Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Abdou Bah, SVP of Medical Management and Chief Health Equity Officer at Emblem Health

Transcript

Abdou Bah, SVP of Medical Management and Chief Health Equity Officer at Emblem Health · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

• 0:00
  Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless
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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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  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
  This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's healthcare
• 0:50
  podcast, and we are live at the 2024
• 0:52
  pair issues round table.
• 0:54
  I'm joined now by Abdu Ba, who is
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  the senior vice president medical management and chief
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  health equity officer at EmblemHealth.
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  Abdu, thanks for being here. Would love to
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  start off by having you introduce yourself and
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  tell us a little bit more about your
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  role.
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  Thank you. Thank first of all, thank you
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  for having me. So as you mentioned, my
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  name is Abduba.
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  I lead our population health and medical management
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  area at EmblemHealth.
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  EmblemHealth is a New York based health plan
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  that serves roughly about 3,000,000 lives, And we
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  have members in the commercial Medicare and Medicaid
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  space
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  and mostly located in the tri state metro
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  New York area.
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  Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time
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  today. And let's start off talking about
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  goals and growth for the rest of the
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  year. So from improving member experience and expanding
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  value based care to controlling costs,
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  pay executives have ambitious growth goals for the
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  rest of the year and as we look
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  into the year ahead. So right now, what
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  is your top priority, and how are you
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  planning to get there?
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  I think that's a great question. I think
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  number 1, it's about controlling and managing ongoing
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  health care costs.
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  As you think about health care costs coming
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  out of COVID, we're still seeing an increase
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  in cost. In in addition to it, member
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  experience and making sure that the members that
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  we do have have a excellent experience starting
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  with customer service, but also making sure that
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  they're getting the services and the care that
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  they need to be able to manage their
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  health care needs.
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  Absolutely. And at an industry level,
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  how would you describe the biggest barriers to
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  effectively serving and engaging members? And what opportunities
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  do you see for large scale improvements, and
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  how are you applying that to your current
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  strategies?
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  Yeah. I think there's a 2 tier answer.
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  I think part 1 is engagement and being
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  able to reach members
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  the way the members wanna be reached. And
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  as we think about different engagement strategies and
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  the ability to reach a member is the
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  number one barrier today. And as we think
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  about advancement in technology, such as using AI
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  and other tools, and being able to use
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  digital channels will certainly help with engaging a
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  broader population.
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  And changing pace slightly to growing leaders.
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  Keeping pace in today's dynamic health care landscape
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  is challenging. So what is a piece of
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  advice you'd share with peer leaders to grow
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  their businesses and keep members top of mind?
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  I think it's about building programs and solutions
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  that serves your members' need, understanding your population,
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  understanding the population, the community that you serve,
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  and building programs, initiatives that,
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  are tailored to that population need. Right? So
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  if you have a a population that's high
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  on diabetes,
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  then you wanna make sure that you have,
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  initiatives and program that are for diabetic members.
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  Also, I think it's important
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  to be innovative and creative as you think
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  about solving
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  SDOH and other social barriers, which are the
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  invisible barriers today that prevents member from getting
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  the care that they need.
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  Well, Abdu, thank you for joining me today
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  on the Becker's healthcare podcast and sharing these
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  insights. Again, we are live at the 2024
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  payer issues roundtable.
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  Thank you.