Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Reimagining Access: Aligning Technology, Strategy and the Member Experience

Transcript

Reimagining Access: Aligning Technology, Strategy and the Member Experience · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with Becker's
• 0:02
  Healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to
• 0:04
  the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. Fantastic to have
• 0:07
  you. Today, we're talking about reimagining access, aligning
• 0:11
  technology strategy and
• 0:13
  the member experience. And I'm very excited to
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  be joined by Rachel French, chief strategy and
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  partnerships officer,
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  MD Live by Evernorth. Rachel, it's so great
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  to have you. Thanks for being here.
• 0:25
  Thanks for having me today. Absolutely.
• 0:27
  I wanna start off for our audience with,
• 0:29
  introductions. If you could just share a little
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  bit about yourself and your work and journey
• 0:33
  in health care.
• 0:34
  Absolutely.
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  So my background is actually in public health
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  and digital innovation.
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  I've spent my career working across payers, providers,
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  and tech organizations,
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  really with a mission to improve how care
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  is delivered and experienced.
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  What drew me to virtual care and to
• 0:52
  MD Live more specifically
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  was the opportunity to address some of the
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  most persistent challenges that we see in health
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  care today, which is access and affordability.
• 1:02
  I myself was born and raised in a
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  rural state, and I know firsthand
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  the challenges of not having access to quality
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  and affordable care.
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  But now as the chief strategy and partnerships
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  officer at MDLIVE, I have the pleasure to
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  continue to drive my personal passion
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  along with the company mission forward. And for
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  me, it's incredibly rewarding to be part of
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  a team that is making health care better
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  every day.
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  MD Live is an Evernorth health services company,
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  and we're a leading provider of virtual care
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  services, which includes primary care,
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  urgent care, behavioral health, and dermatology.
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  Nearly 63,000,000
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  people have access to MD live either through
• 1:40
  their health plan or employer benefits,
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  and we have a national network of board
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  certified providers,
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  including board certified doctors, licensed therapists,
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  who are specifically trained in virtual care.
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  We're dedicated to delivering accessible, personalized health care
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  through a seamless digital platform,
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  which we'll talk about more today.
• 2:01
  Rachel, it's always so great to hear the
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  rural perspective. As someone who lives in Iowa,
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  I absolutely understand.
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  And you've you've mentioned some of the the
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  challenges. Right? You've talked about these challenges. So
• 2:12
  we talk about,
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  long wait times, appointment availability,
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  patient access. Right? You talked about it remains
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  one of the most persistent challenges for organizations
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  right now. How are you thinking about redefining
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  access in a way
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  that's more sustainable and equitable for members?
• 2:30
  Yeah. I think up until recently, we've really
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  thought about access
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  primarily in terms of network design.
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  And what I mean by that is the
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  core question patients often ask is, is my
• 2:42
  provider in network or out of network? Is
• 2:44
  the provider service covered by my insurance or
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  not? But today, we're seeing a shift. Access
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  really is no longer just about who's in
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  network.
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  It's also about how care is delivered.
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  So that means thinking beyond traditional modalities like
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  brick and mortar,
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  but including
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  virtual
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  and asynchronous care.
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  It's really about meeting members where they are,
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  and that's beyond geography,
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  and making it easier for them to take
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  the next best step in their care journey
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  that's only gotten increasingly complex.
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  Yeah. At the end of the day, it
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  is truly about patient care. How can we
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  improve that step and make it as easy
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  as possible so folks can receive the care
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  that they deserve and that they need?
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  Why is this
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  more personalized connected care experience
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  so crucial in this process?
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  It really comes down to that personalized and
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  connected care is critical for engagement.
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  You really have to think about how we
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  can meet patients where they are so that
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  they we can also think about how we
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  provide the support for them to either take
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  their first step in their care journey
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  or continue on their journey to better health.
• 3:53
  And what I mean by that, or maybe
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  a more specific example,
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  is that MD Live, we do this through
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  our provider guided care programs.
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  And an example I'll give you is through
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  our provider guided weight management care plan specifically,
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  which we offer as part of our virtual
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  primary care solution.
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  And within these care plans, our providers work
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  directly with our members to create an individualized
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  care plan.
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  These plans include clinical oversight,
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  behavioral health support, and referrals.
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  We also have tailored education that includes meal
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  planning and exercise plans, all that have a
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  personalized goal set not only with the patient,
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  but in conjunction with their provider.
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  And today, we see so many solutions on
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  the market that rely primarily on the technology
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  piece alone. But at MD Live, we see
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  firsthand how provider involvement is so critical
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  to those sustained outcomes, and we see those
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  today.
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  We see members are losing weight, they're staying
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  engaged, and they're feeling supported.
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  And it's all about making sure members aren't
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  just receiving care, but they're actively participating in
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  it with the right guidance every step of
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  the way.
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  Yeah. And you've mentioned something very important,
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  just now as well, and you know this.
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  We've seen
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  so much investment, such significant investments in digital
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  point solutions to improve access.
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  However, there's still a large number of members
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  that struggle to get
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  the care that they need.
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  Where do you see that disconnect between payer
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  strategies and member experiences,
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  and then how can organizations better align those
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  two?
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  Yeah. So payers are continuing to invest in
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  digital solutions at increasing rates even more so
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  since the pandemic. Mhmm. And they've done so
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  to solve the access problem.
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  But what's happening is now they're creating new
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  issues or challenges.
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  Members are experiencing more confusion, more fatigue,
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  and ultimately ending up more disengaged because they're
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  lost in all of the different offerings that
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  they have.
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  They're overwhelmed by a hodgepodge of offerings that
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  don't really feel connected,
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  intuitive, or even easy to navigate.
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  Many of the digital solutions
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  really have dead ends and lack connectivity,
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  and most importantly, don't have a clear call
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  to action for that member to take
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  for their next part of their care journey.
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  So the answer really isn't more solutions.
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  It's payers need to move away from deploying
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  some of these solutions and silos
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  and instead towards designing
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  a more personalized holistic care experience
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  that connects the dots for the main members.
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  And that's really the only way payers will
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  ultimately be able to deliver on the promise
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  of access.
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  What role
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  does patient education play here in this context?
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  Right? How can leaders drive more effective engagement
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  into all of these processes that you just
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  mentioned?
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  Yeah. One of the biggest barriers that we
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  see is simply awareness.
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  In fact, according to our own research that
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  we've done, seventy percent of members who had
• 6:55
  MD live
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  didn't use it simply because they didn't know
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  they had it.
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  That's a huge missed opportunity for both the
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  member and the health plan.
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  So the answer really lies in proactive guidance,
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  meaning
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  that we have personalized outreach so the member
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  gets the information
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  that feels relevant to them, while also making
• 7:15
  referrals and care transitions seamless so that the
• 7:18
  next step in their care journey is clear.
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  When we take the burden off the patient
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  to figure out what's available,
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  when and how and where to use it,
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  engagement goes up. Outcomes improve,
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  and the investment payers are making can start
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  to deliver real value.
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  Yeah. The easier, the better. That's really a
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  a good way to go for the patient
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  and for everybody really in the process.
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  Looking ahead, right, how do you see technology
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  shaping the next five years of health care
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  access really? And what are some of those
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  innovations that you think
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  will have the greatest impact on payer strategies
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  and member experience here?
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  We're going to continue to see the impact
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  of two major forces.
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  One,
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  provider shortages,
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  and two, an increasing number of consumers who
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  do expect seamless,
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  unfettered access to care.
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  And as clinics close and we do have
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  fewer providers available,
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  virtual care isn't just a convenience anymore. It's
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  an essential part of how care is delivered.
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  One of the more exciting things we're seeing
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  is the potential
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  of generative AI, and that's to help solve
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  this supply demand equation
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  using AI to help providers
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  work more efficiently
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  without replacing that personal touch.
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  At MD Live, for example,
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  I can speak to that AI. We're using
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  AI to reduce the administrative burden on providers,
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  meaning that providers can spend less time on
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  paperwork and more time with their patients.
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  And, of course, we always wanna make sure
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  that we're leveraging this powerful technology
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  ethically and responsibly.
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  I also think we're going to see a
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  shift towards more virtual first models where members
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  begin their journey digitally,
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  and technology will play a huge role in
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  making that happen.
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  Think of things like intelligently
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  guiding patients, sharing data bilaterally,
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  and connector connecting different sites of care to
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  ensure that that continuity
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  exists so members don't fall through the cracks.
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  Rachel, it's so fantastic to have you. We
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  covered so many different aspects of this topic
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  today. I wanna thank you for for your
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  time and your insights and turn the floor
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  over to you here too. Is there anything
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  else that that you wanna mention to our
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  audience that we might have not touched on
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  that you think is important?
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  Yeah. I think the last thing I'll mention
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  is innovation in healthcare, which we talk a
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  lot about. We talk about how
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  it's really, in some ways, easy to get
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  caught up in the technology
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  on the tools and platforms
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  and how they integrate and how they solve
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  specific problems, and that's absolutely right, how we
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  can leverage technology to advance
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  health care. But oftentimes, we need to ensure
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  we're not overlooking how critical the provider's role
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  is in making these tools meaningful and helping
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  patients understand and act act on their health.
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  At MD Live, we're focused on innovating technology,
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  but we're still centering our model on the
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  patient provider relationship.
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  So when our providers are empowered with the
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  right tools and data,
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  patients feel more supported, and that's how we
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  ultimately deliver on the promise of personalized and
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  holistic care.
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  Rachel, so great to have you. Thanks for
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  being here. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. And
• 10:30
  we also want to thank our podcast sponsor,
• 10:32
  MD Life. You can tune in to more
• 10:34
  podcast from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast
• 10:37
  page at beckershospitalreview.com.