Cesar Herrera, Humanity Changemaker
Meet Cesar Herrera, CEO and co-founder of Yuvo Health.
Yuvo Health provides administrative and managed-care contracting services to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), centers that serve an underserved area or population and provide comprehensive health services. For Herrera, it was his personal experience with an FQHC that motivated him to found Yuvo Health.
“I’m a former patient of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and I’m forever grateful to the FQHCs that gave care, support, and dignity to me and my family regardless of our insurance status,” said Herrera. “I knew FQHCs were the ones doing the work to provide care to historically underserved communities. And I also know they were grossly under-resourced and struggling to keep up with demand. We founded Yuvo Health to support FQHCs in their mission to serve their communities with high-quality care. Yuvo Health connects FQHCs with administrative services and a managed-care contracting engine, so they can unlock revenue streams and better serve patients via value-based care.”
The problem of healthcare access is particularly acute among communities of people of color in the United States, creating a disparity in quality of life and mortality rates among racial and ethnic groups. For Herrera, an FQHC can make all the difference in improving health outcomes in a community, but these facilities often lack critical resources in staff, financial support and technology. That’s where Yuvo Health aims to make a difference, says Herrera. “We believe that by eliminating daunting investment and operating burdens, FQHCs will be able to focus on this urgent issue: Providing quality care to communities in need.”
Like many new and innovative companies, it wouldn’t have been possible for Yuvo Health to be established and thrive without Herrera’s own professional network. Herrera knew that the company would need the leadership of individuals with both professional expertise and a personal connection to the providers and patients they serve. Yuvo Health is led by co-founders Janel Sia, its interim Chief Operating Officer, Carmelo Cruz Reyes, Chief Managed Care Officer and Stephanie Hudson, Chief Legal Officer. As a CEO, Herrera understands the challenges of finding highly skilled leaders for his company: “I’m so grateful I was already connected with Carmelo and Stephanie; I recognized that I was looking within an all-too narrow network. This is where organizations like Humanity Health can be so critical,” he said.
Herrera’s work as a Changemaker is not limited to the impact of his organization on underserved communities. Yuvo Health actively works to create a culture that supports and amplifies women and people of color throughout the healthcare industry. “Yuvo Health has a fully BIPOC founding team and is currently fully composed of BIPOC and/or women staff. As we scale from 15 to 150 to 1,500 and beyond, we are committed to creating job opportunities and highlighting the tremendous pool of BIPOC and women talent in healthcare.”
#HumanityChangemakers amplifies the work of BIPOC and women innovators and disruptors in the healthcare industry. For more updates, follow us at Humanity Health!