Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Eric Cannon, Chief Pharmacy Benefits Officer at SelectHealth

Transcript

Eric Cannon, Chief Pharmacy Benefits Officer at SelectHealth · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

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  Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless
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  innovation to create world class pharmacy, care, and
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  benefit solutions.
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  Barriers to care can lead to gaps in
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  care, which can drive up the total cost
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  of care. Our capabilities work seamlessly together to
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  create innovative pharmacy care and benefit solutions for
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  today and tomorrow.
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  Our connected health services make the treatment, prediction,
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  and prevention of health care's most complex conditions
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  easier and more accessible as we drive organizations
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  and people forward.
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  This is Haley Reitker with the Becker's Payer
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  Podcast. And today, we are recording live at
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  the Becker's third annual spring payer issues roundtable.
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  Today, I am joined by Eric Cannon, who
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  is the chief pharmacy officer at SelectHealth.
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  Hello, Eric. Thank you so much for having
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  this discussion with me today. Can you go
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  ahead and introduce yourself and share a little
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  bit about your background?
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  Yeah. You bet. Thank you, for having me.
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  It's great to be here. I'm a pharmacist
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  by background and training.
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  I've spent,
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  twenty eight years now with SelectHealth
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  and love every minute of it. It's great
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  being part of the Intermountain system and being
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  able to do the right thing for our
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  clients and our patients.
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  Well, thank you so much for that brief
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  introduction.
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  Now to get things started,
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  balancing affordability and quality is a constant challenge
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  for health plans. How is your organization innovating
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  to manage the cost of care while maintaining
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  or improving member outcomes?
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  You know, taking care of our members and
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  ensuring they have access to quality care
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  is our top priority.
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  It's one of our major commitments,
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  and it guides just about everything we do.
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  Our philosophy has always been if if we
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  do the right thing for our patients and
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  our members from a clinical standpoint,
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  the cost will follow or we will see
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  cost efficiency.
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  As the cost of therapies becomes more and
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  more expensive,
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  maintaining that position is becoming more and more
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  difficult.
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  What we know though is we've demonstrated that
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  through quality care,
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  we can improve
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  patient outcomes. We can improve cost. That doesn't
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  always mean we adopt the most expensive or
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  the latest therapy,
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  but what it does mean is we follow
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  the evidence, and that drives great outcomes for
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  our patients.
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  Well, I'd love to dive deeper into that
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  with the quality of care. So in an
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  ever evolving regulatory landscape, what best practices or
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  tools does your organization rely on to keep
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  quality of care at the forefront?
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  You know, twenty seven years ago, we established
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  our own PBM, Scripius,
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  and we did that because
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  we didn't see any what we believe to
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  be ethical options in the market.
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  We built Scripius to provide greater transparency.
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  We share data. We run all our own
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  operations. We own our own contracts.
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  So our clients know exactly what they're going
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  to pay,
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  for a prescription drug.
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  This has given us a solid framework to
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  build the organization
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  on, and it puts us in a situation
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  where we're consistently
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  doing the right thing
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  for our members. I I think as you
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  look at
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  regulation, as that regulatory
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  environment continues to evolve, evolve may not be
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  the right word. It may be forced upon
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  us. Yeah.
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  But many of those changes that we're seeing
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  proposed today,
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  those are things that
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  we already do as an organization. So we
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  continue to work with
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  regulators and legislators
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  as they draft and develop policy.
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  We believe
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  through greater transparency,
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  that's the right way for us to evolve
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  the market and go forward. Thank you so
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  much for sharing. Cost transparency
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  is so, so important, especially in today.
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  I'd like to pivot the conversation a little
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  bit. So net promoter score is a powerful
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  indicator of member loyalty and satisfaction.
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  How are you using NPS to drive meaningful
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  improvements across your health plan?
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  You know, NPS has become
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  such a part of what we do.
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  We're constantly trying to leverage that so that
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  we can enhance and provide a better overall
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  experience for our members.
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  As we've followed Net Promoter Score, one of
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  the things we found is that
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  the single biggest dissatisfier for our members is
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  they don't like being surprised when they get
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  to the pharmacy. And and let me give
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  you a great example.
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  With our Medicare membership,
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  every year, they get a transition fill. Well,
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  when people would get a transition fill, we
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  would send out a typical
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  CMS standard letter to say, you just got
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  a transition fill.
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  But people didn't fully understand that. They didn't
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  know exactly what they were supposed to do.
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  They took the letter to their doctor. The
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  doctor didn't know what they were supposed to
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  do. So we've started following those up with
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  a personal phone call to each one of
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  those members. They were gonna call us anyway.
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  So we reach out to the member. We
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  explain, hey. You just got a transition, Phil.
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  Here's what you need to do. Here are
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  the different options,
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  and here's the process, and we're happy to
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  help you walk through that.
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  Had we not been focused on
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  NPS,
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  we would not have really had that opportunity
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  to improve that single process for those Medicare
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  members.
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  Alright. And finally, looking ahead, what do you
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  see as the biggest opportunity for payers to
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  lead the charge in transforming care delivery and
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  driving better outcomes for all stakeholders? And how
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  can leaders take a step in this direction
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  now?
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  Pushing for greater transparency within the various
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  facets of health care, I think,
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  remains one of those essential opportunities.
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  The more we can increase visibility
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  into costs and policies
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  and decision making processes, stakeholders
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  can come together
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  and facilitate
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  a more equitable and informed environment for all
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  of us to take care of the patients.
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  As we take steps in those directions, I
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  think as leaders,
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  we need to be fostering collaboration, and and
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  that's fostering collaboration with people maybe we haven't
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  typically
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  interacted with. That's sitting down with the administrators
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  of the hospitals and really looking at billing
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  practices. And how do we make sure patients
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  go to the optimal side of care and
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  not the cheapest side of care?
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  How do we work together on all of
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  that? I think as we continue to increase
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  that level of transparency, we continue to demystify
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  health care, and we make it better for
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  everybody.
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  Well, Eric, thank you so much for joining
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  me today. Again, this is Haley Recker with
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  the Becker's Payer Podcast recorded live at the
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  Becker's third annual spring payer issuers roundtable. Eric,
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  have a great rest of your day. Hey.
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  Thank you.