Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Brett Bingham, Chief Network Development Officer at Banner Plans

Transcript

Brett Bingham, Chief Network Development Officer at Banner Plans · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

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  This is where health insurance leadership comes together.
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  Becker's fourth annual spring payer issues roundtable brings
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  together over 400 payer and health plan executives
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  and more than 100 speakers to Chicago April.
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  This year's event includes keynote conversations with the
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  industry's top leaders and former president George W.
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  Bush. For the full agenda and event details,
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
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  here in Chicago.
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  Hello, everyone, and welcome to Becker's Health Care
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  Podcast. I'm Scott King. Thrilled today to be
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  joined by Brett Bingham, chief network development officer,
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  Banner Plans and Networks. Brett, how are you
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  doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.
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  Thanks for having me. It's a great day.
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  Certainly is. In some parts of the world,
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  we were talking weather earlier. Chicago's suffering. But
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  despite all that, we, you know, we have
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  a lot of big topics
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  and news to get to, with health plans
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  and with health care in general. But before
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  we do that, I was wondering if you
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  could please just tell us a little bit
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  about your background and your career journey.
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  Sure. I'd be happy to. So I've been
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  with Banner for about five years now, and
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  I get to lead our provider networks.
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  Really enjoy the role with Banner. As an
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  integrated delivery system that's not for profit, it's
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  very focused on connecting the right pieces of
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  health care,
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  and it's fun to align with such a
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  great organization.
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  Before this, I got to spend some time
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  with a rural,
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  sole provider
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  health system down in Yuma, so about 420
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  beds there on Vida Health. And then did
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  some work with UNC Health, a small APACO,
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  the Durham kind of VA Medical Center and
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  some other things before that. So it's it's
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  been a fun ride.
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  Appreciate sharing that background info. Definitely interesting,
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  career you've had so far and a great
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  perspective on things.
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  How are your relationships with providers
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  changing
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  as both sides face cost pressures and workforce
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  shortages?
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  You know, this is really interesting. I think
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  in the industry, we're seeing a lot,
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  in the media of potential
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  adversarial
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  situations and that's something to be very cautious
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  of.
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  Our relationships
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  with providers are really more moving more into
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  a shared interests and aligned incentives aspect.
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  We think that trust is something that's really
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  important right now as we're all facing these
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  pressures
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  and building that trust with providers is certainly
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  critical.
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  One of the challenges that we're kind of
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  seeing is
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  the dynamic of shifting away from more fee
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  for service rate fights
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  to more,
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  focus around solving access staffing,
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  and other aspects that are a big challenge
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  for providers.
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  So, Brett, do you think kind of, like,
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  across the board, certainly now with, you know,
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  a lot of the regulatory
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  pressures and and some you just touched on,
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  are both sides just kind of maybe a
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  little more so coming to the table and
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  willing to collaborate because they both know, look,
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  you're up against x y z. I'm up
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  against x y z. Let's try to get
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  something done.
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  Yeah. I I think you're exactly right. Many
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  providers and payers are coming together in more
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  creative and innovative ways, and I applaud that.
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  We're also seeing some providers
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  or payers taking a different approach, which is
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  a bit tougher because
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  those that are focused on the collaboration are
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  those that are really gonna win in the
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  long run.
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  Absolutely.
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  Brett, where do you see the biggest gap
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  today between payer strategy and operational execution?
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  You know, this is a really good question.
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  I think that strategy is very much so
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  outpacing the infrastructure across the industry.
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  Some organizations that are more vertically integrated are
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  definitely farther along.
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  But I think one of the pieces here
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  is everybody has some kind of value based
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  care strategy,
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  but very few have the data, the contract
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  terms, or the operation set up in a
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  way that they can actually achieve things.
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  What's one investment or initiative you believe will
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  most reshape how health plans operate?
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  I mean, everybody's hitting AI pretty hard.
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  I think
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  health plans that really invest on a different
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  payment methodology
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  are those that are going to win.
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  The biggest challenge is that with value based
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  care and actually incentivizing for the outcomes that
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  we need,
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  the data latency is just so long. Reports
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  and and shared savings can be two years
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  away.
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  Getting leading indicator payments on annual wellness visits,
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  care gap closures, fully addressing and and
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  not just clicking the button, but actually treating
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  patients for the conditions they have.
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  If you let me ask you. If you
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  could change one
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  regulatory or industry practice tomorrow, so, you know,
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  very soon,
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  to improve affordability and access,
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  what would it be and why?
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  That's that's a really good question. I think
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  there's a lot of struggle around checking the
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  box,
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  with some of the different pieces that are
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  out there.
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  As we think about how we engage the
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  consumer more, I think that is a missing
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  piece.
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  We know that incentives and and things like
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  that to the actual,
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  patient or member,
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  there's a real delicate line to be walked
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  there. But, ultimately,
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  if we can engage individuals more meaningfully in
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  their health, I think that they'd find better
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  outcomes.
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  And, Brett, do you do that by embracing,
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  you know, a lot of the things that
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  emerging tech
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  have given to to health plans? Because they
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  like like you said, they the consumers expect
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  things easier. They expect to be met. Do
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  do you do that through emerging tech?
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  Yes. I think that there's there's all sorts
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  of different pieces around that. Banner has invested
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  very heavily in how we're working with our
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  consumers,
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  especially in the realms of patient experience, member
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  experience,
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  and just making health care easier so life
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  can be better. The big challenge with all
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  this is moving large organizations forward can take
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  time and effort, but Banner's certainly been very
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  committed to that cause.
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  That's great to hear. What issue is putting
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  the most pressure on health plan margins right
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  now,
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  and
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  how will you respond differently, this year in
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  in 2026
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  to that?
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  You know, that's that's a really good question.
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  I think
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  we've seen a lot of increases in expenses
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  across the board. And so I think there's
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  just multiple pieces coming together at the same
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  time.
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  And organizations that can really focus on their
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  agility
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  and rely on the time that it just
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  kind of living out their investments that they've
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  made and making sure they have the time
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  to kind of see those through is really
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  important.
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  I think we've seen a number of players
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  in the industry shift strategies too quickly.
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  They'll be partway through an endeavor and then
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  then they maybe shift before they finish it.
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  Banner has been really true to its course,
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  and that's been, you know,
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  a great thing because it allows us to
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  remain committed on the pieces that we're well
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  grounded in
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  without floundering
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  when we see a hiccup of of challenge.
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  What are some investments, Brett, that you think
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  either either banner or all payers just have
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  to kinda be a little patient with in
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  terms of seeing them through and and seeing
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  them pay off?
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  Yeah. That's that's another good question.
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  A big piece on that one is more
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  deeply integrating care delivery capabilities.
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  So as we think about the historical payer
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  landscape,
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  it's very contractually
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  based.
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  I think the organization that focus on focuses
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  I think the organizations that focus more on,
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  the actual integration of pieces and getting the
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  data to connect
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  at point of care and then
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  allowing for flexibilities,
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  for different payers to kind of work with
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  advanced models, c I n, ACOs,
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  MSOs,
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  and just other type of engagement vehicles with
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  primary care is really important.
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  And the last thing I want to ask
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  you, Brett, you know, I I think leadership
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  is so important now in health care, you
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  know, probably more than ever before with everything
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  going on. Just wanted to ask,
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  how you evolved as a leader?
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  Yeah. That's that's another good thought. I think
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  the biggest thing is transparency and collaboration.
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  It's a big industry, but at the same
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  time, it's really small. And
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  if if you burn your relationships,
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  for some kind of a quick win,
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  those those never recover. And so as we
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  think about working with with teams, no matter
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  how big or small they are,
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  just being transparent and straightforward with the challenges
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  that we all face,
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  and then being willing to kind of hear
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  the voices of lots of different individuals
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  to navigate through things in the right way.
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  We're all doing the best that we can.
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  It's a challenging time. But as we continue
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  to kind of work together and focus on
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  our greatest asset, our people, then we're gonna
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  be able to get through it.
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  Brett, thanks so much for joining us on
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  the podcast. It was a great conversation and
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  really looking forward to having you speak at
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  the Spring Payer Issues roundtable. Hey. Thank you.
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  I've definitely enjoyed it.