Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Eric Cannon, Chief Pharmacy Officer and General Manager of Select Health/Scripius.

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Eric Cannon, Chief Pharmacy Officer and General Manager of Select Health/Scripius. · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

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  Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless
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  providing clinical care and support services that provide
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  whole person care, we improve health equity, access,
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  and outcomes for the populations we serve.
• 0:48
  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Health Care
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  podcast.
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  I'm joined today by Eric Cannon, chief pharmacy
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  officer and general manager at SelectHealth and Scripius.
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  Can you start by telling us a little
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  bit about yourself and your organization?
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  Yeah. You bet. I'm a pharmacist by background
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  and training.
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  SelectHealth
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  is the payer arm of Intermountain Healthcare,
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  and Scripius is the PBM subsidiary
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  of SelectHealth.
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  So I started my career. I've been in
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  this role now since
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  1997,
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  and we created
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  the backbone
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  of the PBM, which is Scripius
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  today in 1998.
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  Okay. So from improving member experience and expanding
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  value based care to controlling costs,
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  payer executives have ambitious goals for the rest
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  of 2024 and the year ahead. In your
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  role, what would you say is your top
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  priority, and how are you planning to get
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  there?
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  Yeah. Right now,
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  our our top priority is additional growth
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  within Scripius. And I think
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  a lot of that's driven by how we
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  take care of our members. A lot of
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  that's driven by how we take care of
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  our customers.
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  And and what is that experience we want
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  people to have, both
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  for for the member themselves and and for
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  the client or the payer or, you know,
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  the employer that may whichever it may be.
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  So at an industry level, how would you
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  describe the biggest barriers to effectively serving and
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  engaging members?
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  And, what opportunities do you see for large
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  scale improvements, and how are you applying them
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  in your current strategies?
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  You know, it's a fascinating question. I think,
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  you know, there's there's several barriers in in
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  what I do
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  within the PBM industry. The lack of transparency
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  is massive. Mhmm. And I think
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  we've we've tried to move in a direction
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  where we've always owned all the paper.
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  So we contract directly with the manufacturers.
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  We can show people exactly what the contract
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  is, unlike
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  most of our competitors where those contracts are
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  actually held
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  offshore in,
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  you know, Europe. Mhmm. So I think that's
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  the first piece is how do we how
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  do we bring transparency? How do we allow
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  transparency
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  to help drive costs down by letting people
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  see the full picture? The second is that
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  member experience piece. And I think when we
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  talk about barriers and member experience, especially when
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  we're talking about pharmacy,
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  we have to acknowledge that there's a lot
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  wrong
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  today in the retail pharmacy space. I think
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  we see Walgreens and CVS
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  taking drastic steps, closing stores, trying to
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  improve their financial picture. At the same time,
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  that experience that members have at the pharmacy
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  is not great. We saw a decrease this
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  year in, rating of the drug plan. And
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  as we really drilled into that, it wasn't
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  anything that specifically we were doing.
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  It had everything to do with the member's
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  experience of the pharmacy, the inability to talk
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  to a pharmacist, the need to stand in
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  great big lines,
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  not feeling
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  like like you're important.
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  All of those things have had a negative
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  impact on members.
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  So keeping in mind today's dynamic health care
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  landscape,
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  what's one piece of advice you'd share with
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  other leaders in the industry to help grow
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  their businesses while keeping members top of mind?
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  It's an interesting question. And then, you know,
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  I remember talking to an executive at a
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  health plan,
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  4 or 5 years ago and
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  made made the comment that it was super
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  important
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  to focus on the member the member experience.
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  And he was adamant that you could not
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  improve member experience
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  and also decrease costs.
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  I I think I disagree with that. I
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  I if we look at at our business
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  today, we've actually, as a result of having
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  a negative 20% trend in pharmacy,
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  been able to reduce
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  what consumers will pay on the individual exchange
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  for their insurance this year.
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  So with the election last night, I think
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  we really saw how important the economy is
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  to people. And so every step that we
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  take, I think, to reduce what they have
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  to pay is a step towards improving the
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  experience they have. Mhmm. And and then that
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  that experience, you can't you can't have a
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  good experience without coordination between
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  your your
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  health care delivery partners.
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  So what role is technology playing in your
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  organization's growth strategies? And can you share a
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  couple examples?
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  Yeah. You bet. I I think,
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  a, we're we're in a situation where
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  it's harder and harder to to hire frontline
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  employees, and and it's even harder to retain
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  them once you've hired them. Mhmm. So how
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  do we look at AI? How do we
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  look at the digital tools that we need
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  to have in place that actually
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  put us in a situation where we don't
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  have to add employees to improve our customer
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  service. I I think that's the first one.
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  The second one is how do we put
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  the power of information in the hands of
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  our our members, our consumers?
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  And, you know, we're in the process right
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  now of rolling out a tool that'll allow
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  members to have their physician send their prescription
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  to their wallet.
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  Once that prescription gets to their wallet,
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  they can then look at all the pharmacy
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  alternatives that they have, what they'll pay at
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  the different pharmacies,
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  what those options are. Is it mail?
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  Do they have to drive down the street?
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  And then they can shop and pick where
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  they wanna go for the lowest cost.
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  On top of that, then they're able to
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  see what coupons or discounts or other things
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  may be available in the market, and they
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  can stack that on top of that.
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  So really, our goal is to say, you
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  know, we're moving towards e commerce.
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  We see that happening more and more. You
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  look at the pharmacies that are growing. It's
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  Mark Cuban's Cost Plus. It's Amazon. Mhmm. People
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  really want that ecommerce experience. So how do
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  we engage that member with the digital tools
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  they need to make those decisions?
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  So how is technology,
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  supporting value based care or member focused initiative
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  at your organization? And, you know, what excites
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  you most here and why?
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  Well,
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  we we talked about putting Mhmm. Information in
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  front of the member. Right. Right. I I
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  think it's it's also crucial that I'm putting
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  information in front of the physician. Mhmm. And
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  so how do I coordinate with those medical
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  directors,
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  those medical officers that may
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  be over those physicians in their clinics? And
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  then how do we make sure that we've
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  put the digital tools out there in terms
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  of electronic prior authorization, real time benefit check?
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  Are we taking the steps to make sure
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  that it's easily accessible within the EMR? I
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  think we we've had an experience with one
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  client who's on Cerner,
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  and the physicians won't use it because it
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  is so cumbersome to actually find the real
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  time benefit check within the system. And so
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  how do how do we make sure that
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  all of those pieces are in place? It
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  has to be easy.
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  Well, Eric, thank you so much again for
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  joining us today on the show. But before
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  I let you go, is there any final
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  thoughts you'd like to leave with our listeners?
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  Yeah. I think I think the one thing
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  that we've really learned is as we've brought
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  on clients, as we improve transparency,
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  we're seeing improvements in in the cost profile.
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  We're seeing improvements in that experience that the
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  members actually have. And so, you know, the
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  model that we've tried to build upon, which
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  is total and complete transparency,
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  is really helping to drive and improve the
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  financials and and drive and improve that that
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  member experience.
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  Awesome. Well, thank you again for joining us
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  today, Eric, and I hope you have a
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  great rest of your day. Hey. Thank you.