabriel manages all aspects of Nightingale communications, including mainstream media, social media, the firm's online presence and industry events. He is himself a healthcare startup entrepreneur, having sold his cancer research company straight out of college.
Some of Nightingale's investments in development include the following:
- A major homelessness initiative in Los Angeles to provide housing and support services to 31,000 housing-insecure patients.
- A project with Chinese Community Health Plan in San Francisco to create the "Cantonese Kaiser" of the Bay Area through acquisitions and new SDOH service offerings.
- A statewide initiative in Connecticut to reform and enhance its long-term care and opioid treatment programs, both potentially replicable in other states.
- A program to offer Community Health Workers and medically-appropriate meals to 10,000 vulnerable chronically ill patients in several northwest states.
About Nightingale Partners LLC
Nightingale is a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund and advisory firm connecting capital to payers and providers of care to the medically underserved, based in Washington, DC. Nightingale's mission is to improve the quality of care and reduce unnecessary health care expenditures for our most vulnerable patients through advanced technology, locally-curated social services providers, and innovative financing to address Social Determinants of Health (SDOH).
About CapZone Impact Investments LLC
CapZone Impact Investments LLC was created in 2018 as an innovative investment model to connect profits to purpose. CapZone is a leading national Opportunity Zone investment platform developing Opportunity Zone projects and other Environmental, Social and Governance plus Resilience investments for Social Impact at scale. CapZone brings together human, financial and intellectual capital to invest in low income communities throughout the U.S. using the OZ program.
For inquiries please contact Nightingale Partners LLC at [email protected]
Visit us at Nightingalepartners.org
SOURCE Nightingale Partners LLC
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