# Neel Shah

> Neel Shah is a New York-based healthcare-fintech operator and the chief executive of Zaya Care, a startup that helps independently-owned practices accept insurance profitably. Before Zaya, he ran commercial and product finance at Cedar, the healthcare billing and payments company. His work sits at the unglamorous seam of American medicine - the paperwork, reimbursement and revenue plumbing that decides whether a solo dietitian, physical therapist or acupuncturist can afford to take insurance at all. Zaya, which began by importing a European-style model of maternal care and negotiating coverage with major payers, now pitches itself as the financial leverage of a large medical group for providers who want to stay independent.

- **Role:** CEO at Zaya Care
- **Organizations:** Zaya Care, Cedar
- **Known for:** Leads Zaya Care, which negotiated insurance coverage for maternal and specialty care providers with payers including Aetna, Emblem Health, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Oscar, Oxford Freedom and United Healthcare., Helped position Zaya as a partner that absorbs the administrative and reimbursement risk that normally keeps small practices from accepting insurance., Built commercial and product finance functions at Cedar, a major healthcare fintech.

## Career timeline

- **prior** — Head of Commercial and Product Finance at Cedar, the healthcare billing and payments company, overseeing financial planning and operational support for commercial and product functions.
- **current** — Chief Executive Officer of Zaya Care, the New York-based network helping independent practices launch and grow profitable in-network practices.

## Achievements

- Leads Zaya Care, which negotiated insurance coverage for maternal and specialty care providers with payers including Aetna, Emblem Health, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Oscar, Oxford Freedom and United Healthcare.
- Helped position Zaya as a partner that absorbs the administrative and reimbursement risk that normally keeps small practices from accepting insurance.
- Built commercial and product finance functions at Cedar, a major healthcare fintech.

## Latest updates

- **2026** — Listed as Chief Executive Officer of Zaya Care, which has broadened from European-style maternal care to helping dietitians, physical therapists, occupational therapists and acupuncturists run profitable in-network practices.

## Links

- Website: https://zayacare.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neel55/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/neel-shah
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-22