Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Brett Bingham, Chief Network Development Officer at Banner Plans and Networks

Transcript

Brett Bingham, Chief Network Development Officer at Banner Plans and Networks · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  This is where health insurance leadership comes together.
• 0:05
  Becker's fourth annual spring payer issues roundtable brings
• 0:08
  together over 400 payer and health plan executives
• 0:12
  and more than 100 speakers to Chicago April.
• 0:16
  This year's event includes keynote conversations with the
• 0:19
  industry's top leaders and former president George W.
• 0:23
  Bush. For the full agenda and event details,
• 0:25
  visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:27
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:29
  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
• 0:31
  here in Chicago.
• 0:34
  Hello, everyone, and welcome to Becker's Health Care
• 0:35
  Podcast. I'm Scott King. Thrilled today to be
• 0:38
  joined by Brett Bingham, chief network development officer,
• 0:41
  Banner Plans and Networks. Brett, how are you
• 0:43
  doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.
• 0:45
  Thanks for having me. It's a great day.
• 0:47
  Certainly is. In some parts of the world,
• 0:49
  we were talking weather earlier. Chicago's suffering. But
• 0:52
  despite all that, we, you know, we have
• 0:53
  a lot of big topics
• 0:55
  and news to get to, with health plans
• 0:58
  and with health care in general. But before
• 1:00
  we do that, I was wondering if you
• 1:00
  could please just tell us a little bit
• 1:02
  about your background and your career journey.
• 1:05
  Sure. I'd be happy to. So I've been
• 1:07
  with Banner for about five years now, and
• 1:09
  I get to lead our provider networks.
• 1:12
  Really enjoy the role with Banner. As an
• 1:14
  integrated delivery system that's not for profit, it's
• 1:17
  very focused on connecting the right pieces of
• 1:19
  health care,
• 1:20
  and it's fun to align with such a
• 1:22
  great organization.
• 1:23
  Before this, I got to spend some time
• 1:25
  with a rural,
• 1:27
  sole provider
• 1:29
  health system down in Yuma, so about 420
• 1:31
  beds there on Vida Health. And then did
• 1:33
  some work with UNC Health, a small APACO,
• 1:37
  the Durham kind of VA Medical Center and
• 1:40
  some other things before that. So it's it's
• 1:42
  been a fun ride.
• 1:44
  Appreciate sharing that background info. Definitely interesting,
• 1:46
  career you've had so far and a great
• 1:48
  perspective on things.
• 1:50
  How are your relationships with providers
• 1:53
  changing
• 1:54
  as both sides face cost pressures and workforce
• 1:57
  shortages?
• 1:59
  You know, this is really interesting. I think
• 2:01
  in the industry, we're seeing a lot,
• 2:03
  in the media of potential
• 2:05
  adversarial
• 2:06
  situations and that's something to be very cautious
• 2:08
  of.
• 2:09
  Our relationships
• 2:11
  with providers are really more moving more into
• 2:13
  a shared interests and aligned incentives aspect.
• 2:17
  We think that trust is something that's really
• 2:18
  important right now as we're all facing these
• 2:20
  pressures
• 2:21
  and building that trust with providers is certainly
• 2:24
  critical.
• 2:25
  One of the challenges that we're kind of
• 2:27
  seeing is
• 2:28
  the dynamic of shifting away from more fee
• 2:31
  for service rate fights
• 2:32
  to more,
• 2:34
  focus around solving access staffing,
• 2:37
  and other aspects that are a big challenge
• 2:39
  for providers.
• 2:41
  So, Brett, do you think kind of, like,
• 2:42
  across the board, certainly now with, you know,
• 2:45
  a lot of the regulatory
• 2:46
  pressures and and some you just touched on,
• 2:48
  are both sides just kind of maybe a
• 2:50
  little more so coming to the table and
• 2:52
  willing to collaborate because they both know, look,
• 2:54
  you're up against x y z. I'm up
• 2:56
  against x y z. Let's try to get
• 2:58
  something done.
• 2:59
  Yeah. I I think you're exactly right. Many
• 3:02
  providers and payers are coming together in more
• 3:05
  creative and innovative ways, and I applaud that.
• 3:08
  We're also seeing some providers
• 3:11
  or payers taking a different approach, which is
• 3:13
  a bit tougher because
• 3:15
  those that are focused on the collaboration are
• 3:17
  those that are really gonna win in the
• 3:19
  long run.
• 3:21
  Absolutely.
• 3:22
  Brett, where do you see the biggest gap
• 3:23
  today between payer strategy and operational execution?
• 3:27
  You know, this is a really good question.
• 3:29
  I think that strategy is very much so
• 3:32
  outpacing the infrastructure across the industry.
• 3:36
  Some organizations that are more vertically integrated are
• 3:39
  definitely farther along.
• 3:41
  But I think one of the pieces here
• 3:42
  is everybody has some kind of value based
• 3:44
  care strategy,
• 3:45
  but very few have the data, the contract
• 3:48
  terms, or the operation set up in a
• 3:50
  way that they can actually achieve things.
• 3:54
  What's one investment or initiative you believe will
• 3:56
  most reshape how health plans operate?
• 3:59
  I mean, everybody's hitting AI pretty hard.
• 4:02
  I think
• 4:03
  health plans that really invest on a different
• 4:05
  payment methodology
• 4:06
  are those that are going to win.
• 4:08
  The biggest challenge is that with value based
• 4:11
  care and actually incentivizing for the outcomes that
• 4:13
  we need,
• 4:14
  the data latency is just so long. Reports
• 4:17
  and and shared savings can be two years
• 4:19
  away.
• 4:20
  Getting leading indicator payments on annual wellness visits,
• 4:24
  care gap closures, fully addressing and and
• 4:28
  not just clicking the button, but actually treating
• 4:30
  patients for the conditions they have.
• 4:33
  Yeah. Absolutely.
• 4:34
  If you let me ask you. If you
• 4:35
  could change one
• 4:37
  regulatory or industry practice tomorrow, so, you know,
• 4:40
  very soon,
• 4:42
  to improve affordability and access,
• 4:44
  what would it be and why?
• 4:46
  That's that's a really good question. I think
• 4:48
  there's a lot of struggle around checking the
• 4:50
  box,
• 4:52
  with some of the different pieces that are
• 4:53
  out there.
• 4:54
  As we think about how we engage the
• 4:56
  consumer more, I think that is a missing
• 4:58
  piece.
• 5:00
  We know that incentives and and things like
• 5:02
  that to the actual,
• 5:04
  patient or member,
• 5:06
  there's a real delicate line to be walked
• 5:08
  there. But, ultimately,
• 5:10
  if we can engage individuals more meaningfully in
• 5:12
  their health, I think that they'd find better
• 5:15
  outcomes.
• 5:17
  And, Brett, do you do that by embracing,
• 5:19
  you know, a lot of the things that
• 5:20
  emerging tech
• 5:22
  have given to to health plans? Because they
• 5:24
  like like you said, they the consumers expect
• 5:26
  things easier. They expect to be met. Do
• 5:28
  do you do that through emerging tech?
• 5:31
  Yes. I think that there's there's all sorts
• 5:33
  of different pieces around that. Banner has invested
• 5:36
  very heavily in how we're working with our
• 5:38
  consumers,
• 5:39
  especially in the realms of patient experience, member
• 5:42
  experience,
• 5:43
  and just making health care easier so life
• 5:45
  can be better. The big challenge with all
• 5:47
  this is moving large organizations forward can take
• 5:50
  time and effort, but Banner's certainly been very
• 5:52
  committed to that cause.
• 5:55
  That's great to hear. What issue is putting
• 5:58
  the most pressure on health plan margins right
• 6:01
  now,
• 6:02
  and
• 6:02
  how will you respond differently, this year in
• 6:05
  in 2026
• 6:06
  to that?
• 6:07
  You know, that's that's a really good question.
• 6:09
  I think
• 6:10
  we've seen a lot of increases in expenses
• 6:13
  across the board. And so I think there's
• 6:16
  just multiple pieces coming together at the same
• 6:18
  time.
• 6:19
  And organizations that can really focus on their
• 6:22
  agility
• 6:23
  and rely on the time that it just
• 6:25
  kind of living out their investments that they've
• 6:28
  made and making sure they have the time
• 6:30
  to kind of see those through is really
• 6:31
  important.
• 6:32
  I think we've seen a number of players
• 6:34
  in the industry shift strategies too quickly.
• 6:37
  They'll be partway through an endeavor and then
• 6:39
  then they maybe shift before they finish it.
• 6:42
  Banner has been really true to its course,
• 6:44
  and that's been, you know,
• 6:46
  a great thing because it allows us to
• 6:48
  remain committed on the pieces that we're well
• 6:49
  grounded in
• 6:51
  without floundering
• 6:52
  when we see a hiccup of of challenge.
• 6:55
  What are some investments, Brett, that you think
• 6:57
  either either banner or all payers just have
• 7:00
  to kinda be a little patient with in
• 7:02
  terms of seeing them through and and seeing
• 7:04
  them pay off?
• 7:06
  Yeah. That's that's another good question.
• 7:08
  A big piece on that one is more
• 7:11
  deeply integrating care delivery capabilities.
• 7:14
  So as we think about the historical payer
• 7:17
  landscape,
• 7:17
  it's very contractually
• 7:19
  based.
• 7:20
  I think the organization that focus on focuses
• 7:23
  I think the organizations that focus more on,
• 7:26
  the actual integration of pieces and getting the
• 7:28
  data to connect
• 7:30
  at point of care and then
• 7:32
  allowing for flexibilities,
• 7:34
  for different payers to kind of work with
• 7:37
  advanced models, c I n, ACOs,
• 7:39
  MSOs,
• 7:41
  and just other type of engagement vehicles with
• 7:44
  primary care is really important.
• 7:47
  And the last thing I want to ask
• 7:48
  you, Brett, you know, I I think leadership
• 7:49
  is so important now in health care, you
• 7:51
  know, probably more than ever before with everything
• 7:54
  going on. Just wanted to ask,
• 7:56
  how you evolved as a leader?
• 7:58
  Yeah. That's that's another good thought. I think
• 8:00
  the biggest thing is transparency and collaboration.
• 8:03
  It's a big industry, but at the same
• 8:05
  time, it's really small. And
• 8:07
  if if you burn your relationships,
• 8:10
  for some kind of a quick win,
• 8:13
  those those never recover. And so as we
• 8:16
  think about working with with teams, no matter
• 8:18
  how big or small they are,
• 8:21
  just being transparent and straightforward with the challenges
• 8:23
  that we all face,
• 8:25
  and then being willing to kind of hear
• 8:27
  the voices of lots of different individuals
• 8:29
  to navigate through things in the right way.
• 8:31
  We're all doing the best that we can.
• 8:33
  It's a challenging time. But as we continue
• 8:36
  to kind of work together and focus on
• 8:38
  our greatest asset, our people, then we're gonna
• 8:41
  be able to get through it.
• 8:43
  Brett, thanks so much for joining us on
• 8:44
  the podcast. It was a great conversation and
• 8:46
  really looking forward to having you speak at
• 8:47
  the Spring Payer Issues roundtable. Hey. Thank you.
• 8:49
  I've definitely enjoyed it.