Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Jordan Taggart, SVP of Payer & PBM Growth at Vida Health

Transcript

Jordan Taggart, SVP of Payer & PBM Growth at Vida Health · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

• 0:00
  Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless
• 0:02
  innovation to create world class pharmacy care and
• 0:05
  benefit solutions. Our connected health services make the
• 0:09
  treatment, prediction, and prevention of health care's most
• 0:12
  complex conditions
• 0:13
  easier and more accessible as we drive organizations
• 0:16
  and people forward. Ever North home based care
• 0:19
  provides value based care that helps patients with
• 0:22
  multiple chronic conditions
• 0:23
  and social determinant of health barriers get the
• 0:26
  care they need and the personalized experience they
• 0:28
  deserve. We serve patients who struggle to navigate
• 0:31
  the health care system by bringing high quality
• 0:34
  primary
• 0:35
  and preventative care services to the home. By
• 0:37
  providing clinical care and support services that provide
• 0:40
  whole person care, we improve health equity, access,
• 0:44
  and outcomes for the populations we serve.
• 0:47
  This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Health
• 0:49
  Care podcast, and we are recording live at
• 0:51
  the 2024 payer issues roundtable.
• 0:54
  I'm currently joined by Jordan Taggart, who is
• 0:56
  the senior vice president of payer and PBM
• 0:58
  growth at Vida Health. So, Jordan, thank you
• 1:01
  for being here today. We'd love to have
• 1:02
  you start by introducing yourself and telling us
• 1:05
  a little bit more about your role. Great.
• 1:07
  Yeah. Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:09
  As you said, I lead all of our
• 1:10
  growth initiatives for health plans, PBMs,
• 1:14
  TPAs,
• 1:15
  and really kind of that whole area of
• 1:17
  the market. I'm really focused on developing partnerships
• 1:20
  that we can build together with with those
• 1:22
  organizations that bring
• 1:23
  Vida solution out to self insured employers, to
• 1:27
  Medicare members,
• 1:29
  and really, you know, serve all lines of
• 1:31
  business. What we do at Vida is, we
• 1:33
  provide a
• 1:34
  virtual cardiometabolic
• 1:35
  clinic solution that really focuses on helping members
• 1:38
  manage their diabetes and obesity,
• 1:40
  but really importantly, addressing the
• 1:43
  numerous
• 1:44
  other co occurring chronic conditions and mental health
• 1:46
  that usually
• 1:48
  occur, when members are struggling with those types
• 1:50
  of challenges. So really comprehensive model that we
• 1:53
  deploy in partnership with health plans and PBMs
• 1:57
  across the country.
• 1:58
  Alright. So let's start our conversation today talking
• 2:01
  about growth goals. So from improving member experience
• 2:04
  and expanding value based care to controlling costs,
• 2:07
  payer executives have ambitious growth goals for the
• 2:10
  rest of this year and looking into 2025.
• 2:13
  So in your role, what is your top
• 2:15
  priority, and how are you planning to get
• 2:17
  there?
• 2:19
  Yeah. Growth,
• 2:20
  in my title is definitely what I wake
• 2:22
  up thinking about every single day.
• 2:24
  And
• 2:25
  I think we're we're all focused on growth,
• 2:27
  but I think the the big thing that
• 2:29
  we're focused on at VIDA
• 2:31
  is growth with partners that really align with
• 2:33
  our clinical philosophy,
• 2:36
  and those that really think about managing conditions
• 2:39
  holistically.
• 2:40
  Our approach has has always been on really
• 2:43
  growing populations, but really targeting the right populations
• 2:45
  that
• 2:46
  are appropriate,
• 2:48
  for care. And so the way we think
• 2:50
  about growth is really prioritization
• 2:52
  around finding those partners, whether they be self
• 2:54
  insured employers, health plans, PBMs, and others,
• 2:57
  And really putting together the pieces of how
• 3:00
  all those parties work together.
• 3:03
  So our priorities are really on, again, the
• 3:05
  coordination and integration
• 3:06
  of all those large enterprises
• 3:08
  that, in the end, serve the member.
• 3:11
  And oftentimes, it can be really confusing for
• 3:13
  a member to navigate,
• 3:14
  particularly in the space that we're in, which
• 3:17
  is, you know, diabetes and obesity.
• 3:20
  And going off of that, at an industry
• 3:22
  level, how would you describe the biggest barriers
• 3:25
  to effectively serving and engaging members?
• 3:27
  What opportunities
• 3:29
  do you see for large scale improvements, and
• 3:30
  how are you applying this in your current
• 3:32
  strategy?
• 3:34
  Yeah. A a couple big ones that come
• 3:35
  to mind. You mentioned value based care.
• 3:37
  Value based care is where I've spent most
• 3:39
  of my career in some form or fashion,
• 3:41
  either on the provider side, on the health
• 3:43
  plan side, from the solution side, thinking about
• 3:46
  different ways
• 3:47
  to achieve the promise of value based care.
• 3:50
  And I think some of the challenges we
• 3:52
  continue to run into
• 3:54
  is the siloed nature with which a lot
• 3:56
  of us approach that problem and a lot
• 3:58
  of the industry approaches that problem.
• 4:01
  It's really important, again, when you think about
• 4:03
  the member and really actually driving down costs
• 4:06
  while improving clinical care,
• 4:08
  which is, again, the promise of value based
• 4:10
  care is putting together
• 4:12
  the coordination of all these organizations that need
• 4:15
  to work cohesively.
• 4:16
  So for us, that means,
• 4:18
  again, the employer who's providing a benefit,
• 4:21
  for obesity, for example, covering GLP ones for
• 4:24
  the management of of obesity
• 4:26
  in place, and then looking to their health
• 4:29
  plan, their PBM, and then a solution like
• 4:31
  VITA to exchange data,
• 4:34
  to make to coordinate care with the existing
• 4:36
  provider network, to make sure that,
• 4:39
  really, you can look at the value of
• 4:42
  of the solution.
• 4:43
  And
• 4:44
  that coordination
• 4:45
  tends to be a challenge, particularly with organizations
• 4:48
  that all move at different paces and have
• 4:49
  different priorities.
• 4:52
  And shifting gears to health equity.
• 4:55
  As health equity becomes increasingly cemented in payer
• 4:58
  strategies,
• 4:59
  how is your organization addressing health disparities? And
• 5:01
  can you share examples of measurable successes to
• 5:04
  date?
• 5:06
  Yeah. Thanks for asking. Health equity is a
• 5:08
  big part of how we think and about
• 5:10
  our clinical model and the way we've designed
• 5:12
  it.
• 5:13
  VIDA was really created to address a multitude
• 5:16
  of complex conditions.
• 5:18
  And in doing that and serving such a
• 5:20
  broad population
• 5:21
  of people that come to us in different
• 5:24
  places in their health journey,
• 5:26
  Some looking to just lose a couple pounds
• 5:28
  and some that suffer from a multitude of
• 5:31
  of conditions and anxiety and depression and are
• 5:35
  not getting the care that they need from
• 5:37
  their existing
• 5:38
  network.
• 5:39
  And so the way we think about HealthEquity
• 5:41
  is not deploying a singular intervention or a
• 5:44
  single solution, a one size fits all,
• 5:46
  but really personalizing the treatment plan around where
• 5:50
  the member's ready to start. And some of
• 5:52
  some people are not ready to think about
• 5:53
  changing their diet or nutrition
• 5:56
  without addressing the anxiety that occurs
• 5:58
  because of the the challenges that they have
• 6:00
  on a day to day basis because of
• 6:02
  some of those conditions. So
• 6:04
  our approach is really around
• 6:06
  personalization. An example of that would be we
• 6:08
  have 25
• 6:10
  plus customized meal plans for different cultures.
• 6:13
  We have completely localized our experience in our
• 6:15
  provider network to be available in Spanish
• 6:18
  for different
• 6:19
  cultures,
• 6:20
  and we measure this. Right? We we recently
• 6:23
  did a study that looked at
• 6:25
  2 different populations
• 6:27
  in the Medicare space,
• 6:28
  one that was an underserved population with limited
• 6:31
  food access
• 6:33
  in a rural area and a population,
• 6:35
  an urban population and looked at differences in
• 6:38
  a one c reduction and outcomes,
• 6:40
  we had the same outcomes.
• 6:42
  So there really are no disparities in the
• 6:44
  clinical model that VIDA delivers based on that
• 6:46
  study. And we really take that to heart
• 6:48
  in trying to make sure that we can
• 6:50
  adjust our model of care and really our
• 6:53
  solution to meet a member's needs that's ready
• 6:56
  to engage and not turn them away because
• 6:58
  we don't have an option for them to
• 6:59
  use.
• 7:01
  And as we wrap our conversation
• 7:03
  today, I'd love to get
• 7:06
  some advice that you would like to give
• 7:08
  to maybe peer leaders who are looking to
• 7:11
  grow their businesses while keeping members top of
• 7:13
  mind.
• 7:15
  Yeah.
• 7:17
  It's maybe 2 things that I've gotten from
• 7:19
  some mentors in the past.
• 7:22
  One is
• 7:23
  in
• 7:24
  growth is a big growth value based care,
• 7:26
  big themes of of of this conference and
• 7:29
  of this
• 7:30
  conversation.
• 7:31
  I think one is
• 7:34
  to make the hard decisions about what not
• 7:37
  to do. And
• 7:39
  I know a lot of people say that,
• 7:40
  but it's really hard, particularly in a growing
• 7:42
  organization,
• 7:43
  a small organization,
• 7:45
  but big organizations too, to to make those
• 7:48
  choices. It's easy easy to chase a lot
• 7:49
  of things, but they can that can often
• 7:51
  be distractions from just focusing on the core
• 7:53
  business and getting really good at that.
• 7:56
  So I think one is making sure to
• 7:58
  make hard decisions about what not to do,
• 8:00
  And the other is to just be patient.
• 8:02
  You know, most of my days are spent
• 8:03
  with, you know, Fortune 50 organizations,
• 8:06
  and everyone has different priorities.
• 8:09
  So you have to really recognize
• 8:10
  that the people that you're engaging with might
• 8:13
  not have the same kind of day to
• 8:14
  day priorities as you. And it's really important
• 8:17
  to just, I think, be patient
• 8:19
  and understand,
• 8:21
  where other people are focused to make sure
• 8:23
  that you're meeting their needs and and not
• 8:24
  focusing so much on your own.
• 8:27
  Wonderful. Well, Jordan, thanks so much for joining
• 8:29
  today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Again, we're
• 8:31
  recording live at the 2024 payer issues roundtable.
• 8:35
  Thanks for having me.