Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Health Equity and Value-Based Care: Insights from Providence Leaders

Transcript

Health Equity and Value-Based Care: Insights from Providence Leaders · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  Imagine this. You're at the Hyatt Regency Chicago
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  immersed in insightful discussions with the health care
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  industry's top leaders.
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  Welcome to Becker's 12th annual CEO
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  days of sessions featuring 400
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  elite health system speakers.
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  rural health care, digital transformation,
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  health equity, and c suite diversity.
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  will leave you motivated
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  Get registered today. Visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events page to find
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  That's the beckershospitalreview.com
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  events page. See you in Chicago.
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  Hello, and welcome to our Becker's podcast series,
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  bringing value to value based care. I'm Angela
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  Merritt. I'm the chief administrative officer in population
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  health at Providence.
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  Joining me today is my cohost, Deepak Saragopan.
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  Hello.
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  I'm Deepak.
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  I serve as chief operating officer in population
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  health at Providence.
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  Today, we are going to talk about the
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  intersections between health equity and value based care.
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  Our guest today is a transformation
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  specialist
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  and an incredible thought leader for Providence.
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  Tim Schell Tarvit leads health experience and equity
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  within Providence Health Plan.
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  Welcome, Tim Schell.
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  Thanks. It's great to be here.
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  So, Tim Schell, just to start this off,
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  what does it mean to be the chief
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  health care experience and equity officer at the
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  Providence Health Plan? What do you spend most
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  of your time doing?
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  Well, most of my time is probably spent
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  in meetings. I say that tongue in cheek,
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  actually.
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  Yeah.
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  You know,
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  as I think about
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  my role, it's really trying to find ways
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  to push innovative solutions,
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  empowering,
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  Providence Health Plan and the teams to improve
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  both our health care experience for
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  our our members,
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  but addressing
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  some of the equity challenges that we have
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  also.
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  We know in in health care, there there
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  are many inequities. And so how can we
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  find innovative
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  solutions that will will address
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  will address some of the the inequities that
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  there are? And also, you know,
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  working then with our internal caregivers,
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  leading,
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  some of these these innovative solutions
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  empower and have a voice as we are
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  looking at what we might want to do.
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  Oh, that's great. So you're looking at not
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  only the member population, but also our employees,
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  our caregivers,
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  because
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  equity is is across it's
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  it flows into both sides
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  there. That's great. As an executive that's focused
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  on achieving health equity, how do you see
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  value based care supporting that effort?
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  You know, that it's such a great question.
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  When when I think about, you know, the
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  traditional system of, you know, getting people through
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  as quick as possible,
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  that's really,
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  one of the things that just continues to
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  perpetuate the inequities.
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  So then when we start thinking about value
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  based care,
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  I really believe it's a step towards addressing
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  some of the inequities that there are in
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  the health care system. What we're really doing
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  is we're focusing on the outcomes.
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  And when you start focusing on outcomes, what
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  you realize is
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  individuals,
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  each of us is an n of 1.
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  And so our outcomes could be different based
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  on
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  other circumstances that we might have based on
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  our race, our ethnicity, our age, our sexual
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  orientation, gender identity, or our disability status.
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  And so as we start to try and
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  drive to
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  outcomes that are more positive,
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  not just an a giant number or getting
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  people through,
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  what I really think is that's where that
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  intersection is. We start to see changes in
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  how we are engaging
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  with the patient or from a health plan
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  standpoint, we call them the member.
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  And and I think that this is we're
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  at a pivotal point in trying to drive
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  to that because it's really a different approach
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  in health care, and and it's focused on
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  meeting the change in in our world.
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  And as I think about, you know, the
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  the health plan that I'm blessed enough to
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  be part of, Providence Health Plan. You know,
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  we're definitely committed to being affordable and making
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  sure that
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  individuals can access high quality care that's equitable
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  to them.
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  And that can mean something different for who
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  you are. And so we really wanna lead
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  with equity,
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  and lead with thinking about how we can
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  make sure that our our patients and members
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  get the outcomes
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  to live their best and most healthy lives.
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  It it's almost like so
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  that incentive for better patient outcomes
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  that,
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  is part of these value based care contracts
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  supports
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  really getting to the root cause of why
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  those outcomes
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  are less than desirable in the first place.
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  Absolutely. You have to take the time to
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  understand because right now,
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  if you're just fixing or putting a Band
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  Aid on it, it's not gonna fit
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  over time, what we've continued to see is
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  it doesn't really fix the problem.
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  And so if we want to figure out
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  a way to fix the problem, we have
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  to focus on what's the root cause driving
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  this. And it could be very different root
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  causes based on who you are, where you
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  live, what access you have, even the healthy
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  things like food. Right? And so if we're
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  putting in the value and based on the
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  outcome and not how many individuals you can
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  get through or process,
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  it it I think that's where the the
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  change happens.
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  That's wonderful, Tim Shail. Thank you for sharing
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  that. I think it's a it's such a
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  refreshing approach to
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  managing populations from a health plan perspective, which
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  brings me to the next,
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  question that occurs to me, which is, you
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  know, in my role, I work on the
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  health care delivery side, right, from a population
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  health perspective,
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  and you work on the health plan side
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  of Providence.
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  I'm wondering about your perspective
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  on how organizations
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  that are integrated like ours,
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  can add more value to our community? I
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  think it's, it probably leads from the from
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  from the topic that you were just talking
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  about.
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  I I really think it does. One of
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  the things that has been such a pleasant
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  surprise to me this is the first time
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  I've worked for an integrated,
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  an integrated plan. And and one of the
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  things that I have always thought and I
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  have pushed is how can we find ways
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  instead of working against each other to work
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  together?
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  And coming to Providence, I really see us
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  as one providence. One of the things that
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  I'm lucky enough to get to do is
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  to do some outreach to some of our
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  members.
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  And when I do that outreach with the
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  members and I'm I'm talking with them,
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  there's a lot of times where, you know,
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  I say, what are we doing well? And
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  they talk to me about what the doctors
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  and the nurses are doing, or they talk
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  about what our customer service folks are doing.
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  They don't see us as different.
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  And I think that is key. Right? Instead
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  of thinking of us as there's the insurer,
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  there's the system side, and they're always going
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  to be, you know, from a delivery side
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  or an insurance side fighting against each other.
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  Instead, we're partnering and
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  walking together and, you know, presenting that unified
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  presence
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  and doing it in a way that the
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  entire community sees us. And so it creates
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  this level and this name
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  of trust. They know who Providence is, and
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  they trust us.
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  In addition, there's such key things that
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  I think we're able to do together,
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  that are huge. So I'm sure everybody
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  both of you are very much aware of,
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  you know, the commitment, the Providence commitment,
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  to,
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  to put $50,000,000
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  into,
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  the community to address inequities. Well, we are
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  actually
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  one of the beneficiaries
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  this year. We put in a a proposal
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  to get some,
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  in language care navigators that are gonna help
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  navigate the the system, not just,
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  a care delivery standpoint, but from a health
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  plan standpoint.
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  So now these care navigators are gonna have
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  the opportunity to help individuals who English is
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  not their first language,
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  navigate it from dealing with the insurance side
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  and the system side. So that I mean,
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  that's just a way right there where we're
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  trying to, you know, integrate but be innovative.
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  And I I I wish that there were
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  more opportunities
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  for other organizations to do that also.
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  Yeah. And, you know, the the care navigator
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  initiative, I'm super excited about because one of
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  the gaps we've already heard about in our
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  communities is the challenges of,
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  of people who are not native English speakers
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  to actually get access to the type of
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  care that they need and be able to
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  access the health care system.
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  And it's it's exciting that we're able to
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  partner on this very important initiative for our
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  communities.
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  Just a great opportunity. And I think it's
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  a first step. Right? I mean, there's so
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  many other things that as I think about
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  Providence overall that we we have the opportunity
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  to just partner on, and I think this
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  is gonna be one one proof point, but
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  I am sure that as I think about
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  One Providence, there's gonna be a lot more
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  that we we can elaborate on in in
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  that same vein.
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  Yeah. You know, I health care is so
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  difficult
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  to navigate in general. And then to add,
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  not being a native English speaker,
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  it's,
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  just so complex and what a great initiative.
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  So, I mean, kudos to Providence Health Plan
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  and to yourself for,
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  for putting this into place and implementing,
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  just really exciting.
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  And speaking of complexity,
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  contract and payment models are complex even for
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  those who live and breathe this work every
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  day.
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  We have an obligation to not transfer that
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  complex
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  communities. What do health systems need to prioritize
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  to ensure we're easing the way for all?
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  Yeah. I mean, as I think about, the
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  complexity, I even get confused sometimes.
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  Right?
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  Yeah. I think we need to we need
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  to start with as as I think about
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  it, you know, the contracting side on the
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  back, one of the things that as I
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  think about the evolution
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  of I don't
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  know how many of y'all have bought a
• 11:03
  house over the last, I don't know, 30
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  years, but it has gotten a lot easier
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  even though there's a lot to sign.
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  It's gotten easier. Right? And so I think
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  part of it is, you know, thinking about
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  a way to, you know,
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  break down the silos,
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  between, you know, the the delivery system side
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  and and the health insurer side, and then
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  really finding a way to put the patient
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  or the member at the center of it.
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  Right? So when I think about the Providence
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  promise of knowing, caring for, and ease in
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  the way of our members and our patients,
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  I really think that that's the way that
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  we have to do it. So that's gonna
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  that will help us to solve for the
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  complexities and prioritize that patient experience.
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  Yes. We're a business. Yes. We have to
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  make sure that we we take care of
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  all of that. But if we are really
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  centering it around the patient and what their
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  experience is gonna be,
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  also think that we need to find better
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  ways to communicate and collaborate.
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  I think that there's you know, as as
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  we think about even just you know, we're
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  very regulated,
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  and there's a lot of mandatory notices and
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  things that we have to send out. But
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  when
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  the the the delivery system has to send
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  them out and the insurance system has to
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  send them out, how can we find ways
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  to not have it be so siloed
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  and to make it easier for the individual
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  and the patient and the member to understand?
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  Amen to that. Well, thank you so much,
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  Tim Schall. I really appreciate your conversation.
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  I'm really excited for this to launch and
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  for others to hear, what you have to
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  say and, have
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  a wonderful day.
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  Yeah. Thanks. It's been great.