Almost 80 million people in the U.S. and 15 million in California rely on Medicaid for health coverage (in the state, it’s referred to as Medi-Cal). Medicaid is the primary program providing comprehensive health and long-term care to one in five people living in the U.S. and accounts for nearly $1 out of every $5 spent on health care, according to KFF. Currently, Congress is considering plans to cut the program, which is often called “America’s medical safety net.”
This year, UC Berkeley School of Public Health is engaging student brain power, entrepreneurial spirit and creativity to develop innovative business solutions to maximize Medicaid’s impact. In early March, the school’s Social Impact team, partnering with Impact Fellow Nate Favini, hosted its first-ever Medicaid Innovation Competition, at which six talented student teams from across UC Berkeley pitched groundbreaking solutions to enhance health and access for Medicaid enrollees.
Participating students, judges and Berkeley Public Health team
The teams represented a broad spectrum of disciplines and skills from medicine to software engineering, and product management to healthcare operations. Four distinguished judges bringing a mix of policy, health plan, investing, and startup perspectives ranked the six teams. Judges included Nikita Singareddy, CEO of Fortuna; Melissa Buckely, Director of the Innovation Fund at the California Health Care Foundation; California’s Medicaid Director Tyler Sadwidth; and Dr. Ed Juhn, Chief Quality Officer at Inland Empire Health Plan. The top three teams were awarded cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $3,000.
First place went to Karla Baires and Pranjali Vadlaputi, both MBA candidates at Haas School of Business, for their proposed Mira Health business to expand community health worker capacity to better serve communities.
“Mira Health is a people-first solution that makes sure access to care is never the reason someone’s health worsens,” said Baires.
“We aim to connect at-risk Medicaid recipients with 1:1 Patient Navigators who provide personalized support to overcome barriers and access timely, appropriate care. Winning first place at the UC Berkeley Medicaid Innovation Competition highlights not just our progress, but the pressing need for innovative solutions in healthcare access.”
Dean Michael Lu and judge Melissa Buckley awarding prize to NourishMed
Second place was taken by Swapnika Tantravahi, Eloisa Lopez, and Vig Karthik, all Health Policy & Management MPH candidates, for NourishMed, a venture to bring food pharmacies to hospitals to address food insecurity. And Masato Takeda, MPH/MBA dual degree candidates—and teammates Jess Miao, Aya Nagai, and April Hishinuma, MBA candidates, landed in third place with Michi, supporting individuals transitioning from jails and prison with critical services and community connections.