May 2026
Patient Empowerment Workgroup Member
HCPLAN members play a vital role in advancing healthier communities and stronger healthcare connections. In May 2026, Nzinga Harrison, a member of the Patient Empowerment Workgroup, shared insights on her work and the importance of patient empowerment in health care.
In your experience, how do you see the Patient Empowerment Workgroup contributing to the advancement of patient empowerment?
“What I love about this workgroup is that we’re not just talking about empowerment in the abstract — we’re building something people can actually use. We’re naming real barriers, centering the voices of people seeking care, and creating practical tools that meet clinicians, health plans, and community organizations where they are. For populations I serve — people navigating addiction and behavioral health — the gap between “resources exist” and “people can access and act on them” is everything. This workgroup is closing that gap.”
Looking ahead, what do you want fellow leaders in the health care industry to know about the Patient Empowerment Resource? Why should it matter to them?
“This isn’t another framework to read once and file away. It’s a how-to guide grounded in what people engaging with healthcare actually say they need — not what we assume. For health system and plan leaders, it offers concrete, stakeholder-specific actions tied to real care journeys. If you’re trying to move the needle on chronic disease management or retention in care — and you’re wondering where to start — this resource gives you a first step worth taking. ”
One word or short phrase characterizing the Workgroup’s primary focus:
“Designed with, not for.” — I think the most important thing about this group is our members who represent patients.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
“As a physician who has spent my career working with people who’ve been failed by health systems — people managing addiction, mental illness, poverty, stigma — I know that “empowerment” can ring hollow when the systems people are navigating are fragmented, confusing, and often working against them. What gives me hope about this Workgroup is the honesty about that reality. We’re not designing for the idealized, fully-resourced, highly-activated individual engaging with healthcare. We’re designing for the person who’s exhausted from working double shifts. For the person who needs a reminder that’s actually personal, not generic. For the community health worker who is the real linchpin holding care together but isn’t always recognized as such. And we’re doing it with people seeking care at the table — not just talking about them. Empowerment isn’t something we do to people. It’s what we make possible with them. That’s the spirit this Workgroup embodies — and it’s why I’m proud to be part of it.”
Learn more about the HCPLAN’s Patient Empowerment work.
Purchasers
Providers | 
Policy Makers | 
Enabling Organizations | 
Community-Based Organizations
Providers | 
Emily DuHamel Brower, M.B.A., is senior vice president of clinical integration and physician services for Trinity Health. Emphasizing clinical integration and payment model transformation, Ms. Brower provides strategic direction related to the evolving accountable healthcare environment with strong results. Her team is currently accountable for $10.4B of medical expense for 1.6M lives in Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid and Commercial Alternative Payment Models.
Victor is the Chief Medical Officer for TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid Agency. At TennCare, Victor leads the medical office to ensure quality and effective delivery of medical, pharmacy, and dental services to its members. He also leads TennCare’s opioid epidemic strategy, social determinants of health, and practice transformation initiatives across the agency. Prior to joining TennCare, Victor worked at Evolent Health supporting value-based population health care delivery. In 2013, Victor served as a White House Fellow to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Victor completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Emory University still practices clinically as an internist in the Veteran’s Affairs Health System.
Tamara Ward is the SVP of Insurance Business Operations at Oscar Health, where she leads the National Network Contracting Strategy and Market Expansion & Readiness. Prior to Oscar she served as VP of Managed Care & Network Operations at TriHealth in Southwest Ohio. With over 15 years of progressive health care experience, she has been instrumental driving collaborative payer provider strategies, improving insurance operations, and building high value networks through her various roles with UHC and other large provider health systems. Her breadth and depth of experience and interest-based approach has allowed her to have success solving some of the most complex issues our industry faces today. Tam is passionate about driving change for marginalized communities, developing Oscar’s Culturally Competent Care Program- reducing healthcare disparities and improving access for the underserved population. Tamara holds a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati’s and M.B.A from Miami University.
Dr. Peter Walsh joined the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing as the Chief Medical Officer on December 1, 2020. Prior to joining HCPF, Dr. Walsh served as a Hospital Field Representative/Surveyor at the Joint Commission, headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
