My project was to assess the financial status, quantify the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the revenues and costs, and provide forecasts of the upcoming years and recommendations to achieve higher operational efficiency at CP Unlimited, a health care and service provider for the IDD (intellectual or developmental disability) population in New York, established in 1946.

Like many other organizations, CP Unlimited was heavily hit by COVID-19, with less revenue sources due to restrictions of group activities and increased expenses associated with additional medical equipment and personnel costs. My systematic analysis will be leveraged to understand the historical and current operational status across the organization, identify best practices, and establish effective evaluation mechanisms to improve sustainability and service quality to our community. The findings of this analysis will be shared with 23 other affiliates and the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) for state level planning and resource allocation.

This project was highly aligned with my education at Columbia Business School. During my time at school, I systematically expanded my knowledge on health care management, medical insurance systems, and value-based delivery in the United States. Another focus of my study was data analytics, including financial planning, business valuation, and market research. Leveraging my deep expertise in health care, I quickly identified potential areas that the COVID-19 pandemic might have impacted and my data analytics skills helped me deep dive the issues through quantitative analyses.

This was my first time working for a specialized health care provider. Despite seven years of experience in the health care industry, it was challenging to familiarize myself with the services CP Unlimited provided and its unique customers — the IDD population. Originally, we planned to visit one of the local facilities, but ended up not making the trip due to restrictions for social distancing. However, the onboarding orientation, whichincluded deep conversations with colleagues across the organization, was greatly helpful for me to catch up with basic knowledge of the industry and their responsibilities: CP Unlimited provides comprehensive services for the IDD population, including independent living service programs, rehabilitation, vocational services, residential support, health care, etc. Their programs are provided within a warm, caring environment, using person-centered planning to address the specific needs of each person. Another challenge I faced was balancing the social impact and financial performance for CP Unlimited. As a nonprofit, obviously the most important mission is to provide the best services to the IDD population and financial achievement was barely discussed. I struggled whether it was worthwhile evaluating the financial impact of COVID-19 but finally realized the importance of the analysis as their patients and our society will benefit as well from a more efficient and sustainable operation.

I have been always passionate about the health care industry, and I am proud of being in this industry because it’s not only a job, but also contributing to society. One example was that when I was making production plans for multiple diabetes drugs, each of which had $10M in annual revenue for a global company, maximizing revenue was not the only job. I also had to optimize the inventory level so that the drug was always available for the patients who depended on it for their wellbeing. After the COVID-19 outbreak, I have been thinking what I can do to help the community, and I am glad that through this project I was able to contribute to patients and health care providers during the pandemic. Also, this project helped deepen my understanding of the health care ecosystem. It was an important step for me being prepared for a leadership position in this sector.