Investing in Mental Health Pays Off

Elaine Cannella is a Director in the Metro NY Health Management (HM) Practice supporting the Health and Group Benefits (HGB) Practice at WTW. She is the East Division Business Development Clinician Lead aligned to both carrier and vendor relationships in the northeast.

Her areas of expertise include benefit strategy, design, alternative care delivery models and operational carrier performance inclusive of care, disease, utilization management and holistic wellbeing programs. She prides her practice on health care program performance, utilization trends and customized strategy alignment to the overall population health.

Elaine has more than 25 years in the health benefits space and 10 years previous to that in the clinician role. She is a Family Clinical Nurse Specialist and a former Army Nurse Corp Captain-Reserves. She served on the Tricare Utilization Management Advisory Committee at Health Affairs in Washington, DC, during the Region 1 contracting process. She continues to be an active participant in the managed care nursing arena.

Before joining WTW in 2018, Elaine was a 13 year United Health Group veteran serving as National Vice President overseeing a team responsible for liaising and supporting 26 Medicaid/Medicare health plans in the US. Prior to that, she served as Sr. Director on the National Accounts team overseeing the delivery of Optum clinical services/products to United Healthcare’s largest national clients.

Elaine has a BSN in nursing from Mt. St. Mary College, Newburgh, NY, and a MSN in Family Health from Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY.

Alicia Rost is an Associate Director in WTW’s NYC office. She has been a part of the health and benefits consulting team since 2015 where she serves as the day-to-day contact for her clients. Alicia focuses on wellbeing and strategy projects and acts as a liaison between her clients and their vendors. Additionally, she has helped develop WTW's thought leadership on behavioral health strategies and has led numerous design thinking and vendor integration workshops.

Alicia has served numerous clients in various industries including technology, consumer goods, printing/publishing, non-profit, medical devices, higher education, and financial institutions.

Alicia holds a BA degree in Public Policy from Hamilton College and a MBA with a concentration in Management from Fordham University. She received her Group Benefits Administration (GBA) designation through the Wharton School of Business and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Specialists.