COLLINSVILLE, CT February 2, 2022 — Goodroot has announced the hiring of Steve Palma as president of medical cost solutions. In this new role, Palma will support Goodroot’s mission of making healthcare more affordable and accessible by leading its newly established medical cost solutions area. Finding synergies among existing Goodroot affiliates, as well as launching and fast-tracking new offerings, Palma will develop solutions for employer groups and health plans to enable employees to more easily navigate their medical benefits, ensure bill accuracy and avoid medical debt by accessing quality medical treatment at a fair price.
Increasing healthcare affordability and access has been Goodroot’s mission since inception in 2019. Goodroot has already achieved a great deal of success removing hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful spending on the pharmaceutical side of healthcare. Palma will build on his executive experience at multiple health plans and healthcare insights companies as he spearheads Goodroot’s expansion into reducing medical costs.
“Despite working honestly and ethically for 25 years, it was still hard to not feel like I was part of the problem,” Palma says. “Anyone who has been in healthcare for a long time — on the hospital, insurance or vendor side — they would all likely tell you, if they’re being honest, that it’s a dysfunctional system that is not sustainable in the long term in its current form. But most feel trapped, financially or otherwise, and don’t know how, or have the opportunity, to fix the underlying issues. So when I was presented this opportunity to build out the medical cost solutions area for Goodroot that will help address consumer medical debt, now the leading cause of bankruptcy in the Unites States, I jumped at the chance.”
Goodroot is a community of companies dedicated to reinventing healthcare one system at a time. Palma will provide strategic guidance to existing Goodroot affiliates, such as payment integrity company Penstock. Additionally, Palma will be responsible for sourcing and developing new talent, and helping launch new companies and partnerships dedicated to lowering healthcare spend at the employer, group and health plan level.
“Steve saw the same dysfunction that I saw during our time spent working in the industry,” Goodroot CEO Michael Waterbury says. “Goodroot strives to be a beacon in the healthcare world for people like Steve, who want to make the system more transparent and reasonable but may not have the support or resources to achieve this in their current roles. Steve’s depth of knowledge and vision for the future of healthcare makes him a tremendous addition to our leadership team.”
