Erin Budd Barry marshals health care network for Medicaid recipients

“My father is a physician, so it’s always been ‘in my blood’,” says Erin Budd Barry, in explaining her shift away from an originally considered career in law to healthcare.

While her official title at Finger Lakes Performing Provider System (FLPPS) is director of strategic community initiatives, she might more aptly be referred to as: master strategist, collaborator, consensus builder, effective spokesperson and consummate de-constructor of a bewildering array of government program acronyms. To appreciate some of Budd Barry’s endeavors, a bit of background information regarding her employer is in order.

FLPPS is a non-profit organization and partnership comprised of hospitals, healthcare and community-based organizations and medical providers in the Finger Lakes 13-county region. Their combined efforts are marshaled to support a federal and New York State-driven initiative known as — wait for the acronym — DSRIP or the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program.

Got that?

In plain English, DSRIP is a program designed to reform how care is provided to Medicaid recipients. The overarching goal is to provide Medicaid to recipients in a manner that is both cost effective and sensitive to recipients’ social determinants such as having access to food, safe housing and reliable transportation, to name a few determinants.

Not just any entity can participate in the DSRIP program. To participate, providers must compete in a statewide application process.  “We were not only selected as a network for participation, but received one of the highest application scores and awards,” Budd Barry states with evident pride.

“Erin strives for excellence in all that she does and dedicates herself to comprehensive learning about each topic she embraces. She adds a consistent depth of knowledge and perspective to our team,” says Carol Tegas, executive director FLPPS.

Budd Barry describes herself as someone who was always drawn to marginalized populations. She is, therefore, particularly pleased to be profoundly involved in assuring better quality of care to Medicaid recipients by connecting the clinical side of the care equation (medical providers) with the non-clinical (social service and community-based organizations).

Her concern for the well-being of others is evident in her active participation in The Children’s Agenda where she is a board member, chair of their strategic planning committee and a member of their governance committee. In addition, she is a member of the board of Mary Cariola Children’s Center quality and compliance committee.

Personal: 37, married with two children, lives in Webster.

Occupation: Director of Strategic Community Initiatives at Finger Lakes Performing Provider System (FLPPS).

College name/degree earned/year graduated: Hamilton College, B.A., Women Studies (2002); Simon Business School, MBA (2010).

Notable Work Projects: Part of the team that secured $565 million to participate in the DSRIP Medicaid Redesign Program. Proud to lead VBP Readiness Pilot, a new FLPPS pilot project, in which we collaborate with the United Way, Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative and two CBOs who will soon join the cohort. 

Current community activities and recent achievements: Forty Under 40 award.

Biggest challenge I've overcome: Being part of the team that created the FLPPS 501(c)(3) while managing the DSRIP program from application phase to startup. To be the first employee of FLPPS, and watch the network grow and thrive over the past three years has been the biggest challenge and blessing in my career.

A person who has inspired me: My mother has always been a huge inspiration in my life. Her career path is unique; she is self-made and has charted her own way. She taught me many things, but some of the most important are sense of self, importance of being authentic, and operating with integrity and respect for others. Lastly, she also taught me to listen more than I speak. 

Future goals:

Personal: Involved in a family-wide pursuit of road racing together.  Our collective goal is to always have another race on the horizon, to push us toward healthy, active lives.

Professionally:  The field of community health is shifting in a positive direction, and I’m excited to be a part of this moment, through DSRIP, Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle’s System Integration Table, and Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative. 

One piece of advice for someone starting out in her professional career: Create a “personal Board.”  It is incredibly useful to have a diverse group of individuals, whom you keep close, that keep you humble, provide you with honest feedback, kindness, empathy, guidance, that you trust emphatically, and have experience that you hope to emulate in your career. Make sure those interactions are reciprocal and that you pay their generosity forward.

One thing I've always wanted to do but never have: Travel to Cuba. 

A quote that inspires me: Maya Angelou’s — "I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." 

Arlene Hisiger is a Rochester-area freelance writer.

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