Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Illan Shapiro Strygler, Chief Health Correspondent and Medical Affairs Officer and Senior Vice President, AltaMed Health Services
Transcript
- 0:00Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless
- 0:02innovation to create world class pharmacy, care, and
- 0:05benefit solutions.
- 0:07Barriers to care can lead to gaps in
- 0:08care, which can drive up the total cost
- 0:10of care. Our capabilities work seamlessly together to
- 0:13create innovative pharmacy care and benefit solutions for
- 0:17today and tomorrow.
- 0:18Our connected health services make the treatment, prediction,
- 0:21and prevention of health care's most complex conditions
- 0:24easier and more accessible as we drive organizations
- 0:27and people forward.
- 0:28This is Haley Recker with the Becker's Payer
- 0:30Podcast, and we are recording live at the
- 0:32Becker's third annual spring payer issues roundtable.
- 0:35I am thrilled today to be joined by
- 0:37Elan Shapiro Straggler, who is the chief health
- 0:40correspondent at medical affairs officer and senior vice
- 0:43president at UltaMed Health Services. Elon, thank you
- 0:46so much for joining me today. It's a
- 0:47pleasure. Can I have you go ahead and
- 0:49introduce yourself and tell us a little bit
- 0:51more about yourself and your background? Gladly. Born
- 0:53and raised in Mexico City. Had the pleasure
- 0:55actually to do my MD career over there.
- 0:58And afterwards, I had the opportunity to work
- 1:01as a liaison between the secretary of health
- 1:03and the WHO representing Mexico,
- 1:06and I loved it. And I saw the
- 1:08complexities
- 1:09of,
- 1:10not only the Pueblitos, the little towns in
- 1:12Mexico, but also the complexity of multilateral
- 1:16treaties,
- 1:17the way of, opportunities,
- 1:19complex
- 1:20operational aspects of it, and regulatory,
- 1:22pathways.
- 1:24Had the the opportunity to actually be in
- 1:26Duke Pediatrics here in Chicago,
- 1:29and afterwards
- 1:30served in, migrant communities and agricultural workers in
- 1:34Fort Myers, Florida, and ended up for the
- 1:36past ten years at,
- 1:38AltaMed serving as a chief health correspondent medical
- 1:41affairs officer, but passing along,
- 1:44mental health, employee health, and, health education and
- 1:47wellness.
- 1:48Thank you so much for giving us a
- 1:50little bit more info on your background. Now
- 1:52to begin, I'd like to ask you about
- 1:54the ever evolving regulatory landscape. So what best
- 1:57practices or tools does your organization rely on
- 1:59to keep quality of care at the forefront?
- 2:02I think everybody will love to for me
- 2:04to tell them what's my crystal ball and
- 2:06how are we managing all this stuff.
- 2:09And the important thing is to make sure
- 2:10that we are in different forms
- 2:13connecting and making sure that we're relying not
- 2:16only on, what we're hearing, but also there's
- 2:20tons of technology out there that gives you
- 2:22the landscape
- 2:24and also,
- 2:25kind of project a lot of the things
- 2:27that are happening at a local level, at
- 2:30a state level, and, of course, at the
- 2:32federal level.
- 2:33Absolutely.
- 2:34Now I'm gonna go ahead and pivot the
- 2:36conversation a little bit to net promoter score,
- 2:38which is a powerful indicator of member loyalty
- 2:41and satisfaction.
- 2:42So how are you using NPS to drive
- 2:44meaningful improvements across your health plan?
- 2:47It's a reflection
- 2:48of a lot of things. It's one is
- 2:50appreciation
- 2:51of the member, the patient, and, actually, what
- 2:54we are doing and what's actually happening on
- 2:57the ground.
- 2:58Then it's one of the most,
- 3:00it's it's kind of a north. I will
- 3:02not call it the true north of everything,
- 3:05but actually gives you a lot of feedback
- 3:07on processes and IVS
- 3:09from the frontline. Who's actually answering the phone?
- 3:12How are they getting their referral done?
- 3:15Are the physicians taking care of them? Are
- 3:18are they
- 3:19having the results on time?
- 3:21All of those things actually end up reflecting
- 3:23the the that that actually metric.
- 3:26Then integrating that to make sure that we're
- 3:28achieving operational value and quality, it's extremely important.
- 3:33So in addition to that quality,
- 3:35we've also talked about the imperative to reduce
- 3:38costs and advance health equity. So how do
- 3:40you approach aligning these priorities in your organization's
- 3:43strategic vision?
- 3:44A lot of people think that that's completely
- 3:46separate one to the other. On reality,
- 3:49they're tied.
- 3:50And,
- 3:51it's very hard, and I'm a practicing physician.
- 3:54And, we always hear
- 3:56that our doctors tell us, you know, one,
- 3:59make sure that you're eating green stuff.
- 4:01Two, make exercise. And three, actually go and,
- 4:04you know,
- 4:05sleep well and everything else.
- 4:07Then on reality,
- 4:08when my patients go to a community
- 4:11and they're in the supermarket, they they know
- 4:13what's the green stuff, but
- 4:15they actually fight against hunger. Then sometimes the
- 4:18green stuff is actually more expensive and Mhmm.
- 4:21Doesn't fight that. Or the other part of
- 4:23doing exercise,
- 4:24maybe there's no green spaces around them or
- 4:26maybe they're not safe. Then integrating the way
- 4:29that we are approaching the linguistically and culturally
- 4:32concordant
- 4:33hell is extremely important to make sure that
- 4:36we are not just driving,
- 4:38you know, those medications, those screenings, but also
- 4:41trying to go outside of the
- 4:43way that we are pursuing health care. You
- 4:45know, like that, I go to a doctor
- 4:47and I see the doctor and I do
- 4:49that connection to the part of how can
- 4:52we really integrate
- 4:53everybody as a human. Because the interaction with
- 4:55the doctors may be half an hour,
- 4:58but the interaction with the community is long
- 5:00lasting.
- 5:01Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking
- 5:03the time to have this conversation with me
- 5:05today. Again, this is Haley Brecker with the
- 5:08Becker's Payer Podcast
- 5:09recorded live at the Becker's third annual spring
- 5:12payer issues roundtable. Elan, thank you so much.
- 5:14Always a pleasure.