Consumer Experience has been a high-ranking item on HCEG’s Top 10 list of challenges, issues, and opportunities facing healthcare leaders over the last decade. And last week, 500+ healthcare industry professionals gathered in Chicago at the 2019 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum to present and discuss the importance of the healthcare consumer experience and various approaches to leveraging digital health platforms and tools to effect an improved consumer experience.
In this post, we’ll share some highlights from AHIP’s Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum including:
Actionable insight and ideas shared by HCEG Members & Sponsor Partners
Look forward to 2020 and more information and insight shared by healthcare industry leaders, innovators, and change-makers improving healthcare and health delivery.
What Should Be Keeping Health Care Executives up at Night?
As costs continue to rise, more financial responsibility is shifted to individuals, and non-traditional companies disrupt the traditional healthcare space, executives and industry leaders are under tremendous pressure to transform their organizations due to the challenge of providing coverage for healthcare services offering reasonable outcomes at a fair price.
Check out this blog post to learn more about the following topics addressed by three health industry leaders: Ian K. Gordon, Dr. Esteban Lopez, and Ferris Taylor:
• How challenges, issues, & opportunities have evolved over the last few years
• How they’re transforming and innovating their organizations
• What excites them about the future for health care
• How health plans help support health care consumer’s
• How socioeconomic status and social determinants of health impact health plans
• The role of health plans in addressing the social determinants of health and what work they’re doing
• What they’re doing right and what do they need to do better
• What them up at night with respect to the policy actions or industry trends
How Technology Innovation Will Play a Critical Role in Prevention
In the session titled “How Technology Innovation Will Play a Critical Role in Prevention” at last week’s 2019 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum in Chicago, a gaggle of industry leaders, innovators and change-makers shared their thoughts and ideas on the critical role new innovations in technology will play in preventing serious injuries among the fastest-growing demographic—aging Boomers.
Neel Mehta from Honor moderated a panel consisting of Bryan Adams of Best Buy Health, Dr. Ari Melmed, MD of Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Rajeev Ronanki from Anthem, and Faraz Shafiq of Cambia Health Solutions. The panel shared their take and experiences on the following:
• Latest innovations that can help keep older adults healthy and safe in their homes
• The impact technology might have on the social determinants of health
• How these technology innovations can result in better outcomes for well-being
Read this post for Highlights on How Technology Innovation Will Play a Critical Role in Prevention of Accidents and Disease
Creating Impactful Member Enrollment Correspondence
HCEG member Sheri Johnson, AVP of Member Enrollment and Billing joined fellow UCare AVP of Customer Service Julie Feirtag presented how their company utilized a cross-functional approach to update member enrollment-related correspondence to improve member engagement and experience, drive member action and support the customer service team.
See this sample of select slides on how Sheri and Julie orchestrated a team to define and employ simple language and standard templates to transform enrollment-related letters into actionable, easy-to-understand correspondence. And check out a few of the specific processes used, steps taken, changes made, and outcomes achieved they shared in their session.
Connect with Healthcare Industry Executives, Leaders, Innovators & Change-Makers
We’ll be sharing more from last week’s AHIP CDF in the coming weeks. For more information, insight, and ideas on healthcare innovation and the transformation of healthcare, subscribe to our eNewsletter and consider becoming a member of the HealthCare Executive Group.
In the session titled “How Technology Innovation Will Play a Critical Role in Prevention” at last week’s 2019 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum in Chicago, a gaggle of industry leaders, innovators and change-makers shared their thoughts and ideas on the critical role new innovations in technology will play in prevention (of accidents & disease) among the fastest-growing demographic—aging Boomers joining original Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs at the rate of 10,000 new beneficiaries a day.
Neel Mehta from Honor moderated a panel consisting of Bryan Adams of Best Buy Health, Dr. Ari Melmed, MD of Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Rajeev Ronanki from Anthem, and Faraz Shafiq of Cambia Health Solutions. The panel shared their take and experiences on the following:
Latest innovations that can help keep older adults healthy and safe in their homes
The impact technology might have on the social determinants of health
How these technology innovations can result in better outcomes for well-being
The remainder of this post shares a few highlights from the session. Access all recordings mentioned in this blog post here.
Highlights on How Technology Innovation Will Play a Critical Role in Prevention
The following are some of the questions that moderator Neel Mehta presented to the panel and some panelist responses to those questions. You can listen to the entire recording – admittedly not of the best quality but still enlightening – here. Specific starting and ending points in the recording are noted below and link to the audio recordings.
Fariz Shafiq: On average, caregivers provide 32 hours a week of unpaid caregiving, essentially a full-time, unpaid job imposing a financial and emotional impact on the caregiver. As a health plan, we recognize that caregiving is an extremely important service. Fariz shared how his organization equips caregivers best:
Help with scheduling appointments and checking the efficiency of patient schedules
Reconciling medications
Help with understanding and paying bills
Rajeev Ronacki: Keeping on top of local resources is a real challenge. We provide members and patients digital apps and help identify and connect members and patients with community-based orgs that can assist them. And we provide an online marketplace where members and patients can also self-serve.
Tech and Touch Must Be Balanced for Innovative Prevention of Accidents & Disease
Q2: The elderly caregiver population, whether it’s home care, provider or family member, are difficult to reach and engage with, regardless of whether they are tech-savvy or not. What are some of the ways you reach this population? (06:45-08:47)
Bryan Adams: Everything starts with balancing the tech vs. touch concept. We want to leverage technology into the home and surround that with robust services. This will ultimately move the needle not only for the healthcare consumer but also for the healthcare system as a whole.
We have ‘healthcare caring centers’ staffed by people encouraged and trained to have a high level of empathy interaction. Mostly telephonic relationships that establish and nurture a tech vs. touch relationship with the senior.
Q3: One of the things that is appealing to tech innovation in healthcare is Artificial Intelligence. What do you think in your perspective as a provider is the role of the healthcare provider in respect to AI? (08:53-12:53)
Dr. Ari Melmed: It’s a new time for providers and physicians. The role of the provider is to partner with the patient and to address their concerns. To get them the right answers. The amount of information available to everyone online is overwhelming. Staying up to date as a physician nowadays only takes 21 hours a day.
Faraz Shafiq: Computers are helping doctors getting better at diagnoses. Healthcare is so complex and the volume of information so great and often so nuanced that AI-powered assistance is needed. (10:42-12:09)
Using Technology & Data to Understand Social Determinants of Health
Q4: I have found that on the medical side there’s a mountain of data. And on the social side there’s a huge and growing amount of data. How can technology support the understanding of how social and community health factors influence outcomes? (13:10 – 15:00)
Rajeev Ronacki: I think the question is what do we do about it? How do we react to it? How do we make it more democratized?
Q5: What are some of the challenges in integrating data, making it uniform, and making it ‘analyzable?’ (15:33-19:18)
Rajeev Ronacki: Roughly 80% of the work we need to do on any AI initiative is data prep: obtaining the data, looking at the quality of data, cleansing and integrating it, creating standards for uniformity. There’s nothing secret about it.
Brick & Mortar Bring Human Interaction and Touch to Accident & Disease Prevention
Q6: What unique value do brick and mortar companies bring to healthcare? (20:20 – 23:20)
Bryan Adams: Brick and mortar locations enable the touch component of the critical need to balance technology and human touch/interaction mentioned before. This is particularly important for the senior population.
Being entrenched in the neighborhood and being involved with community care initiatives helps us to better understand and capture social determinants of health unique to that area and then take that information and make it actionable. At our company, we’re giving thought on how to leverage our Geek Squad (20,000 people) and over 1200 retail outlets to engage with health plan members and to advance preventive care.
Q7: If telehealth has not yet reached into the home it is gaining a footprint in places like Best Buy, Walmart, and Walgreens. Are you seeing brick and mortar playing a part in expanding the reach of telehealth? (23:40 – 25:20)
Dr. Ari Melmed: Yes. And there are different ways of thinking about telehealth like onsite work clinics which are playing an important role, schools are developing innovative programs, remote clinics are interfacing with centralized, specialized services.
Q8: How has the Medicare market shifted in trying to support senior’s health? (25:24 – 28:50)
Rajeev Ronacki: Increasingly there’s a consumer preference to do things in the home – particularly in the transition to and from the hospital.
Using TV’s and sensors and voice-assistance to deliver the care that’s needed. I would venture to say that 60-70% of the care that doesn’t need active intervention can be provided in the home. The question is how to deliver it in a way that makes sense.
Bryan Adams: Medicare Advantage as a whole has become a hub of innovation and we’re excited about SSBCI and opening up the ability to address social determinants. (27:31 – 28:38)
Can Technology Address 50% of Preventive Health Measures?
Q9: As Rajeev mentioned, with the right technology 60-70% of the care that doesn’t need active intervention can be provided in the home. What will it take to get to widespread adoption of the minimum technology infrastructure needed to address 50% of preventive medicine? (28:50 – 32:13)
Rajeev Ronacki: Some sort of super simple, USB-type device that’s widely adopted by consumers. Installation and implementation need to be simplified and cost-effective.
Listen here from more on how technology in the home may address 50% of preventative medicine.
Q10: Are there any examples of technologies that are starting to scratch the surface of being pretty easy to use? (33:35 – 38:50)
Rajeev Ronacki: Wireless sensors and other devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated and easy to use.
Bryan Adams: Passive devices that operate in the background and do not require the member/patient to do anything special or change any behavior. Devices that measure ADL’s and allow the member/patient to keep living their life without any special attention.
Dr. Ari Melmed: Devices that provide feedback on a real-time basis to drive behavior change. Tools to extract information from medical records and help the physician more quickly understand salient aspects of the patient.
Connect with Healthcare Industry Executives, Leaders, Innovators & Change-Makers
For more information, insight, and ideas on healthcare innovation and the transformation of healthcare, subscribe to our eNewsletter and consider becoming a member of the HealthCare Executive Group.
As costs continue to rise, more financial responsibility is shifted to individuals, and non-traditional companies disrupt the traditional healthcare space, executives and industry leaders are under tremendous pressure to transform their organizations due to the challenge of providing coverage for healthcare services offering reasonable outcomes at a fair price.
These three health industry leaders shared their insight on the following:
How challenges, issues, & opportunities have evolved over the last few years
How they’re transforming and innovating their organizations
How health plans help support health care consumer’s
How socioeconomic status and social determinants of health impact health plans
The role of health plans in addressing the social determinants of health and what work they’re doing
What they’re doing right and what do they need to do better
What them up at night with respect to the policy actions or industry trends
What excites them about the future for health care
The remainder of this post shares a few highlights from the session. Access all recordings mentioned in this blog post here.
Costs & Transparency, Consumer Experience, & Holistic Individual Health Top 2020 HCEG List
Costs & Transparency, Consumer Experience, and Delivery System Transformation – the key themes of the AHIP-Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum – also ranked as the top three items on the 2020 HCEG Top 10 list of challenges, issues, and opportunities facing healthcare leadership. In addition, ‘Holistic Individual Health’ is ranked as #6.
Dr. Esteban Lopez Shares What Keeps Him Up at Night (05:53 – 09:17)
Ferris Taylor kicked off the session by asking Dr. Lopez “What keeps you up at night?”
The value that payers bring – is not networks or care management services – although those are important. Their true value is data and analytics. How do we consume data and use that data to derive value for our members so they can stay healthier? How do we use that data to engage with our providers to deliver value-based healthcare?
Over the last several years, providers and payers have become more efficient. At the same time, members have not become worse off but they’re also not becoming better. But there’s still opportunity.
Health plans need to ask:
How do we use the data we have in a meaningful way?
How do we couple other readily available data with open-source consumer information and other types of information we have about our members so we can predict outcomes, predict disease, and find the channels where we can best engage our members
How we can find the channels where members/patients can best be engaged?
New Generations Demand New Levels of Engagement & Value
External disruptors are out there, and they know how to engage healthcare industry incumbents. People want the Amazon Experience and right now, healthcare is NOT like the Amazon Experience. Especially as we look at Millennials, Generation Z and other generations of Digital Natives, we know that they will not stand for the experiences they are having today in healthcare.
Ian Gordon Starts with a Slightly Different Tack (09:30 – 13:18)
The health system itself and health care payers specifically have spent a large portion of their existence contemplating their own value buttons. We look at things very much from an inside-out perspective. And that’s been very useful until we’ve come into the age of consumerism. At this time, we need to continue, which we’ve started that migration, to look at things from the ‘outside in.’
We talk about the power of members. The power of consumers. As opposed to people. We don’t own them. They own themselves. The more information we have, the more we can create models and services and products that meet the needs of PEOPLE!
Health plans talk about social determinants of health. I like to think about ‘Social Determinants of Health’ as ‘Social Determinants of Individual Happiness’ – of which health is a component.
Focusing on Point Solutions Health Plans Want vs. Overall Holistic Health
Ian related a scenario highlighting how many health plans are not properly focusing on holistic health of the individual. Some highlights include:
Health plans give members things they want to address to drive down medical loss ratio; as opposed to the broader aspect of overall happiness of which health is a component. We give members program’s and tell them to lose weight and do more activities. And then we wonder why they don’t succeed. And the reason they don’t succeed is because they ate too much.
We need to look people more holistically at individuals, focus more on their individual needs, find out what is our role, data, access to healthcare, the digital transformation needed to create that personalized service are all the key things, I think, that are necessary.
Healthcare is complex and it’s hard to learn but so are a lot of other things. And given the right amount of time, the other organizations (disruptors) will encroach upon the health plan. So, health plans must focus on the holistic component of individuals. What makes them happy and improves their lives. And we need to figure out how to do that with data and become an expert at that. Or partner with others who can do that. And we need to stop trying to compete on the commodity-based components of our business.
Barriers to Improved Health – A Broader Definition of Social Determinants of Health
After both Dr. Lopez and Ian Gordon shared some of their insight and ideas on social determinants of health, Ferris Taylor noted that social determinants of health can also be considered as Barriers to Improved Health. Dr. Lopez shared his insight as a physician in the Emergency Room of a hospital serving a low-income area.
Listen to Dr. Lopez’s ideas on how providers, doctors, nurses, payers, and others can help address barriers to improved health: 13:30 – 17:40
And Ian’s follow on to Dr. Lopez’s ideas based on Ian’s experience with Habitat for Humanity: 17:41 – 19:38
More on What Should Be Keeping Health Care Executives up at Night
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For more information, insight, and ideas on healthcare innovation and the transformation of healthcare, subscribe to our eNewsletter and consider becoming a member of the HealthCare Executive Group.
‘Costs & Transparency’ and ‘Consumer Experience’ are ranked in the two top spots on the 2020 HCEG Top 10 list of challenges, issues, and opportunities facing healthcare executives in 2020. These two areas of focus for health plans, health systems, and providers – risk-bearing or otherwise – are also frequently referenced on the various lists of ‘Healthcare Predictions & Trends for 2020.’
Rising Costs & Increasing Patient Responsibility for Payment Drive Focus
In a presentation at this week’s 2019 WEDI Winter Conference, Dan Mendelson Founder of Avalere shared some eye-opening facts and statistics that underscore why “Cost & Transparency” is ranked as the top issue facing HCEG member organizations.
84% of consumers believe drug prices are unreasonable
40% of Americans have saved enough to cover a $1,000 emergency
57% of employees are offered a high deductible plan
$13K Average employee health benefit cost
Affordability is #1 issue for Democrats (45%) & Republicans (30%)
Higher premiums, higher deductibles, increasing co-insurance, and surprise medical billing are four trends that really took off about a decade ago and show no signs of slowing down. See more presentations from the 2019 WEDI Winter Conference here.
Strategies to Improve Transparency and Lower Costs
This time of year all the experts, thought leaders and prognosticators are making their predictions about 2020 and beyond. And Cost, Transparency, and Consumer Experience are frequently referenced items on those lists. The following are some of the more detailed predictions, strategies, and tactics to address the growth of medical and pharmaceutical costs and improve transparency and access.
Simplify explanation of benefits communications and simplify terminology
Provide members and patients with data that is understandable and usable in a secure and private manner
Making data available for review by independent 3rd parties
Merge clinical, financial, and operational data with CRM insights to enable greater transparency and enhance customer experience
Deploy and support ‘Local Market Relationship Liaisons
Develop a culture of transparency to more openly share information on the following:
Medical and pharmaceutical pricing
Payments and incentives offered to physicians for prescribing drugs
Results of clinical trials
All of the above demands the convergence of digital health technology with human needs and wants in a trust-based, member/patient-centered model supporting and balancing person-to-person engagement.
Consumer Experience: Balancing Person-to-Person Engagement with Technology
Over the past five years, Consumer Experience has ranked in the #2 spot on HCEG’s Top 10 list four times. HCEG defines Consumer Experience as “Understanding, addressing and assuring that all consumer interactions and outcomes are easy, convenient, timely, streamlined, and cohesive so that health fits naturally into the ‘life flow’ of every individual’s, family’s and community’s daily activities.”
As with ‘Costs & Transparency,” many of the lists of predictions and trends for 2020 and beyond include Consumer Experience as a prominently ranked item. The following are some ideas, strategies, and tactics healthcare organizations may consider to improve the healthcare consumer experience:
Offer personalized mobile apps to leverage user-centric relevant notifications
Utilize blockchain technology to create a transparent and tamper-proof ledger of all member/patient transactions
Invest in member enrollment and patient recruitment programs
Service members and patients where they are outside the four walls of your office, hospital or practice
Chatbots for self-service and scaling member/patient interactions
Virtual reality providing an immersive experience for members and patients. A virtual tour of a health facility, demonstrating an example procedure and helping patients cope with pain are some examples
Offering a personal experience when it comes to healthcare is vital and today’s healthcare organizations must focus on utilizing digital health technologies to enhance and advance the experience of the healthcare consumer. Given the entry and disruption from non-traditional players like Amazon who’ve set the standard for consumer expectations, not doing so will surely result in extinction.
More on Costs, Transparency, and Healthcare Consumer Experience
Next week HCEG members and select sponsor partners will be presenting at the 2019 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum in Chicago. HCEG Executive Director Ferris Taylor and Ian Gordon, Former Sr VP & COO of Regence, will be presenting What Should Be Keeping Health Care Executives up at Night? They’ll share more ideas, strategies, and tactics healthcare organizations can use to improve the healthcare consumer experience. Learn more here.
HCEG member Sheri Johnson, AVP of Member Enrollment and Billing at UCare will present Creating Impactful Member Enrollment Correspondence on December 10th at 3:15 pm. Learn more here.
And Mark Nathan, CEO & Founder of HCEG sponsor partner Zipari, Inc. will present Revolutionizing Consumer Experience With a Single Platform Built for Health Insurance on December 10th at 4:10 pm. Learn more here.
Join senior healthcare leaders and line-of-business executives and leave Chicago with guidance for managing the implications that reducing costs, improving transparency, and enhancing consumer experience portends for your IT investment priorities and implementation strategies.
The 2nd Annual 2019 HLTH Conference – billed as the event to “Create Health’s Future” – took place in Las Vegas last week. In true Las Vegas fashion, the HLTH organizers created an event that was brighter, shinier, informative and certainly more entertaining than last year’s inaugural HLTH event. Unlike some conferences that lean toward specific sub-groups of attendees – like health plans, providers, and investors – the HLTH conference offers something for all of healthcare’s constituents. Over 6000 attendees, speakers, and others representing healthcare providers, payers, life sciences, investors, and government – converged on the MGM Grand hotel to share their insight, ideas, and opinions about creating healthcare’s future.
As is the case with most healthcare conferences nowadays, sessions at HLTH were organized into tracks whose content varied each day. Over the four-day long HLTH conference, a total of 19 different track themes were presented. Like last year’s HLTH event, organizers assigned all sessions in each track to the same room location; making it easy to navigate between tracks and sessions. Also similar to last year, there were a few crowded sessions and some rather sparsely populated sessions. An interesting addition to this year’s sessions was the closed captioning displayed on a large screen in front of the presenters.
Based on a review of the HLTH conference agenda and some of the early recaps shared by other attendees and media, a few common threads dominated the HLTH event:
Cost & Transparency Needed to Create Health’s Future
Given the unabated rise in costs, it was no surprise that greater financial transparency was a dominant theme in HLTH keynotes and sessions. Many of the sessions at the HLTH event addressed the importance of providing cost-effective services and products to three groups of people:
People with multiple chronic conditions – particularly diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, and depression.
Patients who drive a large percentage of total health care costs
Patients discharged from the inpatient setting
Social Determinants of Health – aka ‘Barriers to Health’
As has been quite popular over the past 5-6 years, quite a few speakers and panelists spoke of the need to extend health services beyond the walls of the treatment room and out into the local community.
Not surprisingly, Uber and Lyft – and a number of companies seeking to sit between these non-emergency medical transportation giants – had a significant presence in the sessions and the exhibit hall. Several sessions mentioned other non-medical services that Medicare Advantage and some other plans are offering members – like personal emergency response systems, home safety assessments and modifications, home environmental services like pest control and air conditioning.
Voice Technology Will Be Huge – Just Add Trust to Create Health’s Future
The ‘Voice First’ approach to improving customer and patient experience in the healthcare industry was shared by presenters in the Voice.HLTHtrack. And voice technology was observed as a key aspect of the product and service offerings from more than a handful of HLTH exhibitors.
It should be no surprise to anyone reading this that ‘Building Trust is Essential to Transforming the Healthcare System.’ This sentence was shared over and over and over again in many of the sessions. And the HealthCare Executive Group did its part in promoting this all-important quality that the healthcare industry needs more of.
In the “Unlocking Voice Tech’s Power” session on Tuesday, October 29th, Dr. Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA of Atrium Health, shared the following in regard to consumer adoption of voice technology:
“Think about trust as perhaps the most valuable currency that exists in healthcare and trust is really difficult to build and to nurture and grow but it’s really easy to break” – Dr. Rasu Shrestha, MD
Read more about how ‘Building Trust is Essential to Transforming the Healthcare System’ in this recent HCEG post.
Non-Traditional Innovators & Return to Bricks and Mortar
It was clear from all the sessions and exhibitors that healthcare is witnessing an insurgence of non-medical providers and a resurgence of traditional, physical locations where health care is delivered:
Larry Merlo of CVS Health shared how CVS is opening up 1400 “Health Hubs” and that traditional and non-traditional ‘providers’ serving health plan members and healthcare patients need to ‘consider all the activities before and after a patient is in a physician’s office.’
Marcus Osborneof Walmartthen went on to echo Merlo’s point by sharing a virtual tour of Walmart’s new Health Center conceptwhere primary care services, diagnostic tests, mental health services, dental, optical, hearing, fitness, and other community health benefits are offered. And then a ‘health navigator’ walks the healthcare recipient through Walmart’s store where they can obtain many of the products they need.
In addition to the above, executives from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Oracle, Samsung, and Apple also shared their insights.
Thinking Outside the Hospital Room to Create Health’s Future
Similar to the return of bricks and mortar service care settings previously mentioned, many of the keynotes, conference sessions and products/services offered by exhibiting vendors at the HLTH conference addressed the growing movement to provide more healthcare in the home. Many of the vendors aspiring to enter this space between traditional hospital places of service and the patient’s home are focusing on coordinating services between established large companies and individual health plan members and patients.
In addition to a focus on coordinating non-medical services and addressing determinants of health impact outcomes and costs, the challenges, issues, and opportunities for providing home-based and telehealth services were the dominant themes.
More than a few HLTH sessionsspoke to the need for increased focus on collaborating, integrating, and developing products and services that put individuals – specifically females – and their health needs at the center of improved outcomes and lower costs. With women making the clear majority of healthcare’s buying and usage decisions, it’s no surprise that “gender parity’ was a general theme. Some ways that parity for women in healthcare was advanced at the event include:
HLTH offered the ParityPledge™ a simple way to commit your organization to interviewing and considering at least one qualified woman for every open role. Learn more about the ParityPledge™ here
One aspect of the HLTH conference that sets it apart from most all other healthcare conferences – at least those with multiple 1000’s of attendees – is the meals provided by HLTH. Serving a varied, hot meal to 5000+ people is no trivial matter and HLTH did a remarkable job in that regard. Some other interesting ‘accompaniments’ to the HLTH conference – apparently intended to create a relaxing and energizing atmosphere included:
Dark hallway illuminated with neon signage – to transition attendees from the shiny, glittery hotel-casino to the shiny, glittering HLTH venue
Mimosa’s in the registration line – to calm those early morning nerves and get attendees in the mood for networking
Musical jazz quartet at lunch – pleasant sounds from a quartet of young women
Patio Lounge – a great place to get fresh air and network with fellow attendees
Coffee, tea, and water all day long – to save time waiting in lines and keep the dry desert air at bay
The Bumbys– a very entertaining couple of people who silently and humorously judge your appearance
Docents to guide your way – ever-present individuals to help you find your way and answer your question
Executive Leadership Roundtable – HCEG, CHI, IAIOP and WEDI
Like last year, HCEG partnered with the Center for Healthcare Innovation (CHI), the International Association of Innovation Professionals (IAOIP), and the Workgroup Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) to present a special three-hour-long roundtable event.
In an effort to Create Health’s Future, HCEG co-hosted a special HCEG Executive Leadership Roundtableat the HLTH conference. We partnered with the Center for Healthcare Innovation (CHI), International Association of Innovation Professionals (IAOIP), Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) and special guests,Dr. Jason Woo, MD, MPH, FACOG, Dr. DeLeys Brandman, MD, andDr. Sunnie Giles to present a three-hour roundtable on the last day of the forum. See “Flying the Plane While Building a Plane: Do you have what it takes to pilot the transformation of healthcare?” for a recap of that special roundtable event.
This event, titled ‘Flying the Plane While Building the Plane: Do You Have What It Takes to Pilot the Transformation of Healthcare?’ offered the opportunity for session attendees to discuss the following:
How the digital revolution makes leadership, transformation and innovation more challenging, especially for healthcare organizations transitioning to a consumer-centric focus
Identifying hidden barriers that keeps leaders from creating a workplace culture that supports long-term success and leading-edge technologies
Personal success factors (expertise, knowledge, technical skills) that distort your ability to see problems clearly and truthfully
Approaches to adopting the values required for digital transformation while recognizing the value of legacy businesses
Ideas on addressing the public’s declining trust in US health care systems
Seventy people attended this session hosted by our sponsor partner Appian. For more info on this roundtable, see this post.
Other Recaps of the 2019 HLTH Conference
Over the past week, several other healthcare thought leaders and industry participants have shared their insight on the HLTH event.
Journalists Help Create Health’s Future – Power Press Party
Dennis Dailey, the publisher of mHealthTimes, held the 4th annual Power Press Party at the 2nd Annual HLTH Conference. The Power Press Party showcased the latest, brightest and very best of healthcare journalism from national healthcare reporters, influential trade journalists, industry publishers, editors, social media ambassadors, and analysts. And great food and drink were served to all!
If you’re a journalist, industry analyst/reporter or vendor of healthcare-related products and services, check out the Power Press Party websiteand contact Dennis for more information on his upcoming Power Press Party events. You can also follow Mobile Health Times on Twitter too!
More Insight and Ideas for Healthcare Executives to Create Health’s Future
HCEG invites healthcare leaders from across the nation to participate in the 10th Annual Industry Pulse research survey. Please consider sharing your insight, experiences, and opinion to help define the issues facing healthcare. Your insight will help to reveal how the industry is responding in today’s uncertain environment. Learn more about this survey and share your insight here.
Also, be sure to follow us onTwitter, connect with us on LinkedInand subscribe to our eNewsletter. And if you’re a healthcare executive who wants to benefit from collaborating with C-suite peers on the challenges, issues, and opportunities you and your organization face, consider becoming a member of the HealthCare Executive Group!
The 2019 AHIP Institute & Expo took place in Nashville, TN earlier this month and our Executive Director Ferris Taylor was in attendance – along with many of our members and sponsor partners. This post shares just a bit of what Ferris observed. Also included are some recaps of the event shared by industry media and analysts.
Cigna CEO on Importance of Access, Affordability, and Eliminating Surprises
Wednesday’s afternoon keynote, A Blueprint for a More Sustainable Health Care System, was presented by David Cordani, President & CEO of Cigna Corporation. David’s introductory message emphasized the importance of access, affordability, and eliminating surprises. During his 45-minute session, David shared the following thoughts and ideas – among others:
Healthcare organizations – and the companies that support healthcare organizations – need to understand the needs of the people and companies they want to do business with and then earn the “right” to meet those needs.
In the quest for the digital transformation of their healthcare organizations, healthcare leaders should consider and address the “transactional going to transitional going to transformational”
Treat the whole person and be sure to do your best to connect individuals (plan members and patients) with providers. Drive this change through innovation
Some statistics shared by David Cordani
The United States is the only place in the world you want to be if you have a critical medical conditional.
In 1992, the healthcare industry resisted
In 2008, the healthcare industry collaborated
In 2020, will the healthcare industry choose to lead?
What is the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) and Why Should You Care?
For those who may not know, the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) is the first qualified entity recognized by CMS for quality, efficiency, and use of resources. The speakers shared an overview of the benefits of collaborating and sharing data with HCCI and how HCCI members have access to the following types of Healthcare Market Intelligence:
benchmarking enrollment, utilization, and payments
provider profiling (understanding and tiering networks)
care management (patient identified data)
custom analysis (utilization of care, alternative payment methods, Rx, etc.)
Niall Brennan will be presenting the breakfast keynote at HCEG’s 2019 Annual Forum on Tuesday, September 10, 2019. For more information about our Annual Forum, clickhere.
Niall also shared some information on the National All Payer Claims Database (APCD) and emphasized that without data, states without APCD’s are flying blind with little or no ability to assess cost or quality. The group urged all attendees with the power to do so, to submit their data to HCCI and then focus on using the information and data HCCI generates in return to for quality and improvement programs.
Additionally, a general consensus among the speakers was their surprise that employers are not outraged over the variation in healthcare prices and even more with the fact that, while demand for some services is declining, in many cases prices are still going up.
For more information about HCCI including how to become a partner, click here.
AHIP President & CEO Matt Eyles – Speaker at HCEG’s 2019 Annual Forum
At the AHIP event, Matt Eyles, AHIP’s CEO & President, shared his take on “What the Industry needs to do to address Health Care’s Challenges.” Matt will also be speaking at HCEG’s 2019 Annual Forum on Tuesday, September 10, 2019. For more information about our Annual Forum, click here.
Social Determinants of Health at AHIP Institute & Expo
Unsurprisingly, social determinants of health – ranked #3 on the 2019 HCEG Top 10 list – was a popular topic at the AHIP Institute & Expo. Check out these articles and resources on this hot topic impacting health plans, health systems, and provider organizations.
Stay up-to-date on challenges, issues, & opportunities facing healthcare leaders and sign up for free, bi-weekly updates here. Check out some recent eNewsletters here:
Next week, the 2018 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum (AHIP CDF) takes place in Nashville, TN – the Healthcare Capital of the United States. The 2018 AHIP CDF offers attendees about 40 sessions and presentations on the theme of healthcare consumer experience and digital health. And this healthcare forum is of particular interest to HCEG members, sponsor partners and associated because Total Consumer Health and The Digital Healthcare Organization are ranked #2 and #5 respectively on the 2019 HCEG Top 10 list of challenges, issues, and opportunities facing healthcare executives. Moreover, these two items and their closely aligned variations have consistently ranked in the HCEG Top 10 for the last decade.
While it’s likely that most or all of the sessions and presentations at the AHIP CDF will be of value in one way or another, we’d like to share a short list of those that we’re looking forward to attending. And extend an invitation to all AHIP CDF attendees – and other healthcare industry participants in the Nashville area who may not be attending the AHIP CDF.
Healthcare Consumer Experience & Digital Health Sessions
*Additional details on the above and other sessions and presentations can be found here.
But Wait! There’s More in Store Right After AHIP Adjourns!
Right after the Closing Session on Thursday the 13th, the HealthCare Executive Group is hosting an Executive Leadership Roundtable (ELR) starting at 1:00 pm in Room 102a at Music City Center.
Roundtable participants will enjoy the unique perspective of two distinguished panelists: Brian Lobley, President, Commercial and Consumer Markets at Independence Blue Cross and Stuart Hanson, Managing Director, Head of Healthcare Payments at JPMorgan Chase & Co. HCEG’s Executive Director Ferris Taylor will moderate the roundtable.
Ferris will set the stage for Brian and Stuart to share their perspective on healthcare consumerism and digital health organizations, but our roundtable events are free-flowing with heavy attendee participation and the eventual direction of the roundtable event will be dictated by where attendee interaction takes us. Anyone who wants to share will have a chance to do that.
Healthcare Consumerism & Digital Health Organization Topics at the Roundtable
And even better, a complimentary lunch is included. This is a great opportunity to recap and recharge after the AHIP CDF and network with others you may have missed during the previous few days. Attendees are free to depart on their own schedule.
This ELR is open to all AHIP CDF attendees and other local healthcare industry participants – whether registered for the AHIP CDF or not. For more information – and to be sure sufficient food and beverages are available, please RSVP here. Join us and extend the value of your attendance at the 2018 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum.RELATED: Leadership, Trust & Skills in Overcoming Obstacles to Radical Innovation in Healthcare
Become a Subscriber of our eNewsletter and Join 2500+ Other Healthcare Industry Participants
Whether you’re able to attend our Executive Leadership Roundtable at this years AHIP CDF or not, become a subscriber to our eNewsletter and receive information and opportunities of interest to healthcare executives and industry participants.
The trend toward healthcare consumerism and digital health is driving what health plans, health systems, and healthcare providers are offering – or in the process of offering – their plan sponsors, the members those plan sponsors serve and the individuals participating in the U.S. healthcare market. Indeed, Total Consumer Health and The Digital Healthcare Organization are ranked #2 and #5 respectively by health insurance, health system and healthcare providers on the 2019 HCEG Top 10. Moreover, these two items and their closely aligned variations have ranked in the HCEG Top 10 for the last decade.
It’s obvious that healthcare consumerism and digitally-enabled organizations are front and center on the mind of healthcare leaders. Digitally transforming their organizations with a focus on facilitating consumerism is critical for all healthcare leaders.
Join Digital Healthcare Leaders & Forum Attendees in Nashville
HCEG’s Executive Leadership Roundtable events are held in intimate, informal and free-flowing settings where the exchange of facts, ideas, and questions are encouraged between roundtable panelists and participants. Our roundtables provide a safe space where participants can find common ground, obtain insight to solve problems and achieve results for those with different needs and views. The fact that our ELR’s are complimentary, free of vendor-speak and offer food and beverages are an additional benefit.Participants at our roundtable event immediately following the closing of the 2018 AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum (AHIP CDF) will enjoy the unique perspective and long-running insight of two distinguished panelists: Brian Lobley, President, Commercial and Consumer Markets at Independence Blue Cross and Stuart Hanson, Managing Director, Head of Healthcare Payments at JPMorgan Chase & Co. And HCEG’s Executive Director Ferris Taylor will moderate the roundtable.
Brian Lobley
Stuart Hanson
Ferris Taylor
President, Commercial & Consumer Markets at Independence Blue Cross
Managing Director, Healthcare Payments at JPMorgan Chase & Co
HCEG Board Chair & COO/Consultant at Arches Health Plan
Healthcare Consumerism & Digital Healthcare
Brian Lobley and Stuart Hanson will share their insight and engage ELR participants on expanding the overall theme of the AHIP’s Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum. Tentative topics that will be discussed include:
Insight into how healthcare organization can enhance member/patient engagement
How competition from new entrants, cost containment pressures associated with value-based programs, health/entitlement reforms, and technological innovations may impact ‘healthcare consumerism’
Approaches for turning passive health plan members and health system patients into active healthcare consumers
Catalysts for healthcare consumerism change: employer groups demanding better value and trend of health plan members and individuals directly engaging with plans and providers
How value-based relationships demand that healthcare organizations engage with their members and patients
To be sure, HCEG roundtables are free-flowing interactions with heavy attendee participation and they often take a direction of their own. There’s a good chance that the above pre-planned topics may take a turn toward what participants share with Brian, Stuart, and Ferris.
Extend the Value of Your AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum Attendance
Your attendance at healthcare conferences can be a non-trivial expense. By taking just a few extra hours of your time at the AHIP CDF, you may extend the value of your AHIP registration, travel and lodging investment. And if you’re not attending the AHIP CDF in Nashville but have a few hours to join other healthcare executives, industry leaders and AHIP CDF participants in an intimate venue at our Executive Leadership Roundtable. your also welcome to attend our Executive Leadership Roundtable – complimentary also.If you have any questions about this Executive Leadership Roundtable event at the AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum in Nashville, please contact us.
Note: Our ELR will end at approximately 3:00 pm CT to allow participants plenty of time to get to the Nashville Airport to board late afternoon flights.
Get a Discount off Registration to AHIP’s CDF
HCEG’s luncheon roundtable taking place on Thursday, December 13th, the last day of the AHIP CDF, is complimentary. If you’re interested in attending AHIP’s forum on December 10th through mid-day on the 13th, you can use code ‘HCEG’ to receive a discount off your AHIP CDF registration here.
HealthCare Executive Group convenes and supports healthcare executives and thought leaders by providing a platform supporting the creation, curation and sharing of information and insight on current opportunities, challenges and issues in the healthcare industry.
It’s our 30th Anniversary and the HealthCare Executive Group has been in overdrive during the first half of 2018. We held an Executive Leadership Roundtable at the recent HLTH Future of Healthcare Forum, we worked with our sponsor partners to share insight via our ongoing HCEG Webinar Series, we’ve attended a handful of major healthcare industry conferences in support of our members and sponsor partners, and we continue to leverage our social channels to help address the issues, challenges and opportunities facing today’s healthcare executive leader.
We’ve also been preparing for our 2018 Annual Forum taking place September 12th through the 14th in Minneapolis, MN – recruiting industry thought leaders and fleshing out an agenda that promises to share valuable information, insight and networking opportunities. Finally, we’re wrapping up the first half of our 30th Anniversary year by attending the 2018 AHIP Institute & Expo where we’ll support our members and sponsor partners – and gather additional insight to make our 2018 Annual Forum all the more valuable.
Major Healthcare Conferences of 2018
HCEG members and sponsor partners participated in many of the major healthcare conferences taking place in the first part of the year including the:
HCEG members and sponsor partners will be participating in more conferences as the year continues, including, our course, hosting the 2018 HCEG Annual Forum celebrating our 30th Year convening and supporting healthcare executives and thought leaders.
Read on for more about HCEG Members and Sponsor Partners at the AHIP Institute.
Check out a recap of the roundtable event held in conjunction with the inaugural HLTH Future of Healthcare Forum here.
The Next Executive Leadership Roundtable – Nashville, TN
We’re planning another Executive Leadership Roundtable to coincide with the AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum on December 11 – 13, 2018 in Nashville, TN. Members and sponsors interested in helping shape the theme of this roundtable are urged to contact us at[email protected].
HCEG Webinars Offer an Opportunity to Learn from Sponsor Partners
In the first few months of 2018, HCEG and our sponsor partners produced webinars addressing a variety of topics such as Value-based Payment, Post-Acute Care in Medicare Advantage and a deeper dive into the 2018 HCEG Top 10. For more information on these webinars including a recap and recording, check out the following:
HCEG is also working with other sponsor partners on additional webinars planned for the 4th quarter of 2018 after the Annual Forum.
Consider subscribing to our eNewsletter to be kept abreast of these webinars and other information and events of value to healthcare executives and thought leaders.
Preliminary Agenda and Keynote Speakers for HCEG’s 30th Anniversary Annual Forum
We’re pleased to share the preliminary agenda and announce that Andy Slavitt, former Acting CMS Administrator and current leader of Town Hall Ventures, and Dan Buettner, National Geographic Fellow, NY Times bestselling author and principle at the Blue Zones Project will be providing keynote addresses at our 2018 Annual Forum in Minneapolis, MN on September 12 – 14, 2018.
The following represents the current agenda which is being fleshed out and evolving on a weekly basis. We’re also identifying and recruiting more speakers and panelists, and planning enjoyable networking events intended to make our 2018 Annual Forum our best forum ever. If you or someone you know would like to be considered to speak or serve as a panelist at our forum, please use this form.
To learn more and to get an idea about what the HCEG Annual Forum is all about…
HCEG Members and Sponsor Partners at AHIP Institute & Expo
The 2018 AHIP Institute & Expo takes place next week, June 20th through the 22nd in San Diego, CA and HCEG members and sponsor partners will be participating, speaking and exhibiting.
If you’re attending the AHIP Institute, be sure to meet our sponsor partners. Some of our sponsor partners are exhibiting, some are presenting, and some are attending. ALL of our sponsor partners can help your healthcare organization transform itself in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare environment.
Also not to be missed are sponsor partners CareCentrix and Change Healthcare offering refreshments and a Lunch & Learn session.
The HealthCare Executive Group has limited general sponsorship opportunities available to companies interested in supporting our members on a consultative, partnership basis. For more information, contact Juliana Ruiz.
In this second post, select insight, ideas, comments and opinions on Topic #2: What must health systems & health plans focus on over next 8 to 18 months regardless of health reform outcome? are shared. The remaining topics will be addressed in future posts.
Insight, Ideas and Opinions on Topic #2
T2: What must health systems & health plans focus on over next 8 to 18 months regardless of health reform outcome? #HITsmpic.twitter.com/nD1OeCs4Vf
— Healthcare Scene (@HealthcareScene) June 9, 2017
Connect with Members, Consumers & Patients
Create a connection with the patient that goes beyond the office visit.
Identify, understand & work with ‘impactable members’ to help them make good, cost-effective decisions about their healthcare.
Health systems & plans need to engage w/ patients & members on a more meaningful & regular basis. Not just via EOB’s.
Find out what’s going on in patients’ homes and determine the services they need to keep them healthy.
Include the patient in everything – from the patient’s own care to the growth of the health plan/system. Act on what they hear.
This’s the ‘Hatched, Matched & Dispatched’ cycle. Health plans only ‘engage’ at enrollment, w/ claim EOB’s & at termination.
Address Waste & Abuse
At #AHIPInstitute, Eric Topol said ‘75% of top 10 high cost drugs are prescribed to non-responding patients.” STOP the waste!
Waste and overtreatment, heard from @DocLazris #ErikRifkin are on a mission against it. Video here: https://t.co/OvfS9zjFAW
IMHO it’s important to educate people about how to use their insurance effectively to control their costs. Price Transparency too
Help Consumers Become Better Patients
Focus must be on enable patients to take control of their own care and to be more involved through easy integration of tech.
Universal language – like, “Do you accept my health plan?” Simple question but so often answered wrong.
When these languages are translated into HIT, all those stakeholders interpret associated rules & allowances differently
If you adopt universal languages, IMHO, you will see some of these issues disappear or at least some clarity enter
Smaller, more often, more meaningful. I have to write stuff that’s specific, timely, and actionable – why does H/C bury me in dross?
Anthem has a monthly health plan summary to members that contains ‘personalized and actionable’ health & wellness insights.
“Self-Care Shows Promise In Keeping Individuals w/ Behavioral Health Needs Out of the ER” – Video here: https://t.co/y4As4wkwkY
Don’t Ignore the Masses – Invest in Preventive Services
Insurance! Invest now to save later is a motto that not many want to hear but need to have more faith in.
Need to focus on treating the largely ignored ‘healthy people’ to prevent them from becoming the 5% of patients consuming 22%
I am going 2 go there. Inclusion. No high risk pools. The One-Plan Plan. With a focus on prevention and wellness to mitigate risk
We need to start providing preventive treatments to the masses vs. spending lion’s share of resources on the few sick.
Such a good question. I think prevention costs are minimal compared to the other side of heart surgeries or chemo…
I know a plan that’s feeding care gaps to physicians, so they can stay ahead of the gaps. Also helps scheduling.
Focus on Core Mission & Quality
Shedding/outsourcing operations not core to their mission – like moving data centers to the cloud are long overdue.
All #healthcare needs to focus on quality of care, especially since value-based care and payments look like they will stay
Smartphones – Everyone Has One – Leverage Them!
IMO, health systems & plans must enable consumers and patients to use those things they’re always staring at: Smartphones.
Our President Dr Rene Lerer suggests smartphones will be the “most important part of your body” for health
Interoperability
No matter the #ACA result, plans and providers must get along, and have systems/infrastructure to enable real-time data exchange.
Also interoperability among healthcare tech platforms to provide better utilization of collected patient data
More on the Remaining Four Topics Coming Soon
Check back later this coming week to learn what chat participants shared on the remaining four topics:
T3: Who’s most likely to disrupt healthcare: insiders or outsiders? And what barriers do each face – right now or in near future?
T4: What technologies will do the most to move healthcare supply-side toward improving outcomes, lowering costs & enhancing equity?
T5: Incentives drive innovation. How can they be aligned to meaningfully support innovation that improves outcomes & lowers costs?
Bonus: What are examples of innovative healthcare programs, processes, people and organizations – U.S.-based or elsewhere?
One More Time!
Thanks again to our co-hosts @_GWConnect and @_GuideWell, John Lynn (aka. @TechGuy) of Healthcare Scene and to all those who participated in the chat. A complete transcript of the chat can be found here.
For more about opportunities, challenges, and issues impacting healthcare plans, health systems and payers, consider following @HCExecGroup on Twitter and join us on LinkedIn and Facebook too.
Payer/Provider Memberships: Candidates are organizations that provide direct insurance benefits (policies, financial, administrative services and other risk-bearing and ASO services) and/or direct health services (medical, dental, vision, etc.) to groups or individuals, either as stand-alone entities or as a subsidiary under a commercial entity.
Individual Membership: Candidates are executives from Payer/Provider Membership eligible organizations.
Alumni Membership: Past HCEG members who are unaffiliated with vendor organizations. Vendors provide products and services to HCEG member candidate organizations to better serve individuals.
40% of Americans have saved enough to cover a $1,000 emergency
and the Workgroup Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) to present a special three-hour-long roundtable event.
HealthCare Executive Group convenes and supports healthcare executives and thought leaders by providing a platform supporting the creation, curation and sharing of information and insight on current opportunities, challenges and issues in the healthcare industry.
