A seasoned leader in the health care industry, Cain A. Hayes, President and CEO of Point32Health has a deep understanding of the disparities that exist in health care access and delivery. Cain worked in financial services before shifting to health care in 2010, inspired partly by the Affordable Care Act and the opportunity it represented for expanding health coverage to more Americans. Since then, he has led organizations in working toward addressing health inequities by improving access and affordability in health care.  

Point32Health’s health equity vision is that everyone has the opportunity to attain their full health potential, and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or any other socially defined circumstance. As the only health plan in the state of Massachusetts that serves every segment of the market — from Medicaid to the state exchange, to Medicare and people who are dually eligible — Cain points to the organization’s diverse member population with varied needs as being the reason why improving health equity is a core focus for Point32Health.

Since taking over as President and CEO, Cain oversaw the formal launch of the Health Equity Program at Point32Health, which brought together over 70 ongoing health equity initiatives across the organization. The program also created an organizational structure for coordination and focus in six key areas to advance health equity. Those key areas include improving health outcomes in pregnancy and postpartum care, increasing access to rural health members and closing equity gaps in vaccination rates. Point32Health is also focusing on future initiatives to ensure inclusive and effective LBGTQIA+ care and creating “safe zones” for members who live with substance use disorders. 

Under Cain’s leadership, Point32Health health plans, which are delivered through Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, were the first in the region, and among the first in the nation, to receive Health Equity Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This accreditation was achieved, in part, because of the organization’s efforts to address members’ cultural and linguistic needs, identify opportunities to reduce disparities in health outcomes, and improve the care experience. 

As a founding member of the Health Equity Compact (the Compact), a Massachusetts coalition of health care leaders with lived experience, Cain uses his professional and personal experience as catalysts to drive change in health equity across the region. The Compact is focused on helping to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable health outcomes, transforming care delivery, and influencing health policy. 

Cain firmly believes that promoting racial justice, economic prosperity, and workplace equality is a natural extension of Point32Health’s purpose. As one of a small group of CEOs in the industry who is Black, Cain has not only joined forces with the Compact to address systemic solutions to talent shortages beyond Point32Health’s operations, but he’s also focused on diversifying Point32Health’s senior leadership team to ensure its workforce mirrors the communities it serves, while encouraging his leaders to attract and retain underrepresented talent at all levels within the organization.