Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Talent transformation, leveraging AI for HR, and more

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Talent transformation, leveraging AI for HR, and more · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

0:00
Hello, everyone. I'm Peter Schmidt from Workday. Thank
0:02
you for joining us for this podcast.
0:05
We are thrilled to be joined today by
0:07
Karen Downs, senior director, HR, technology, and operation
0:10
at Prime Therapeutics.
0:12
Karen, thank you so much for being here
0:14
today. Happy to be here. Thanks for having
0:16
me. Great. Today, we're gonna discuss human resources
0:20
and Prime Therapeutics' use of Workday.
0:23
With that, let's dive right into our conversation.
0:26
So the first question,
0:27
today, Karen, is can you tell everyone about
0:31
yourself and a little bit about your professional
0:33
experience?
0:34
Sure. Happy to. So, as you said, Peter,
0:36
so I'm currently at Prime Therapeutics,
0:39
in the capacity of senior director, overseeing the
0:41
HR technology and operations teams that also comprises
0:45
payroll and HR compliance.
0:47
So I've been at Prime since February of
0:50
this year.
0:51
Prior to that, though, I have been in
0:54
the work deal, the HR technology space
0:56
for around about 6 years. My my background
0:59
has really spanned, you know, project management, product
1:02
management, program management
1:04
Early on in my career,
1:07
that led me to some technology
1:09
software as a service organizations
1:12
and then on to talent acquisition. I led
1:15
talent acquisition teams
1:17
at a large global supply chain organization.
1:20
And while I was in that role, I
1:22
found my way to Workday, Cornerstone,
1:25
ServiceNow,
1:27
really supporting the HR technology roadmap and have
1:30
stayed in that space since.
1:32
Great. So Prime Therapeutics
1:34
might not be familiar to
1:36
everybody turning in tuning into the podcast today.
1:39
Can you,
1:40
explain a little bit about what Prime does?
1:43
Absolutely. Yep. So Prime Therapeutics
1:47
Diversified
1:48
Pharmacy Solutions
1:49
Organization,
1:50
really in that pharmacy benefits management
1:52
space offering innovative solutions around specialty
1:56
and medical drug management and, and more recently,
1:59
state government solutions. So really servicing
2:02
millions of people across the country. A key
2:05
component of our mission and positioning
2:07
is that we're endeavoring to reimagine
2:10
pharmacy solutions to provide the care we'd want
2:12
for our own loved ones in what is
2:15
typically, you know, very complex and stressful situations.
2:19
So looking to challenge the way that things
2:21
have always been done in this in this
2:23
space, challenging that status quo, to develop intelligently
2:26
designed solutions
2:28
that focus more so on savings, simplicity,
2:31
and support to help people achieve better health.
2:35
Great. Well, that that certainly,
2:36
helps a lot of us understand what Prime
2:39
does.
2:40
So back to the my first question and
2:42
and your tremendous amount of experience with HR
2:45
transformations,
2:46
can you share some of the highlights of
2:48
your, your history,
2:50
doing these sorts of transformations?
2:52
Yeah. Yeah. I, personally, I feel really, really
2:54
fortunate to have had the experience I've had,
2:57
especially over the past 6 years since I've
2:59
been in that HR,
3:01
technology space. And I would say even for
3:03
a couple of years prior to that, being
3:05
involved in HR transformations,
3:07
it's, it's been fantastic to have, you know,
3:10
a a front row seats and oftentimes even
3:12
a seat at the table,
3:14
to where business and HR strategy is being
3:16
defined
3:17
and then supporting the enablement of that and
3:20
and really being able to be involved in
3:22
and influence that end to end employee lifecycle
3:25
from that point of candidate attraction
3:27
all the way through to, you know, retirement
3:29
or termination.
3:30
So for me, I would say some of
3:31
the highlights have been that, you know, I've
3:33
done 2 implementations
3:36
of of Workday
3:37
and ServiceNow and one of UKG
3:40
thus far. And both of those implementations have
3:42
really been complex in their in their own
3:44
ways.
3:45
One was a global implementation. You know, as
3:48
we went live in 36 countries and we
3:51
were bringing together
3:52
various different approaches to HR. Some were some
3:56
countries were still working from whiteboards and and,
3:58
you know, Excel spreadsheets, and others were on
4:00
more legacy
4:02
systems.
4:03
And then my second implementation
4:05
was only in
4:07
in the US, but it was in a
4:08
very, very regulated
4:10
unionized
4:11
environment. And so that brought with it its
4:13
own inherent
4:14
challenges. So they've both been fascinating
4:17
implementations of of work data work on. The
4:19
companies I've worked through have been going through
4:21
rapid change, and that's, you know, either been
4:24
caused by growth
4:26
into new markets, new geographies,
4:28
acquisitions,
4:30
or maybe it's, you know, changed due to
4:32
technology
4:34
that's changing either at the business or the
4:36
HR level.
4:37
The transformations have also been hinging upon cultural
4:41
evolutions going on at the various
4:44
companies as well. So just made for really
4:46
interesting
4:47
and complex work.
4:49
Beyond those implementations,
4:50
very, very grateful for opportunities to work on
4:53
dynamic roadmaps. You know, I love post production
4:56
work where we're really able to
4:59
leverage the technology that we've implemented to further
5:02
HR and business strategy. And that has
5:05
been a wonderful experience
5:07
to be able to work on that across
5:08
the gamut of, you know, payroll benefits, talent
5:12
recruiting, it's, you know, compensation
5:14
and such.
5:15
And I would say the last thing I'd
5:17
mentioned here in terms of some, you know,
5:19
one of my key highlights is that service
5:21
delivery model. I get really energized by models
5:24
and putting models in place that
5:27
that leverage strong governance,
5:29
and effective frameworks and really effective partnerships
5:33
upstream and downstream internally. So whether that's partnerships
5:36
with IT and finance, audit,
5:38
external vendors, bringing all of that together
5:42
to create those effective frameworks have have certainly
5:45
fallen into that highlight category for me.
5:48
Great. Sounds like an incredible history, Karen.
5:51
So looking at at Prime and and
5:54
especially recently, the Magellan acquisition seems like a
5:57
a pivotal moment for Prime.
5:59
So is this gonna be a new business
6:01
model,
6:01
for Prime?
6:03
Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. We've,
6:06
we we acquired Magellan. Sometimes you'll hear us
6:08
call referred to as MRX,
6:11
but we acquired them in in December of
6:13
2022.
6:14
And so since then, we've been in this
6:16
post acquisition
6:18
landscape of really working to understand how do
6:20
we bring together that legacy Prime and legacy
6:23
MRX
6:24
and really work together in more of that
6:26
new Prime
6:27
capacity.
6:29
So it sounds like there are a lot
6:30
of changes in the organizational structure.
6:33
So how did how did you manage the
6:34
acquisition? How did Prime make that happen?
6:37
Yeah. So I would say that, you know,
6:38
as is really typical with any of that
6:40
m and a activity, it happened very quickly.
6:43
There's never enough time, right, to be as
6:45
thoughtful
6:46
and as planful as you as you would
6:47
want to be.
6:48
I'll break my answer down into into 2
6:50
sections. The first is from more of that
6:52
technology
6:54
and worker data standpoint.
6:56
We engaged Accenture to to support the acquisition.
7:00
What helped us in many ways is that
7:02
Magellan was also a Workday customer.
7:05
So that's that's simplified thing here, less to
7:07
do in terms of, you know, data mapping
7:09
and such.
7:11
So that was certainly going in our in
7:13
our favor there.
7:14
We didn't actually harmonize any data at the
7:16
point of that initial acquisition. So we kind
7:19
of brought over Magellan as it was in
7:21
its own workday environment.
7:23
And then harmonizing
7:25
of that data
7:27
has really been more of a focus in
7:28
that post acquisition landscape the past couple of
7:31
years.
7:32
Culturally and strategically,
7:34
it was framed as a as a collaborative
7:36
merger, really intended to be a happy marriage
7:39
and a mutually beneficial, I would say, to
7:42
to the goals and the strengths of both
7:44
companies.
7:45
But as you mentioned, it's certainly a new
7:47
business model and once that's going through definition
7:49
and now socialization.
7:52
Internally, it's absolutely,
7:53
I would say, a priority to move into
7:55
that new prime phase and
7:57
also away from those legacy references and and
8:00
really look ahead,
8:02
to how we reap the rewards of of
8:04
what has been a very strong collaborative merger.
8:09
Great. I I think one of the things
8:10
that always fascinates me is the talent transformation
8:13
aspect of this, and it's an important,
8:16
part of any company merger.
8:18
How did Prime, leverage Workday to help navigate
8:21
this issue?
8:22
Yeah. I think there's there's actually quite a
8:24
few layers, to this question.
8:27
Because post acquisition or those merger activities go
8:30
through multiple phases, often over multiple years, and
8:33
Prime's no exception to that.
8:36
So the first stage is really understanding who
8:38
our company is now from that talent
8:41
perspective, and we really need worker data and
8:44
accurate
8:45
worker data for that. So, you know, as
8:47
I mentioned, we did bring over Magellan structures
8:51
and hierarchies and job profiles and such. And
8:54
at the start of this year, we began
8:56
down more of that aggressive harmonization
8:58
path, harmonize working with finance, I should say,
9:01
to harmonize cost centers and supervisory
9:04
orgs.
9:05
And then for the past 2 years, we've
9:08
been working on a on a harmonization
9:10
initiative
9:11
for job and compensation frameworks that will go
9:14
live at the end of this year. That's
9:16
then really going to pave the way for
9:18
a further phase of career frameworks,
9:21
skills and competencies
9:22
that will reflect
9:23
new prime.
9:25
And I think that second phase, which will
9:27
likely run over 25, 26, will see us
9:30
leveraging more of Workday's talent capabilities, both from
9:34
a functionality
9:35
perspective and then also from an analytics perspective.
9:39
Great. So going back to technology,
9:42
one of the things that comes out whenever
9:45
you talk about Prime
9:46
is that, you know, modern technology, and it's
9:49
a key focus for Prime. Can you tell
9:52
us a little bit about
9:53
about that and what types of strategic or
9:56
customer objectives
9:58
are tied into that move to modern technology?
10:01
Yeah, sure. So I would say
10:04
I can talk at length about this topic
10:06
of, you know, modern technology. It really is
10:08
a passion area of mine because, you know,
10:11
people have come to expect intuitive,
10:13
user friendly, seamless interactions with companies.
10:16
If you think about how easy it is
10:18
to buy something online or really do anything
10:20
in your personal life
10:22
through your phone, whatever device you have.
10:24
It's that very, very much that
10:27
self-service
10:28
mindset
10:29
that is inherent throughout our society now. And
10:32
in some ways, the health care industry has
10:35
struggled to keep up with that progress.
10:38
In some cases, we're using technology that's, you
10:40
know, decades old, which can create barriers and
10:43
require a bunch of workarounds that can make
10:45
our work harder and in turn can then
10:46
cause friction and frustration for members and prescribers.
10:47
So
10:48
for frustration for members and prescribers. So the
10:51
prime uplifting our technology is a top priority,
10:52
and we are making progress in that regard.
10:53
For example, you know, technology is enabling us
10:55
to complete more
10:56
prior authorizations automatically, which means
11:04
prescribers can receive real time clinical reviews and
11:07
responses.
11:08
And members can then get their prescriptions without
11:11
surprises when they actually get to the pharmacy.
11:13
And I would say another example is our
11:15
pharmacy match products. So Prime is conflict free,
11:19
and doesn't direct patients to our owned pharmacies.
11:23
So what pharmacy match does is it's a
11:26
cloud based solution
11:27
to help ensure members specialty medications prescription process
11:30
between our clients and members
11:45
easier,
11:46
faster, and more intuitive.
11:48
But what I'd also say is this, you
11:50
know, concept of modern technology
11:52
absolutely extends to our HR solutions. I I
11:55
have this little joke of, you know, we
11:58
live in the 21st century until we come
12:00
to work. And that is one of my
12:02
own motivators to work in HR technology because
12:05
of the opportunity
12:06
to work on solutions that that bridge that
12:09
divide between personal and work life.
12:12
And I would say one example is that
12:13
we recently implemented
12:15
Workday help as a means of providing our
12:17
employees a more modern, personalized, and and self-service
12:21
driven model with which to engage with with
12:24
HR.
12:25
Great. I I mean, it sounds like a
12:27
phenomenal thing for for members to be able
12:30
to, to to especially around specialty
12:33
drugs, to be able to to find the
12:35
the optimal situation for them. So,
12:38
obviously, transparency is important to to Prime,
12:41
conflicts of interest.
12:43
You wanna mitigate those. And,
12:45
and and I think another interesting fact is
12:48
is that, you know, Prime talks about, going
12:50
beyond profits.
12:52
So, you know, how do these, company values
12:55
show up in your operations and in business
12:57
practices,
12:59
you know, particularly particularly in in in human
13:02
resources? Are are there other things that you're
13:04
endeavoring to do?
13:06
Yeah, I would say so from a business
13:08
standpoint, first, you know, at Prime, we really
13:10
are focused on doing what's right for those
13:13
we serve and helping our customers
13:15
choose the best and most affordable path for
13:17
their for their members
13:19
to get the medicine they need prioritizing
13:22
more so of that seamless
13:23
integration into the health care journey. Because as
13:26
I mentioned earlier, that's what we would want
13:28
for our loved ones. You know, so we're
13:30
not looking to steer people to our own
13:32
pharmacies or pursue the highest margins and instead
13:34
prime
13:36
focuses on demonstrating true transparency
13:39
to do what's right for its customers and
13:41
their members,
13:42
passing value back to those that it serves.
13:45
From an HR standpoint, similarly,
13:47
I think that transparency
13:49
is important and more really focusing on what
13:52
do our employees need
13:54
to not just do their work at Prime
13:58
in an efficient in a productive way and
14:00
breaking down some of those barriers and and,
14:02
you know, mitigating some of the inefficiencies that
14:05
can exist with the
14:07
with the systems that employees have to have
14:09
to navigate. But then also for them as
14:11
an employee itself, you know, they look to
14:13
work day, they look to h. R.
14:15
To support them as an employee
14:18
around, you know, whether it's pay and benefits,
14:20
etcetera.
14:21
So
14:23
I would say a focus for our strategy
14:25
and our roadmap going forward is really on
14:28
promoting that positive
14:30
employee
14:31
experience, empowering our employees to be effective and
14:34
productive employees, but then also taking care of
14:36
the human
14:37
first as well through their interactions with HR.
14:41
So exciting milestone for us to introduce Workday
14:44
help and, and have that be
14:47
an example of how we're able to be
14:49
transparent
14:50
around HR policies, processes, putting information at our
14:54
employees fingertips,
14:56
and then providing
14:58
a high level of care to our employees,
15:00
as they are engaging with HR moving away
15:03
from some of those legacy mailboxes moving to
15:05
more of that modern experience,
15:07
but making sure that our HR teams as
15:10
they engage with employees
15:12
through, through Workday help case management, that they
15:16
are committed and still continue to provide
15:19
those superior levels of customer service.
15:23
Thanks for sharing that. Really appreciate,
15:26
the the commitment that that,
15:28
Prime has on these topics.
15:31
So
15:32
can't have a can't have a a podcast
15:34
discussion without talking about AI. Mhmm. So can
15:37
you talk a little bit about what Prime,
15:39
what the plans are for AI
15:41
and how that might, you know, affect what
15:44
you're working on?
15:45
Yeah. Yeah. So Prime is exploring options to
15:48
harness AI to make our work stronger,
15:51
more engaging, and more valuable to our clients
15:53
and members.
15:55
But it is important to note that with
15:57
any option that we're pursuing,
15:59
strong security
16:00
has to be a top priority for us.
16:03
Our clients and our members trust us to
16:05
be good stewards of their data when we're
16:07
dealing with PII, PHI, etcetera. And so we
16:10
have to make sure that we ensure the
16:12
proper policies, guardrails and governance
16:15
exist in order to do exactly that. Naturally,
16:18
AI solutions to enhance and enable HR strategy
16:21
and processes
16:23
is certainly in scope for this discovery work.
16:25
And I would say that, in general, there's
16:27
a strong appetite and a desire
16:30
to explore what AI can do for Prime
16:33
and what AI can then in turn do
16:36
for our members now, our employees.
16:38
But we are really balancing that out with
16:40
strong due diligence,
16:42
around security,
16:43
especially for for data.
16:46
Great. So,
16:48
obviously, you know, you've got a tremendous amount
16:50
of experience with Workday.
16:52
Specific to Prime, you know, how has Workday
16:56
helped Prime reach their corporate goals? Mhmm. I
16:59
think in a in a couple of ways.
17:01
You know, first, Workday itself is a company
17:03
in in growth mode.
17:05
When choosing vendors, I personally am always looking
17:08
for vendors who can scale and diversify
17:11
with us. That to me feels a far
17:13
better scenario
17:14
for simplifying a technology footprint versus needing to
17:17
find alternate vendors for more of those bolt
17:20
on custom solutions.
17:22
So with Workday's approach to R and D
17:24
and continually expanding capabilities
17:26
and its own acquisition strategy, there are increasingly
17:31
fewer, if I can say that increasingly fewer
17:33
needs that Workday can't meet.
17:36
The second, I think, is is influence and
17:39
enablement. You know, the Workday community is so
17:41
strong and it has such a it's such
17:43
an advantage to be able to network and
17:45
align with companies
17:47
who forged a similar path and have tackled
17:49
like challenges.
17:51
So there's a lot of inspiration, a lot
17:53
of assurance and solutions in being part of
17:55
the Workday ecosystem.
17:57
You know, we also get visibility into industry
18:00
trends to validate or influence our goals. And
18:03
I think especially from an HR standpoint, to
18:05
help us feel confident that we're working on
18:07
the right things.
18:09
Thank you. So we do have a couple
18:11
of, final questions for you here, Karen.
18:15
And, you know, contingent workforce is is really
18:18
an important
18:19
part of the strategy for for most health
18:22
care organizations.
18:24
Does Prime leverage contingent workers?
18:27
Yep. We absolutely do. Yeah. We have both
18:30
staff
18:31
augmentation
18:32
vendors, and then we have more of the
18:33
professional consulting, contingent workers. So we
18:40
the different contingent worker populations in a couple
18:43
of different ways. The first is
18:45
staff augmentation,
18:47
We manage through a third party through through
18:49
Fieldglass that integrates into into Workday.
18:53
More of our professional consulting
18:55
contingent workers, we process them via ServiceNow.
18:59
IT is on ServiceNow
19:02
And then we add them manually into Workday.
19:05
So relative to Workday, do you have plans
19:08
to increase
19:09
how you manage those workers with Workday?
19:12
I don't think it's necessarily a matter of
19:14
increasing
19:16
how we
19:17
our view of contingent workers. But as with
19:20
anything else, you know, on our roadmap is
19:22
making sure that we are looking to leverage
19:24
technology in the most appropriate way
19:27
that we,
19:28
that we automate, that we simplify,
19:31
and that we ensure that we've got access
19:33
to the to the data that we need
19:36
around,
19:37
this important worker population.
19:40
Great. Well, Karen,
19:42
really appreciate,
19:43
your time today.
19:45
Thank you so much for joining,
19:47
the discussion. It's been a pleasure speaking with
19:49
you. I'd also like to thank, Workday for
19:52
making this podcast available.
19:55
And you could turn into more podcasts and
19:56
virtual events from Becker's Healthcare by visiting, beckershospitalreview.com.