Sheila Shapiro is the senior vice president of National Strategic Partnerships for UnitedHealthcare’s Clinical Services organization. In this role, Sheila is responsible for the development, advancement and implementation of the industry-leading sustainable model to standardize and use non-traditional data elements and innovative partnerships to improve health outcomes at scale.

Sheila is well-known across the industry as an expert in leveraging data and technology to address social determinants of health (SDOH). With UnitedHealthcare, she has pioneered a program dedicated to proactively identifying and addressing SDOH by referring people to much-needed local and national services in their communities. As part of this work, she was the primary architect behind a 2019 proposal to the CMS ICD-10 Steering & Maintenance Committee to expand the ICD-10 code set to include a broader, more granular set of SDOH codes. She also led a ground-breaking collaboration with the American Medical Association (AMA) to advocate for ICD-10 code expansion, and was recognized as one of Health Care Innovation’s 2019 Innovator award winners, making UnitedHealthcare the first health insurer to receive the award. Her model for valuing social referrals, labeled the Imputed Market Price™, is currently patent-pending.

Sheila’s passion for addressing SDOH is contagious. Her work has been recognized and supported by several prestigious industry organizations, including the Better Medicare Alliance, National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA), National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) and the AARP Foundation. Sheila has forged strong partnerships with countless other organizations as well, all with a shared purpose of breaking down social barriers to care.

Sheila has more than 30 years of experience in the health care industry. She joined UnitedHealthcare in 2009 to lead the Community Plan of Arizona. Since then, she has held many positions with the company, including chief operations officer for the Arizona Community & State plan, president of the Washington Community & State plan, national vice president of the myConnections™ program, and national vice president of Population Health and Clinical Innovation.

Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Sheila held executive positions with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, Molina and Premera Blue Cross. She has led a broad range of operations and strategic objectives including claims, customer service and financial operations.

Shapiro earned a Master of Arts in management from the University of Phoenix, and her bachelor’s degree is from Arizona State University. She also holds a financial management certificate from the Wharton School of Business. Shapiro is an Arizona Women in Business honoree and has served as vice chair on the board of directors for the March of Dimes.