Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Jeff Bak, President and CEO of Imagine360

Transcript

Jeff Bak, President and CEO of Imagine360 · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:02
  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Jeff Beck, president and chief executive officer at
• 0:06
  Imagine three sixty. Jeff, it's a pleasure to
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  have you on the podcast today. Yeah. Thanks
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  for inviting me.
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  Absolutely. My pleasure. You know, I'm excited for
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  our conversation because I know we'll be digging
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  into issues around health care affordability, quality, access
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  to care, health equity, and more, which are
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  all so important within the health care space
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  today.
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  But before we dive into that discussion, I'm
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  wondering, can you tell us a little bit
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  more about yourself and Imagine three sixty?
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  Yeah. Sure.
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  I have been in health care for, you
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  know, three decades,
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  have helped grow and manage health care services
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  businesses, and,
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  you know, have always been proud that I
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  can help employers become,
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  you know, more cost cost effective when they're
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  purchasing health care and look for alternative and
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  creative ways to, to save money and get
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  the most bang for the buck for their,
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  for their employees.
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  And Imagine three sixty is a a growing,
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  business that is,
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  an alternative health plan,
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  with a mission to make health care more
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  affordable with with a great member experience and
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  and help the
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  lives of American workers and their families,
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  be able to afford health care.
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  That's an amazing mission and so important, especially
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  today as I know a lot of families
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  are struggling in in the health care, you
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  know,
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  expenses
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  are continuing to pile up. And so I
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  I really appreciate,
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  that kind of ability to innovate and jump
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  into an alternative plan that could really make
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  a big difference for,
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  patients and families across the board.
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  From your perspective, I know balancing affordability and
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  quality is a constant challenge for health plans.
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  How is your organization
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  innovating to manage the cost of care while
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  also maintaining or improving member outcomes?
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  So from a,
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  in our perspective,
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  we're interested
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  in doing
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  direct contracts,
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  with certain high quality health systems.
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  We're
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  mainly focused on,
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  ensuring that what we reimburse
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  those systems is fair and equitable.
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  If they don't go to those contracted relationships,
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  we have a price protection approach, which is
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  reference based pricing,
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  which again,
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  holds the line on reimbursement
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  and makes health care a lot more affordable.
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  And from
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  a member experience perspective, it's really up to
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  us to ensure that those employees and their
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  families,
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  know
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  about their health care,
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  program,
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  know how to navigate to the appropriate sites
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  of care.
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  And then when they are, you know, experiencing,
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  you know, a a medical situation,
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  be be there for them and engage with
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  them to ensure that they're having a good
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  experience under some very tough conditions. And so,
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  you know, that's that's kind of our MO
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  in terms of how we're driving to this
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  lower price point.
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  Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  And, you know, I I really appreciate how
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  you can have, as you mentioned, that network
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  of preferred and quality providers, but at the
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  same time,
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  allow for the members to also make decisions
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  and and navigate through their own care as
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  well. So I think that makes a lot
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  of sense and is really helpful.
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  And addressing health equity
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  has become a really critical focus for many
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  health plans. Can you share an overview of
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  a key initiative here that you're involved in
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  or are particularly excited about. What are you
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  hoping to achieve?
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  You know, health equity,
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  it is something that's top of mind for
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  Imagine three sixty. We,
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  recognize that
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  there are a lot of Americans who
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  can no longer afford their out of pocket,
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  their deductible,
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  and there's been a ton of cost shifting
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  that's happened over the,
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  past, you know, several years.
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  Medical debt, as everybody knows, 40% of Americans
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  have it,
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  and it's because the the their care from
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  an out of pocket perspective,
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  is something they don't have the the discretionary
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  income,
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  to meet. And so
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  what we
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  primarily try to do
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  is
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  ensure that they get the lowest cost of
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  care,
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  which saves money for the first dollar claim
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  that they would use and the provider they
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  would access.
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  We have programs that check for things like
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  financial assistance,
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  to ensure that if they qualify for anything
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  that's subsidized or free, they they they would
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  get it. And so, you know, our our
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  main theme is to reduce the cost of
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  care, to reduce
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  out of pocket costs,
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  and when there is a chance that somebody
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  may qualify for something that's free from a
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  health equity perspective like financial assistance that that
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  they get it.
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  Got it. That makes sense and is really
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  helpful and certainly
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  helpful for those who are struggling with the
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  that medical debt or who need care,
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  but without the funds to really, purchase it
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  effectively. And so I think that it is
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  great, and and especially for those, as you
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  mentioned, who qualify for subsidized or,
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  free assistance, it seems like, it really makes
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  a big difference for them to access the
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  type of care that they need.
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  And then I wanted to ask about member
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  satisfaction as well. I know member satisfaction is
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  essential to thrive in today's competitive health care
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  market.
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  What experience or engagement strategies have proven effective
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  for your organization, and how are you measuring
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  success?
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  Yeah. We we measure success in many ways.
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  We have NPS scores and member satisfaction scores,
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  and they're consistently,
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  from a member satisfaction,
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  you know, in in the nineties high nineties.
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  And I think it's partly because we
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  we help employees take that extra step in
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  their health care.
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  When they call into,
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  member support,
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  we can do things like schedule an appointment
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  for them.
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  We can
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  idea, you know, a facility in advance.
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  Typically,
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  that
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  is gonna assist them in terms of spending
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  the least amount of money possible out of
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  pocket for that initial
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  consult.
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  You know, we we may ask an employee
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  and and give them an option if they
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  wanna drive an extra three or four or
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  five miles.
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  They may be able to save 200 to
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  $2,000,
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  for a facility that could be slightly higher
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  quality. And, you know, people just don't have
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  that data. They're not that as conscious of
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  it as we are. And so
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  we we do a lot to try to,
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  you know, hug and wrap those members as
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  best we can and guide them the best
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  we can. And when they when they listen
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  and do and follow, they typically wind up
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  in a much better place.
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  That makes a lot of sense. And it's
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  really comforting to know that,
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  an organization like Imagine three sixty has that
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  data and information and then process it and
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  communicate that, in an effective way for for
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  members.
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  Now looking ahead, what do you see as
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  being the biggest opportunity for payers to lead
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  the charge in transforming
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  care delivery and driving better outcomes for all
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  stakeholders.
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  How can leaders really take that step into
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  this direction now?
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  Yeah.
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  So,
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  at the,
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  upcoming Becker's payer issue roundtable,
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  we
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  we announced some findings from a study,
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  about the perception of health care costs. And
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  given health care costs have become a topic
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  of, such a national conversation
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  debate,
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  you know, we wanted to understand
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  how the average American feels,
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  about their health care. The results kinda confirm
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  that we
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  what we've been hearing in our conversations
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  with,
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  benefit leaders and employers,
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  that there's there's a serious affordability issue in
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  health care,
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  and American families are are impacted pretty dramatically.
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  We find that nearly half of our responders
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  either skipped
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  or postponed, you know, necessary health care or
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  medications due to the cost.
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  Many of them saw their conditions worsen.
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  This has kind of increased over the past
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  couple of years.
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  And as an industry, you know, we're heading
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  in the wrong direction
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  when that's kind of the state of play.
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  And, you know, inaction
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  and not taking a proactive,
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  you know, step from a solution perspective or
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  a strategy perspective
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  ultimately affects the health, of, of American families.
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  And so
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  we we also kind of found that health
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  plan premiums were the number one factor that
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  are causing the affordability
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  challenge,
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  followed by high out of pockets.
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  And this is where employers,
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  I think, and benefit leaders,
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  brokers, company likes like Imagine three sixty
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  need to step up,
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  and step in to see how these things
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  can
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  resolve themselves, become more affordable.
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  And, you know, it's it's most employers' most
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  valuable asset. Right? It's their employees.
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  And if they're feeling,
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  you know, unprotected, if they're feeling exposed financially,
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  they're they're not gonna be at their best.
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  They're not gonna be fully engaged.
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  And the last thing you want as an
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  employer is, you know, people with, you know,
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  half their attention on your job and, you
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  know, half their attention on things, you know,
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  like
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  access to care or,
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  medical debt or, you know, just how are
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  they gonna afford something as simple as an
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  annual,
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  checkup or procedure or colonoscopy. And so
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  I I I I think that's the key
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  theme for us.
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  Absolutely. No. That makes a lot of sense,
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  and, you know, it's certainly inspiring to hear.
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  Jeff, thank you so much for joining us
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  on the podcast. This has been a really
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  fun conversation. I look forward to connecting with
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  you soon and especially at our, payer issues
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  roundtable as you mentioned. It's gonna be such
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  an amazing event bringing together so many leaders
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  from across the industry,
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  to really engage in these types of discussions
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  on, you know, innovation in the field and
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  what we need next in order to, really,
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  really evolve the health care system. So, Jeff,
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  I appreciate it and look forward to seeing
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  you soon. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for the
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  time.