Zing Health appoints seasoned healthcare finance executive
CHICAGO: Zing Health, a physician-led Medicare Advantage HMO plan, announced today Mete Sahin has been named Chief Financial Officer. Sahin brings 25 years of healthcare finance expertise to further Zing Health’s goal of providing affordable, holistic and inclusive care to improve community health for underserved populations.
Sahin has deep experience assessing, developing and implementing strategies for healthcare companies, from private equity fundraising, financing, M&A and business integrations to Medicare Advantage bidding, internal controls, financial systems and reporting. Sahin’s knowledge in pricing health insurance plans and controlling costs will further Zing Health’s ability to implement innovative Medicare Advantage plans that work in the community to make sure members get the right care at the right time.
“As a consultant during our Chicago launch, Mete was instrumental in raising capital and building solid financial processes and systems,” said Dr. Eric Whitaker, Zing Health co-founder and CEO. “As an experienced healthcare finance executive, Mete knows the playbook for running a comprehensive insurance plan that improves outcomes for its members at lower cost. We look forward to working with him in a full-time capacity as he builds a healthcare finance team with tremendous Medicare Advantage experience and proven performance.”
Sahin’s Financial Role Key to Improving Community Health
Sahin previously served as CFO of Advance Health, overseeing its growth and 2018 merger with CenseoHealth to form Signify Health, a New Mountain Capital portfolio company. In this role, Sahin was responsible for creating cost-efficient processes that enabled Advance Health to meet complex care needs through early, person-to-person interventions. These innovations ranged from aligning the incentives of medical providers to improve patient health to heading off potential adverse drug interactions or hospital visits. The network of nurse practitioners worked with doctors in the nation’s leading Medicare Advantage programs to identify gaps and health risks for hundreds of thousands of patients.
Prior to his tenure with Advance Health, Sahin was CFO of XLHealth Corp., helping its subsidiary Care Improvement Plus grow, innovate and stage a rapid financial turnaround. In six years, XLHealth grew from a $600 million operator of Medicare Advantage special needs plans to a $2 billion plus company acquired by UnitedHealth Group. As CFO of UnitedHealth’s dental, vision and Medicaid business segments, Sahin reorganized offerings to become efficient and more responsive. He was also vice president-finance and controller of Lifemark Corp. before it was absorbed into UnitedHealth.
Mr. Sahin earned his master’s degree from the University of Surrey in England and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
COVID-19 Sharpens Focus on Underserved Populations
“Due to the COVID-19 crisis, people are more aware of the importance of caring for their immune system and treating underlying risk factors. With the right processes and protocols in place, a higher level of care can drive down medical costs,” Sahin said. “I’m confident in Zing Health’s mission to offer attractive Medicare Advantage plans that deliver high-quality services to underserved populations at little or no cost to members. I look forward to working alongside Eric and the rest of his leadership team to accomplish these goals.”
As a company co-founded by the American Medical Association’s Health 2047 innovation lab, Zing Health is a physician-led company committed to lowering healthcare costs through innovative, data-informed practices. Every member’s care team includes not only the medical provider but also a nurse, a behavioral health specialist, a community health worker and access to a 24-hour nurse advice line and telehealth video services.
Zing Health has been empowered in its effort to focus on populations underserved by traditional health insurance models and expand to more Midwest counties and recently announced a commitment of up to $150 million in equity by Newlight Partners, a private investment firm.
This holistic approach allows its field teams to address social determinants of health such as housing quality, food availability, access to transportation and racial and gender inequality—for example, making house calls to identify asthma triggers or partnering with community organizations and clinics to connect members to lower cost or overlooked local services. The robust and integrated services Zing Health provides are sustained by its inventive, tech-enabled platform that lets all team members and stakeholders work together.
