Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Pankhuri Sharma, Strategy & Operations Leader at Humana

Transcript

Pankhuri Sharma, Strategy & Operations Leader at Humana · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

• 0:00
  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. Our connected health services make the
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  treatment, prediction, and prevention of health care's most
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  complex conditions
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  easier and more accessible as we drive organizations
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  and people forward. Ever North home based care
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  provides value based care that helps patients with
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  multiple chronic conditions
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  and social determinant of health barriers get the
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  care they need and the personalized experience they
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  deserve. We serve patients who struggle to navigate
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  the health care system by bringing high quality
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  primary
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  and preventative care services to the home. By
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  providing clinical care and support services that provide
• 0:40
  whole person care, we improve health equity, access,
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  and outcomes for the populations we serve.
• 0:47
  This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast, and we are live at the 2024
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  payer issues roundtable.
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  I'm currently joined by Pankari Sharma, who is
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  the strategy and operations leader at Humana. So
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  thank you for being here today. We'd love
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  to start our conversation by having you introduce
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  yourself and tell us a little bit more
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  about your role.
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  Thanks, Grace. Happy to be here
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  and, talking to you. I'm Pankari Sharma. I'm,
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  like you said, the strategy and operations leader
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  in Humana in their clinical strategy team.
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  What my work scope includes is
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  improving the health outcomes for our members
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  through different initiatives, and that consequently also reduces
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  our total cost of care. So broad initiatives
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  under that umbrella.
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  Well, thank you for being here. And let's
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  start our conversation today surrounding growth goals. So
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  from improving member experience
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  and expanding value based care to controlling costs,
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  payer executives have ambitious growth goals for the
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  rest of this year and looking ahead into
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  2025.
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  In your role, what is your top priority,
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  and how are you planning to get there?
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  Sure.
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  So I would say, my priority is would,
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  again, fit under that very broad umbrella of
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  improving the member
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  outcomes as well as,
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  thinking through how to enhance member experience while
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  doing so as well.
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  The 2 initiatives that are on top of
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  my mind this year and would be early
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  next year are, firstly,
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  addressing the gaps in care for our members
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  so that they can proactively
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  be in charge of their health more, are
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  able to
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  have better access to the providers,
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  to the services that would help them not
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  worsen their chronic conditions.
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  So that is one thing that's on top
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  of my mind.
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  And the second thing is,
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  providing
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  better and more holistic population
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  health services to our, members and especially
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  the more vulnerable population.
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  And going along with that, at an industry
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  level, how would you describe the biggest barriers
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  to effectively
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  serving and engaging members? And what opportunities do
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  you see for large scale improvements? And how
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  are you applying this in your current strategy?
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  Yeah. I think the
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  largest barrier that I see personally is the
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  adoption of preventative care and especially when it
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  comes to members and their mindsets.
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  So I think as an industry, we all
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  have, and by we, I mean, all the
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  stakeholders, including payers and providers. We understand the
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  value of preventative care
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  in ensuring positive outcomes
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  in a proactive manner.
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  But, ensuring that members get that and they
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  do not have reactive,
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  but proactive mindset
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  to getting,
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  preventative care. And we as stakeholders can facilitate
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  that. So,
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  ensuring that in terms of affordability,
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  accessibility to providers, availability
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  of providers,
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  and, just building their trust in the health
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  care industry overall so that they reach out
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  to us as well when they need such
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  help. I think that is one of the
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  barriers or something that we should be working
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  to improve upon.
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  And shifting gears slightly toward leadership growth, keeping
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  pace in today's dynamic health care landscape is
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  challenging. So what is a piece of advice
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  you'd like to share for peer leaders to
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  help grow their businesses while keeping members top
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  of mind?
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  Sure. I just had a panel on, harnessing
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  AI and, dig digital health outcomes for improving
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  member
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  health outcome plan. And I would probably I
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  would just repeat the answer that I gave
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  there, which
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  was interoperability,
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  in terms of,
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  data is something
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  I feel would not only help our members
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  and our outreach to them, which would be
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  more targeted, more timely, more customized to their
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  needs,
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  but also having that kind of interoperability
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  would help peers
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  and providers make our back end processes more
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  efficient.
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  So I think that's a a bedrock for
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  a lot of improvement
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  in terms of how we,
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  do decision making as well as implement our
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  decisions.
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  And as we wrap our conversation up, are
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  there any closing remarks you'd like to share
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  on the podcast
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  today? It was great to be the part
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  of this conference.
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  It's it was great to see how
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  different organizations and stakeholders have same things on
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  mind. I think,
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  AI was one,
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  element that we all are thinking about. We
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  are making our efforts from our end, but
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  also
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  looking at the regulatory
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  organizations as well. Got it. And,
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  I'm leaving this conference very optimistic that in
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  a couple of years, we would be way
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  ahead of where we are right now.
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  Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time
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  to be here. Again, we are live at
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  the 2024
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  Payer Issues Roundtable.
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  Thank you for having me.