Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Driving Growth and Innovation in Rural Healthcare: Insights from Jennifer Shermo

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Driving Growth and Innovation in Rural Healthcare: Insights from Jennifer Shermo · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

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  At Kindred Hospitals, we believe that treating the
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  most medically complex patients isn't about a single
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  victory. It's a series of small victories that
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  recovery,
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  Ensuring complex patients have early access to specialized
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  can help reduce costly readmissions and increase patient
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  satisfaction.
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  Visit Kindred managedcare.com
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  for more information.
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  Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
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  I'm Ryan Mohammed, writer and moderator with Becker's
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  Healthcare. And I'm thrilled to have with me
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  today, Jennifer Sharmo, chief growth officer at Security
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  Health Plan. Jennifer, welcome to the podcast. We're
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  very excited to have you join us today.
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  To To get us started, would you mind
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  please introducing yourself and telling us a bit
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  about your background?
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  Sure. Thanks for having me. Jennifer Schormel, chief
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  growth officer as you mentioned.
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  I'm,
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  part of our executive team at Security Health
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  Plan, which is part of the Marshfield Clinic
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  Health System,
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  serving Central Northern Wisconsin.
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  I've been with the health plan now for
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  17 years,
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  in a variety of progressing roles through
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  marketing, project management, government programs,
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  product development, kind of, a whole gamut of
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  of items relating to government business.
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  And, now in my role, I oversee,
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  again, marketing, product development, and sales.
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  Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving us
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  that information. So with all the things that
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  I'm sure you're busy with, what are some
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  of the biggest issues you're following
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  in health care headed into the new year?
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  Sure. There, certainly isn't any lack of, issues
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  or headwinds in health care today.
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  Just to name a few, Medicare Advantage is
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  always top of mind for us.
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  There's, you know, evolving regulation,
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  revolving, you know, industry pressures and competition, of
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  course. Our biggest goal is really to
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  pressures and competition, of course.
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  Our biggest goal is really to find ways
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  to achieve our collective goals together, whether that's
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  with our provider system partners,
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  with the federal government and CMS,
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  or others on on trying to solve some
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  of the big issues,
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  that face Medicare Advantage today. And I I
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  think, you know, sort of the real, differentiator
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  for us specifically at Security Health Plan is
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  that provider sponsored health plans, I think, are
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  very uniquely positioned
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  for this, especially as we think about things
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  like utilization
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  management concerns and others. You know, when we
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  are able to partner together with provider systems
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  rather than in that adversarial
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  relationship at times, which is, you know, traditional
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  in in insurance,
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  I think that we can really,
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  you know, sort of achieve goals again together
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  instead of against each other. But that that's
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  sort of,
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  one track that we're following and very involved
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  and and continuing with.
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  Additionally, sort of more in the commercial space,
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  I think we're seeing a continued rise in
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  non traditional players and competition. And really it
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  kinda comes down to, you know, finding the
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  right balance between
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  cost effective strategies,
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  that, you know, employers are, you know, desperate
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  for frankly, but also
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  preserving quality of care and service to members.
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  And so again, this kinda comes back to
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  how can provider sponsored plans like ours really,
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  you know, sort of try to solve those
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  challenges in a way that, doesn't negatively impact
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  our communities and our members.
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  So kinda all in all, I think a
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  lot of the issues that we're tracking,
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  into the new year and even beyond is,
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  you know, finding ways to reduce that cost
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  of care.
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  And and for us specifically, it's through this
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  very rural lens and and, you know, how
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  we solve those challenges in a rural environment.
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  You know, we find a lot of times
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  that the challenges may be the same, but
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  how we solve them has to look very
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  different in our rural communities.
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  Yeah. Yeah. That completely makes sense. Thank you
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  so much for giving us that info.
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  Is there anything that you are most excited
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  about or anything that's making you nervous in
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  regards to anything else you're kinda seeing in
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  the news or anything that you're doing personally
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  at Security Health Plan?
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  Yeah. I think probably a lot of health
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  care executives would,
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  concur that, you know, the technology and innovation
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  is very exciting. Obviously, you know, AI is
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  a very big, you know, buzzword right now.
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  But, you know, in all honesty, it does
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  bring a lot of opportunities and exciting innovation
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  to our industry.
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  I think that,
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  you know, health care and health insurance maybe
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  in particular has always been on the lagging
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  end of exciting innovation,
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  especially, you know, as as compared to, you
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  know, some retail spaces and things like that.
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  So I think our job is really to
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  understand
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  how these advances can help not only our
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  business, but our consumers,
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  in our communities and and, you know, thinking
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  about how we can make operations more efficient,
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  how these technologies can enhance
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  quality and service
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  to our members. So, you know, that's definitely
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  one area. But, you know, kind of the
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  flip side of that, I think we're all
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  seeing a rise in cybersecurity
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  awareness and concern and risk. So, you know,
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  as an executive, that's, I think, top of
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  mind for all of us. I certainly don't
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  have all of the answers for that, but,
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  you know, again, you you know, something that
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  makes you nervous for sure. But
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  just overall, I think, you know, as a
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  small regional nonprofit plan like ours, there's also
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  always a level of
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  nervousness,
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  around, you know, sort of competition
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  and, you know, how we can, you know,
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  continue to,
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  compete
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  with maybe those that have deeper pockets or
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  leverage nationally. So as growth officer, I'm, you
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  know, always intensely focused on creating that differentiating
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  value for our customers and for our provider
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  partners.
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  And, you know, for us, that's really about
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  kind of our local collaboration,
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  in in that integrated system lens that we
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  bring to our our service and, and our
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  administration.
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  Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for
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  that that great insight. And, Jennifer, before I
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  let you go, the last thing I wanted
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  to ask you is, in your opinion, what
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  would the most effective health care leaders need
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  in order to be successful in the next
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  2 to 3 years, do you think?
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  Yeah. I think, if we've learned anything,
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  you know, through COVID and the years that
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  follow, it's, that in health care in particular,
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  we need to be adaptable and resilient.
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  And as leaders, I think that is extremely
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  important.
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  The health care landscape
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  has changed dramatically, and I believe it will
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  continue to change.
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  As I mentioned, you know, things like new
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  technologies,
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  regulation, and just the idea of health care
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  consumerism overall will continue to, you know, press
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  us to think differently, adapt fast,
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  and sort of meet the the demand of
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  our our patients and our communities, you know,
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  as they change. So leaders that are able
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  to navigate these changes effectively
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  without losing sight of our overall mission and
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  vision, I think will we'll really, succeed and
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  sort of, you know, come out ahead. You
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  know, always
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  top of mind, I think, for health care
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  leaders is, you know, keeping the focus on
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  our members and our patients and prioritizing
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  those
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  needs and experiences, you know, above all else.
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  And and that will really remain the cornerstone
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  of
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  effective leadership in all aspects of health care
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  in my opinion.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Thank you so much for
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  those final thoughts. This has definitely been an
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  informative discussion, Jennifer. So, again, I wanna thank
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  you so much for coming up access health
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  care, especially all for the first time. And
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  I hope you have a good rest of
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  your week.
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  Yeah. Thanks for having me.