Helping colleagues and former colleagues navigate their health insurance and health care access, select the right medical plan and resolve complex issues with their health insurance are three ways Tajma Washington and Emily Place-Tandon serve the UCSF community as Health Care Facilitators, providing individual consultations that help employees navigate health insurance and health care, get the care they need, and resolve issues. We talked with them about their roles and, of course, their favorite cookie jar treats.
Meet Tajma Washington, BS, MPA
I started four months ago on Halloween October 31, 2022 after getting recruited through LinkedIn. Before I joined UCSF, I was working for the state of Georgia’s HIV office on prevention coordination, community outreach and events and I’ve also worked as a patient navigator for women living with HIV.
I am customer-service driven and I want to help resolve issues. My maternal grandmother was a surgical technician and my paternal grandmother was a housekeeper, so customer service runs in the family. My job is to help people navigate their health insurance benefits, get enrolled in the right health plan and advocate for them with issues like billing problems. We come into the world as patients and we leave as patients. I’m here to advocate for employees in all the stages in between.
Meet Emily Place-Tandon
I’ve worked in a variety of health care roles and departments at UCSF in my 12 years here, most of them in the Health Care Facilitator role serving retirees. My role has changed as the world has, most notably working remotely. Retirees live all over the state, country and world! People used to have to come in person to Laurel Heights but now I can reach more retirees and their families. This is the time of year when employees get serious about retirement planning and understanding health care coverage options in retirement, including Medicare. It’s unique to have a health care facilitator dedicated to retirees. It can be complicated to navigate insurance and coordinate Medicare. We serve as advocates so employees, retirees and their families are not alone.
