Breaking the Cost Curve: How 32BJ Health Fund and Northwell Direct Are Redefining Affordable Care
Not a member and interested in attending? Contact Emily Commer!
Join NEBGH for a timely conversation with 32BJ Health Fund and Northwell Direct on their recently-announced direct healthcare contract. Through persistent organizing and strategic negotiation, this landmark agreement expands access to high-quality care for 170,000 participants while reducing hospital prices to an average of 184% of Medicare – driving an estimated $46 million in first-year savings and significantly lowering out-of-pocket costs for members.
This webinar will explore how reducing hospital prices and administrative complexity can deliver meaningful savings for unions, employers, and workers alike.
Moderator
Kim Thiboldeaux - CEO
Kim Thiboldeaux is a seasoned, passionate health care leader with experience in both the private and non-profit sectors, spanning multiple disease areas and health care topics including HIV and AIDS, organ transplant, oncology, caregiving, patient navigation, and health equity.
Kim served as CEO of the Cancer Support Community (CSC) for 20 years, from 2000-2020, leading a global nonprofit network that operates at 175 locations, including CSC and Gilda’s Club centers, and in multiple hospitals and cancer clinics. Combined with a toll-free Helpline, a Research Institute, and a DC-based Policy Institute, Kim grew this network of professionally-led services five-fold during her tenure. In her last year as CEO, the organization provided more than $50 million in free support and navigation services to patients and families.
Kim’s service includes appointments to the nation’s premier health care panels and boards. In 2019, Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, appointed Kim to the Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee. This panel is focused on providing advice and serving as a transparent forum for discussion of the scientific, safety, and ethical issues associated with emerging biotechnologies. In 2017, Kim was appointed to serve on the Biden Cancer Initiative’s Board of Directors.
In serving as a patient advocate on these high-profile boards and panels, Kim has brought attention to inequities in our health care system. In 2019, she joined Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, Dr. Jill Biden, and leaders of the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation in Arizona to mark the opening of the first-ever full-time cancer and support center on an American Indian Reservation. Kim helped convene key Navajo Nation leaders, private sector supporters, and other officials to establish this culturally-adapted program located in an area larger than the state of West Virginia. That work led to the opportunity to develop a full-length, feature documentary, Navajo Nation USA, about the cancer center and the triumphs and challenges of the Navajo people. Kim is Executive Producer and Writer on the film (www.NavajoNationUSA.com).
In 2020, Stand Up To Cancer appointed Kim to its Equity Breakthrough Research Review Team, focusing on cancers affecting underrepresented populations. In 2019, the International Psychosocial Oncology Society presented Kim with the President’s Community Award for Distinguished Contributions at its Global Congress in Canada.
Kim has led numerous other initiatives to help patients and families in need. Most notably, she launched an emergency fund in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that provided financial relief grants to thousands of patients affected by the economic downturn and expanded the organization’s professionally-staffed Helpline as the call volume nearly doubled. In addition, as part of a two-year collaboration she led with Airbnb, more than 3,000 patients in need were provided free housing while traveling for treatment.
Speakers
Cora Opsahl
Cora Opsahl is the director of the 32BJ Health Fund, a self-insured Taft-Hartley benefit fund that sets comprehensive design parameters to ensure the 200,000 members and families of SEIU 32BJ have easy and sustained access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. Opsahl has prioritized a data-driven approach, focusing on reducing trend; solving the affordability challenge on behalf of union members; and, most important, keeping members at the center of every decision.
Under her leadership, the 32BJ Health Fund has saved more than $35 million annually—which it has reinvested in new and better benefits, including the first fertility benefit for members—by removing NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals and physicians from its network, transitioning to a new pharmacy vendor and pharmacy group purchasing coalition, and establishing an expanded Centers of Excellence program. In 2024, Opsahl conducted an innovative medical RFP, stipulating that all finalists have a signature-ready contract drafted by the 32BJ Health Fund prior to award. As a result, the Fund negotiated an agreement that brought unprecedented visibility and increased accountability to its benefit. In 2025, the Fund focused on direct-contracting opportunities that allowed it to carve out key benefits and ensure quality while managing spend. In 2026, the 32BJ Health Fund is excited to partner with Northwell Direct to implement the largest direct healthcare contract of its kind in the US and significantly expand members’ access to care. In the first year, the Fund estimates it will save $46 million, or 20 percent, and members will save $5 million in copays.
Cora Opsahl is regarded as an expert in pharmacy benefit management and was recently appointed to the Board of Governors for the National Alliance for Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions and the Purchaser Advisory Council for the National Quality Forum and Joint Commission. She previously worked at Express Scripts, where she held a variety of roles, ranging from Medicare Part D to operations, strategy, and acquisitions. Opsahl earned an MBA from Saint Louis University.
Nick Stefanizzi
Nick Stefanizzi is a versatile health care executive with a track record of innovation and success across both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors of the industry. He currently serves as the CEO of Northwell Direct, where he is responsible for the strategy and performance of Northwell Health’s direct-to-employer business.
Under Nick’s leadership, Northwell Direct has experienced dramatic growth and achieved profitability since launching in 2020. His team is responsible for the management of over $2B in employer health care spend for over 300K employees and family members from over 65 employers and unions in the New York Metro area. Additionally, Northwell Direct has established the largest direct healthcare contract in the country while delivering over $150M in savings to employer and labor clients. As a result, Nick firmly believes that direct-to-employer relationships have the potential to dramatically transform how health care is organized, delivered, and financed across the US.
Prior to joining Northwell Direct, Nick served as Chief Administrative Officer and Interim CEO of Formativ Health, a for-profit joint-venture aimed at enhancing the patient and provider experience of, and access to, health care.
He also spent almost a decade in various roles across Northwell Health, New York State’s largest integrated delivery system and largest private employer. This included serving as Assistant Vice President for HR Innovation and Organizational Effectiveness, Director of Management Services for the ambulatory and joint venture network, and Chief of Staff to the CIO.
Nick’s leadership and innovation have routinely been recognized including being honored in Crain's Notable LGBTQIA+ Leaders, Modern Healthcare’s 25 Emerging Leaders, and Becker's Rising Stars: Healthcare Leaders Under 40.
Nick received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Boston University and his MBA in Healthcare Administration from Hofstra University. He serves as an advisor and board member for a variety of healthcare organizations.