Nazie M Eftekhari

Ms. Eftekhari is the founder, chair and chief executive officer of HealthEZ, Inc., a Minneapolis-based company providing services designed to simplify health plan administration for employers, and eliminate the complexities in the health care billing and payment process. Prior to founding HealthEZ in 1997, Ms. Eftekhari earned national recognition in 1982 for founding the nation's first Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). In fact, the term PPO was coined to describe her innovation, which brings together doctors, hospitals and other health providers to form a network in order to negotiate and provide services at attractive rates in return for the opportunity to serve the clients of an insurer or third-party administrator. A member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Ms. Eftekhari also serves on the Board of Overseers of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. In addition, she is the founder of The Foundation for the Children of Iran, an organization dedicated, since 1991, to enabling indigent children from Iran or of Iranian origin to receive health care services in the United States that are not available to them in Iran. Ms. Eftekhari is a graduate of the London School of Economics and holds master's degrees in International Relations from the University Of Southern California (UK) and in Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota. I was born in Tehran, Iran to a very lucky family. My mother, Homa Arbab’s family was from Yazd. My father Mehdi Eftekhari was from Zanjan. Today photographs of my great-great-Grandfather, Hakim-ol-doleh one of the first physicians in Iran, my maternal grandfather, Mehdi Arbab, and five generations of my family still cover the walls of our home in Minnesota. I attended Bahar-No (Miss Mary’s) elementary school. In fourth grade, I left Iran for boarding school in England. I attended St. Margaret’s Boarding School in Folkestone, Kent. I returned to Iran the year Iranzamin — aka The Tehran International School — opened. My closest friends to this day are my best friends from Iranzamin and Miss Mary. I graduated from Iranzamin at the age of 16 with an International Baccalaureate Diploma, which we received at our graduation ceremony from Prime Minister Hoveyda. On a dare with my father, I took the nation-wide exam or “konkour” for entrance into the Iranian University system. I was accepted to Pahlavi University in Shiraz, much to the surprise of everyone, especially me. This was 1971, the year of the 2500th anniversary celebration of the Iranian Monarchy which was held in Shiraz. The university opened a month late and was riddled with unrest and protests. My parents’ concerns resulted in my transfer to the American College in Paris. While at the American College, I applied to attend The London School of Economics.1973–76 LSE,and USC’s Masters Program in International Relations, London Campus in 1976–78. , In 1978 I returned to Iran to the summer of unrest, eventually turmoil and finally martial law and revolution. During this time, I was urged by Dr. Aram, the Deputy Minister of Health, to apply to and attend the University of Minnesota Master’s Program in Healthcare Management. I was reluctant. Dr. Aram was adamant. He told me, “The world of today is a European world. The world of tomorrow will be an American world, and you will regret not having an American education.” It made sense. I agreed and prepared to leave for the US. On September 17, 1978, I left Iran for the last time. Dr. Aram had already been arrested. How did your family and surroundings influence you in your formative years? My parents’ pride in and commitment to family, service and their loyalty informed my youth and entire life. My grandfather would always remind us; we were in the same boat as everyone else. His enduring advice was the common Persian saying that “the more fruitful a tree, the lower it hangs its head.” My father’s favorite sayings was “after hubris comes the fall.” It was also my parents’ total commitment to education which was very compelling. We are a family of strong women. My great-grandmother told us she had a dream about a monster wearing a necklace. In her dream, she reached out and ripped the necklace off the monster’s neck. A legend said this action symbolized that her family would have strong women for the next 7 generations. I am the 4th generation and my daughter Raz, and her cousins Yasi and Amira, the fifth generation. I always say the women of our family are strong because they were told they ARE DESTINED to be strong. What has been your personal key to success? What were the biggest inspirations for your career? Persistence, tenacity, resilience, hard work and never giving up are the keys to my success. My father, Mehdi Eftekhari, my mother, Homa Arbab, my son, Sahm McGlynn and my daughter, Raz McGlynn have always been my inspiration, my true North Stars. I am also inspired by my amazing and hardworking employees, my clients, many of whom are extraordinarily accomplished and our contracting doctors Medicine remains a noble profession and healthcare is truly a worthy field of human endeavor. Friends are the family you choose. I am blessed and lucky to have the best friends in the world and certainly better than I deserve. Foremost amongst them, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a singular leader of consequence for the ages. I am deeply grateful to her for marching boldly into the history books and taking all the women of my generation with her. Since this is the first time you mention her, please provide more information on when you met her and the depth and breadth of your relationship with her. What prompted you to start the Foundation for the Children of Iran? In 1991, my business was going well, my children were good, my parents were okay despite the ravages of a revolution and a war which ripped apart the very fabric of Iranian society. I was a proud and successful American mother and businesswoman active in numerous charities. But as the poet said: “There was a hole in my heart and a void in my soul.” I was determined to give back those less privileged, especially back in Iran. I invited my cousin and a close friend who was a pediatric surgeon to join me and dozens of my friends, family members and healthcare associates to help me organize our foundation, raise money, and help very sick babies from Iran. Our first patient arrived in that first year. For 25 years, I paid all the administrative expenses of FCI so that every dollar raised would be spent on medical services for the children. We raised approximately $5M dollars over the past 25 years and purchased more than $25M dollars of medical services. We saved numerous lives but lost two of our precious children over the years. I am still in touch with many of them, now adults, married and with children of their own. I will carry the two boys who passed away in my heart, all the days of my life. Today, we are unable to help anyone because of the Trump Travel Ban. We filed Amicus Briefs in a variety of cases filed against the ban. The 9th circuit decision quoted our Amicus Brief repeatedly, stating the judge concurred that it is in the best interest of the United States to help these sick children. Everyone knows the results of those legal challenges. The Supreme Court of the United States dealt the tragic final blow, severing the “chain-of-hope” I started in 1991. How did you come to launch the first Preferred Provider Organization (PPO?) America’s first PPO was founded in 1982, in Minnesota and eventually expanded to 12 states. As we worked on the concept of having a group of doctors and hospitals under contract but allowing patients to go to any provider with a higher co-pay, we engaged Dr. Paul Ellwood who had coined the term HMO. Once we described our idea to him, he had the Eureka moment and said: Let’s call it a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). And the rest is history. PPOs far outpace HMOs and traditional plans with over 50% of the working population of the US enrolled in a PPO. You are or have been actively involved at a leadership level in many of the organizations in the Iranian-American community. Why you are so passionate about the community and what do you believe the future holds? Much of the credit for that goes to my schoolmate from Iranzamin, Goli Yazdi Ameri. She organized the very first retreat aimed at bringing Iranian-Americans together to cooperate for the good of our country, the United States, and our community and she succeeded. Can you elaborate on your companies HealthEZ and the Araz Group? We are the leading, independent PPO and benefit administrator in the US, and one of the largest companies delivering these services. We were the very first to combine High Touch-High Tech in our field. Our proprietary software combines the best features of credit card statements and payment mechanisms with compassionate, empathetic attention to all our clients. So for example, while we have unique, proprietary, state of the art technology, every call is answered by a human being and we use no phone trees or computer triage of incoming calls. Our client retention rates are spectacular, with some providers contracting with us for the 36 years and counting and groups renewing for decades. We have a financial structure with no incentives to us for denying or refusing care. Our list of Firsts includes but are not limited to… - The nation’s first PPO - First “Green” TPA- Paperless statement - Provider transactional website