Tuli Banerjee to be new vice president of payor strategy at Akron Children’s

02-03-2020 (Akron, Ohio)

Akron Children’s Hospital has named Tuli Banerjee its vice president of payor strategy, effective March 2.

In her new role, Banerjee will be the executive lead for all payor relationships and negotiations for Akron Children's, including evaluation of reimbursement models, contract language and the impact of payor strategies on Akron Children's overall strategic plan. Banerjee will evaluate and recommend an array of strategies for contracting, including fee-for-service, value-based and risk-based arrangements.

She will assume the responsibilities of Karen Richter, vice president of managed care, who is retiring after 27 years of service. Richter will remain at Akron Children’s through March 13 to assist in the transition.

Prior to joining Akron Children’s, Banerjee was the associate director of health systems and large market employer health management consulting at Willis Towers Watson in Cleveland. She previously served as the senior contract manager for market and network services at Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland.

“We are excited to welcome Tuli to Akron Children’s,” said Spencer Kowal, chief financial officer of Akron Children’s. “She is a solution-oriented thought leader who has excellent experience assisting health systems, hospitals and large employers both as a benefit consultant and managed care professional.

“At the same time, we have enormous gratitude for Karen Richter,” he added. “Under her stewardship, Akron Children’s has maintained strong relationships with commercial and managed-Medicaid payors and has led several population health contracting initiatives. We wish her the best in retirement.”

Banerjee earned a master of health administration degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in biology/pre-medicine from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She is a diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives, was an administrative fellow at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights and completed her MHA residency at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.

Banerjee lives in Lakewood with her husband, Gary.