Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Crissy Turino, Chief Plan Officer & Chief Operating Officer, CountyCare

Transcript

Crissy Turino, Chief Plan Officer & Chief Operating Officer, CountyCare · 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.
• 0:29
  This is Haley Recker with the Becker's Payer
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  Podcast, and we are recording live at the
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  Becker's third annual spring payer issues roundtable.
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  I am thrilled today to be joined by
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  Chrissy Torino,
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  chief plan officer and interim chief operating officer
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  at CountyCare Health Plan. Chrissy, thank you so
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  much for joining me today. Can you go
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  ahead and share a little bit about yourself
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  and your background? Sure. I'm happy to. Good
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  morning. My name is Chrissy Torino. I'm the
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  chief plan officer and chief operating officer at
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  CountyCare Health Plan. We're a Medicaid managed care
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  plan with just over 410,000
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  lives here in Cook County. So we're owned
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  by Cook County Health
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  and which is the biggest safety net health
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  system here in Cook County.
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  And we are a four star plan by
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  NCQA
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  and,
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  are really dedicated to health equity and improving
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  the health of our members.
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  Well, thank you so much for that introduction.
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  I'd like to start our conversation off today
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  talking about health equity, which has become a
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  critical focus for many health plans. Can you
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  share an overview of a key initiative here
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  that you're involved in or particularly
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  excited about, and what are you hoping to
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  achieve?
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  Sure. So Cook County Health and CountyCare,
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  have really led the way from a state
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  perspective in health equity efforts.
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  We
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  have had over from a Cook County health
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  perspective, had over a hundred and eighty year
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  history of doing health equity and supporting folks
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  from a safety net perspective.
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  And during the pandemic, we had the opportunity
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  of
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  investing our quality withhold funds to invest in
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  housing. So we invested $5,000,000 in the flexible
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  housing pool. It's a partnership of government and
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  other organizations
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  to fund housing for individuals for a period
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  of three years, including tenancy supports.
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  And we were able to house 67 members,
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  and since that time have seen, really great
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  outcomes from a a health equity perspective.
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  Well, thank you so much for going into
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  such great detail there. I kinda wanna pivot
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  the conversation a little bit to member satisfaction.
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  So member satisfaction is essential to thrive in
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  today's competitive health care landscape.
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  What experience or engagement strategies have proven effective
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  for you? Sure.
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  So member engagement really begins by asking members
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  what they want. So we do enroll enrollee
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  advisory councils, we do post call surveys, and
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  we also conduct telephonic poll surveys every other
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  month with members to ask them about their
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  satisfaction on a variety of benefits.
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  And we really wanna make sure that members,
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  know that we are here for them. And
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  so we have a multichannel, omnichannel
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  support system including an outreach team that did
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  over 240
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  events over the last year to help people
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  with redetermination, but it's also a front door
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  so that people can get services from us
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  and and know where to find us. So
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  we, during that time, served,
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  over 10,000 county care members and over 13,000
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  community members.
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  Well, that's absolutely fascinating.
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  You know, we've talked a lot about the
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  imperative to reduce costs, improve quality, and advance
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  health care equity, none of which are small
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  tasks.
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  How do you approach aligning these priorities in
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  your organization's strategic vision?
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  So the main way that we've done this
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  is through value based care. We're a provider
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  owned and and led health plan, as I
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  mentioned. And CountyCare has really focused on improving
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  quality of care, health outcomes, and access by
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  reducing the transactional nature of care through value
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  based care arrangements with our providers.
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  So, in 2024,
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  almost 60% of our spend was a value
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  based care arrangement. We also delegate care management
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  and really believe that medical care,
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  is best done in the medical home as
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  is,
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  care management and making sure that people have
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  that relationship and that trusted relationship with their
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  medical home.
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  And before we wrap up here, I'd like
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  to get your thoughts on the future of
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  the payer space.
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  So what do you think is leading the
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  charge in transforming care delivery and driving better
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  outcomes for all stakeholders?
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  I think it's going more upstream in supporting
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  people with housing, food, and other services that
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  really impact their health. It's no longer gonna
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  be just about
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  the transactional nature of healthcare. It's about supporting
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  people in their communities.
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  So that's why we've made an investment in
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  housing. We also have a food program where
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  we've supported our members with getting access to
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  registered dietitians, but also,
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  food prescriptions in their homes.
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  Well, thank you so much for joining me
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  today. Again, this is Haley Recker with the
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  Becker's Payer Podcast recorded live at the Becker's
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  third annual spring Payer Issues Roundtable. Chrissy, thank
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  you so much. Thanks for having me.