Dear WholeYouNYC Partners,
Happy New Year!
I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season and were able to take some time to rest and recharge.
As we begin 2026, I want to briefly reflect on what we accomplished together in 2025 and outline what lies ahead.
This time last year, WholeYouNYC was launching its first wave of partners. Today, the network has grown from 70 organizations to more than 200. We have awarded over $28 million in capacity-building funds and trained more than 3,000 individual service providers to provide services across the network.
Most important, we made significant progress addressing unmet social needs among people with Medicaid. In 2025, the network:
For a start-up year, this represents real and measurable impact. In a time marked by policy uncertainty, WholeYouNYC delivered tangible results for New Yorkers and for the community-based organizations that serve them.
At the same time, 2026 brings a set of ambitious expectations. CMS and NYS-OHIP have set clear performance benchmarks, including:
Closing these gaps is essential to securing continued State and Federal support for SCN infrastructure and services beyond 2027.
We will not meet these targets without sustained effort across the network. To support this work, we have launched a performance-based incentive program. If you have not yet reviewed it, you can find details here. I encourage you to work with your Provider Support Team representative to identify achievable incentives and develop strategies aligned with your organization’s capacity and mission.
We are also clear-eyed that measuring volume says little about the quality of service. Our 2026 network performance priorities emphasize access, efficiency of service and payment, network adequacy, and member experience. These will serve as our core indicators of network strength and long-term sustainability.
Many of you have told us that more opportunities for in-person collaboration would be valuable. In response, our community engagement team will be hosting convenings in the coming months. We are also launching Executive Office Hours, offering organizational leadership the opportunity to receive performance updates and engage directly with me on policy, strategy, development, and sustainability.
Finally, I want to share a note of cautious optimism. At a recent all-SCN convening with health plan partners in Albany, NYS-OHIP reaffirmed its commitment to supporting both infrastructure and services beyond March 2027. While the path ahead is steep and uncertain, consensus is high among policymakers and health plans that improving Medicaid quality and controlling costs requires sustained investment in addressing social drivers of health.
We are closely monitoring State and Federal policy developments and will continue working to ensure that decision makers understand the impact of this network and why it matters now more than ever.
Looking ahead, the first edition of the WholeYouNYC newsletter for 2026 will be sent out next week—we're excited to share more updates, insights, and resources with you.
Thank you for your partnership and leadership.
Yours in Service,
Zachariah Hennessey
Chief Strategy Officer, Public Health Solutions
Executive Vice President, WholeYouNYC
