National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 through October 15. UCLA Anderson, in conjunction with the Anderson Latino Management Association and the UCLA campus, recognizes the significant contributions to society among our Latino and Hispanic students, alumni, staff and faculty. Visit Latino@Anderson to enjoy their stories.
By Paul Feinberg
Elvia Delgado (’99) has spent the last 10 years with AltaMed Health Services, the largest, federally qualified community clinic in the country. “Its mission,” Delgado says, “is to provide health services to the underserved and uninsured community.” The organization has served Los Angeles and Orange County for nearly 50 years.
A Pro-Social Imperative
“AltaMed is mission-centric,” Delgado says. “It’s served over 200,000 patients and provided over a million encounters to a population that in many ways has not had access to health care. We provide health care regardless of ability to pay.”
The AltaMed system has 58 locations in Los Angeles and Orange County and provides health care services from birth to end of life, including prenatal, adult medicine, pediatrics, dentistry and behavioral health. It’s physician-based, not an insurance company.
In her role as vice president of sales, marketing and branding, Delgado’s responsiblities are to grow patient membership across the organization through three major lines of business: the medical group, the independent physician association (IPA) and the Program of All Inclusive Care For the Elderly (PACE) . Delgado says she achieves this using three main strategies that include: traditional marketing; partnerships like those with community-based and political organizations; and a seat on the advisory board of Covered California. Through that position she’s been able to influence initivates that drive growth across the state.
No. 1 in Enrollment
One project that particularly satisfied Delgado involved her efforts to enroll members of the community in medical insurance under the Affordable Care Act, or what is euphemistically called “Obamacare.” She created and led AltaMed to become the No. 1 enrollment entity in the entire state of California for the past three years. “I am extremely proud because we were first in the market to open stand-alone health insurance resource centers with dedicated bilingual certified enrollment counselors. Then over 500 organizations followed my strategy. It’s all about understanding the market and working closely with diverse populations. Creating campaigns that are meaningful drove that (effort).”
Delgado’s expertise in marketing to Latino and other multi-ethnic communities has served her well at AltaMed, as well as at Health Net of California and other stops in her career. “It’s really been my core focus,” she says. “So how is it different than general marketing? Not only do you have to create a language-relevant campaign, but you also have to be very culturally sensitive, and so that requires a level of insight and expertise. (Understanding) what drives multi-ethnic communities is critical.”
The Riordan Programs’ Influence
Delgado’s relationship with UCLA did not begin with her enrollment in the MBA program. It began in 1992 when she was a participant in Anderson’s Riordan MBA Fellows Program, which targets recent college graduates interested in earning a graduate degree in business.
“Riordan was absolutely instrumental in my success and where I am today. Through my relationship with the Riordan Programs and Anderson I’ve gained so much,” Delgado says. “I have not only learned, but I’ve established some amazing, meaningful relationships through the past years that have been instrumental in my career path and also on a very personal level.
“I think about where I was in my early 20s — I knew I wanted to go to grad school, but I didn’t know how to get there. And Riordan not only helped me create a road map but also exposed me to different functional career paths in business through the stock exchange activities and through the guest speakers and the mentorship program. Those were all key in helping me develop my personal road map to grad school.
“My advice to current students is to network, network, network,” she says. “Reach out to a woman like myself, express interest. I am very much about paying it forward. If I can help someone, if I can support someone’s career path in health care, I am happy to do that. Reach out to those of us who have been in the industry for many years.”
Policy and Politics
Delgado’s work is potentially impacted by political decisions regarding the nation’s health care system. She tries to stay prepared.
“The short answer is, we always have to have a plan B, right?” Delgado says. “But what I can tell you, aside from the political and policy environment that we’re in, is that there are many things that are clear and are not changing. Or, better said, we know the path. We know that health care now is working on population health and social determinants. We know that payment transformation is necessary and evolving in our space. We know that health care is being disrupted in a very good way by technology. As an organization in the health care industry we know that we can develop strategies and solve problems that are tied to these areas, right? As far as the political part, it’s just one of many elements in health care, just one variable.”
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