Employer Benefits Should Reflect Workforce Needs: Rosa Novo

Employers can advance innovative cancer care by tailoring benefits and support to their workforce's needs, according to Rosa Novo, executive benefits director at Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS).

At the Community Oncology Alliance Payer Exchange & Innovation Summit, on September 15, Novo participated in the session "The Employer Perspective: Investing in Innovative Cancer Care Solutions," during which she and her fellow panelists discussed why innovation matters when selecting cancer care solutions, as well as what they look for across prevention, early detection, treatment access, survivorship, and return-to-work support.

Novo highlighted that cancer care partnerships start with defining what meaningful value actually means: access, quality of care, and a provider's flexibility to align with an organization's culture. That flexibility looks different depending on the workforce, she noted. At her district, communication must happen to reach employees speaking 55 different languages, most commonly English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole.

Access to care needs to be defined more precisely than a simple mileage radius from a facility, she argued, pointing instead to health disparities by ZIP code to understand what care members actually need. Underlying each factor, Novo emphasized that transparency and reporting are essential so she can clearly see what she is paying for, what quality is being delivered, and the return on investment, ultimately measured in the lives of the employees she represents.

Regarding prevention, Novo described a robust program built directly into the district's health care offering rather than run as a standalone wellness initiative. MDCPS provides preventive and diagnostic mammograms and colonoscopies free of charge at both hospital-based and non-affiliated facilities, along with fully covered cervical cancer screening. Federal requirements only mandate preventive screening coverage, but her data showed that more than 72% of colonoscopies initiated as preventive ended up being diagnostic, leaving members unexpectedly facing a bill. Employers should help build momentum toward policy change by closing that gap themselves, Novo said.

To conclude, she described MDCPS's approach to supporting employees returning to work after cancer treatment. The district works with administrators at each employee's specific work location to explore options like intermittent leave, alternative hours, adjusted workloads, or substitute support, recognizing that finishing treatment does not necessarily mean an employee is ready to return full time. She framed the district's overall approach as looking at the individual needs of each employee rather than applying a one-size-fits-all return-to-work policy.

“…we take pride in saying we are an employer that cares,” Novo said.