This week’s episode focuses on leadership development and continuous improvement as Daniel Matthews, a change leadership expert and author of The Language of Leadership: Nicer Bark, No Bite, elaborates on finding your leadership WHY and building a trusting relationship.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:35 How a high school dropout got into training and developed his leadership skills.
• 3:41 How to find your leadership WHY and why it is important.
• 8:10 Ways leaders create a trusting relationship.
• 11:07 A childhood experience that taught him how to be considerate of others.
• 1:42 How to create a culture of accountability.
• 18:18 The importance of developing an attitude of gratitude.

Quotes:

5:04 “When we take on the role of leadership, we are not just taking on the tasks and responsibilities of the leader. At some point, we’re really impacting the lives of those people we lead and the families they support.”

7:02 “Leadership is all about relationships.”

7:32 “This is what a true leader is; it’s somebody who can get people to do what they want when they want, how they want because they want to. And the only way to do that is if you’ve developed strong working relationships with the people you work with.”

9:41 “The conversation should never constantly revolve around you and what you’re doing and what you think and your family and everything else. It’s about getting to know those people, and once you get to know somebody, you become closer to them. And I’m not saying that you’re going to be like friends where you go out and have a beer every night, but there’s certainly a friendly aspect to that development of trust.”

19:21 “If you want to be able to show gratitude for somebody’s work, you’ve got to be able to do it in ways that are more than just patting them on the back or saying thank you.”

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In this week’s episode, we discuss what other things physicians are doing outside of traditional medicine. Shad Faraz, a Harvard Business School graduate and co-host of the podcast Physicians Off The Beaten Path, discusses how these new perspectives are helping to bridge the gap in the healthcare system in general.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:50 Shad’s background, as well as his interest in healthcare innovation, policy, and investing.
• 5:14 What is it like to be a doctor in the 21st century?
• 9:09 Other things doctors are doing, and how different perspectives can help improve the healthcare system in general.
• 13:01 The issue with today’s medical curriculum and why Shad believes it should be revamped.
• 15:13 What is Prescription Digital Therapeutics, why is it important, and what are the barriers?

Quotes:

6:36 “Nowadays, people think about, you know, innovating in the way that they actually deliver care to their patients, or figuring out how big pharma or biotech can be made more sustainable for patients with an eye towards the lower cost of care for patients.”

8:47 “To summarize, almost anything and everything is possible for doctors nowadays, and more and more doctors, I think, are stepping up to the challenge, but there is still an information gap in information asymmetry for some docs, and that’s ultimately why I think your show, my show, and things like that are incredibly beneficial for clinicians.”

11:26 “I think everyone is just blinded by their own incentives and everyone thinks that they’re doing the right thing. They just can’t see the bigger picture, and I think the only way to get beyond that is to just bring all these different people into one room, learn the same language, develop some shared understanding of what’s going on, and move forward.”

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This week’s episode is about a new technology platform that aims to boost the primary care provider and patient relationship, as Ankit Patel, co-founder, and President of Pearl Health, discusses the implications of not having a primary care relationship on both the employee and administrative sides, and most importantly, how they are attempting to solve these issues.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:40 The impact of not having a primary care relationship on both the employee and claims.
• 3:29 What distinguishes this new approach from the HMO of the 1990s.
• 7:09 The Direct Contracting Program versus CMS.
• 9:52 How they can help to strengthen the primary care provider-patient relationship.

Quotes:

4:01 “I think the thing that is different this time is that we now have the technology infrastructure and the data to ensure that capitation is coming with accountability.”

6:34 “I think when we talk about access to patient care, what I believe has happened over the last 10 years is we have rightly moved the industry towards value, but we have done it in a way that has not really promoted access to patient care.”

10:07 “I think what this really ultimately comes down to is trying to find a way to help solidify the primary care and patient relationship as that patient is navigating and going through the rest of the healthcare system.”

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This week’s episode delves into a new development in the dental insurance industry. Josh Jackson, founder of Promptous, discusses the company’s efforts to provide better, simpler, and more affordable dental services that are designed to be used, rather than a plan that is not intended to be used.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:35 The main distinction between a self-funded medical plan and a self-funded dental plan.
• 3:31 How they are designing dental plans.
• 5:12 What the advantages are for the employer.
• 6:08 How this new development can improve the dental experience of employees.
• 12:26 Processes that are streamlined on the provider side.
• 14:24 How they encourage employers to switch to self-funding.

Quotes:

3:07 “It’s not only about cost savings, but there’s an opportunity to really provide a better dental plan in general, because, again, you as the employer are taking the risk on, so you have the ability to take a lot of the traditional restrictions and exclusions limitations out of your normal dental plan, and in turn make it a better benefit that’s designed to be used.”

3:44 “We’re designing a dental plan that’s actually designed to be used, rather than a plan that’s not designed to be used.”

9:22 “Providing this more holistic benefits package is a way to help them get the treatment they need while helping reduce their out-of-pocket costs.”

12:59 “From an administration standpoint, accounts receivable are simplified, they are not having to call one 800 Number to rectify payments. And it’s just a big headache that’s taken off their plates when members come in with promptness and actually use the benefits themselves.”

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This week’s episode gives insight into the necessity of having the right support to help you navigate the complexity of things that occur before and after a loss. Esther Pipoly is the founder and owner of Loss of Life Advocates, a bereavement consulting firm that assists families in preparing for life’s unexpected transitions, such as loss. She is also the author of Lying on the Floor Holding My Breath…: The Grief Experience and the Lessons I Learned After I Got Up.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:46 Esther’s personal experience with losing loved ones and the issues she faced while grieving.
• 8:50 Range of issues she helps people with.
• 12:10 The complications and considerations in buying/selling when there is a business involved.
• 15:03 Why it’s critical to make sure that the people you choose are up to the task.
• 16:47 Meaningful conversations that an insurance provider should be having with clients.
• 20:43 What STERBS are and why is it important to find them?

Quotes:

7:25 “I really learned that in those moments of total grief that you find out if your employer is really going to support you.”

8:07 “We have all these wonderful benefits that consultants and brokers out there provide. But it’s in those really rare moments of grief and tragedy if you are truly the best place to work, you’re focusing on those life changes for your employees because that’s when they need the support the most.”

10:18 “People need to know that somebody has their back because your family and your friends are there for you initially, but you don’t always want to share things like what I went through.”

16:33 “What I find is a lot of people, when they find out exactly what you’re asking them to do, if something happens to you, they will say no, I really think you should hire a professional. And so you know, it really is hard to put that team together a lot harder than people think.”

18:54 “As an advisor, the most meaningful thing that you can ask somebody is, how are you doing? How have you handled it? What are your plans? And do you have the right products in place in the event that something happens to your employees? How do you handle death in your workplace? How are you educating your leadership to talk about what to say, when to say it, how to identify when they see somebody that’s going through a loss.”

20:19 “The advisory position here is we are living in a time where if you’re an insurance, and you’re not talking to your clients and having these meaningful conversations, then you’re not really getting to know your clients.”

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This week’s episode digs into how drug price is determined, with John Zevzavadjian, president at RxSense, explaining how pricing changes from the moment the producer sends the items to the distribution channels to the end consumers.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:38 John’s experience from pharmacy to a front row seat at the marketplace.
• 2:44 A couple of things they’re working to solve.
• 3:50 How prices change from the manufacturer to the end-user from a generic medication perspective.
• 7:11 In terms of rebates, how do prices adjust from the manufacturer to the end-user?
• 11:34 What’s preventing people from getting data in the normal course of the scheme, and what kind of data John assists employers with, and how does it affect their decision-making?
• 16:07 Collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the cost of a drug.
• 19:34 The pharmaceutical industry’s overall trajectory.

Quotes:

9:12 “Amongst all of that supply chain, everybody’s taking a piece of the action and there’s a lack of visibility into who is making those dollars and how much.”

14:14 “Nutrition is as important than getting the right drug.”

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In this week’s episode, Frank Sutter, a chiropractor and Associate Director of the Harvard Business School’s Health Care Initiative, explains why he left medicine and how the medical system in the Netherlands inspired him to go back and change the healthcare in the United States.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:54 Why he sold his practice to a physician group and moved to the Netherlands.
• 8:32 The goal of the healthcare initiative at Harvard and the many different avenues for students.
• 13:14 Direct primary care versus the healthcare initiative.
• 16:45 The difference between the healthcare system in the Netherlands and the US.

Quotes:

3:42 “In my experience, the greatest aspect of that is just spending time listening to patients, we don’t get a lot of that with most of our health care practitioners. So I really relish the time I was able to spend with each patient.”

16:13 “If the doctor is stressed, that’s going to impact the outcomes of the patient.”

19:22 “They [doctors in the Netherlands] don’t have the same fear of defensive medicine, which is testing everybody for everything all the time, always, so they don’t get sued for missing a diagnosis. That’s defensive medicine, which is, of course, very expensive for insurance companies and that’s not the right approach either. So, they are quite mindful of that here.”

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This week’s episode is all about determining which EAP is best for your organization. Because there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution, John Troutman, National Director of Mazzitti & Sullivan EAP, discusses the vast range of possibilities and what to look for in an EAP.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 1:50 What is an EAP?
• 2:30 Reasons why some EAPs have gotten a bad reputation over time.
• 3:40 Problems with APIs that are built into plans.
• 4:48 How COVID impacted EAP utilization.
• 5:35 Range of services that you should look for in an EAP.
• 8:03 What range of services should an employer look for?
• 9:33 Assessment of employees’ needs and referrals for diagnosis and treatment of mental health.
• 11:52 EAP Coverage.
• 12:50 The stressors that you’re EAPs dealing with. 
• 14:24 What platforms they’re using to assist employees. 
• 18:42 What’s missing and what is coming in the field of EAP? 
• 20:03 Will EAPs prioritize mental health?

Quotes:

6:26 “If I was an employer, I would want to make sure I have a dedicated person assigned to that account. That’s one of the most important things I believe.”

10:07 “EAPs were never set up to be a long-term solution to a person’s mental health needs. They’re meant to be something ideally on the front end that is a preventative measure, just like a wellness plan, for example.”

14:07 “Understanding our mental health, understanding the value of a pause and taking a break, taking time for that self care mentally, is something that really translates over to burnout and I believe you know, that’s just a one that’s on the rise and I believe we haven’t seen you know, the worst of that yet.”

15:38 “That benefit of just knowing that there could be a location within 15 minutes of your home to talk to a clinician can go a long way to ease stress.”

19:01 “Mental health is a crucial part of everyone’s well-being and should never simply be as if it’s on a piece of paper, we’re going to check it off and move on to something else. It should never be the very last thing because our mental health affects everything else that we do. So what’s lacking is the passion across the country to address mental health on an equal platform. It shouldn’t always be the last five minutes of an open enrollment session at that time of meeting with the employee. It really should be given equal time and opportunity to be explained so that the employees understand the benefit.”

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This week’s episode explores the new tools available for doctors shifting to direct primary care. Mark Nolan, chief operating officer of Hint Health talks about some of the reasons why a lot of doctors would like to escape into the old-fashioned doctor-patient practice and what’s stopping them from doing so.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 2:30 Three largest obstacles to providing healthcare.
• 5:01 Why more and more doctors are so eager to get into direct primary care.
• 8:15 Some of the obstacles to establishing a direct primary care practice.
• 12:35 The different practice models.
• 17:34 Services that Hint Health and other similar firms are offering to help.
• 20:22 Is direct primary care the future?

Quotes:

3:18 “Folks who have primary care relationships are much healthier folks in the long run.”

5:56 “Most of the doctors that we speak to and providers who are moving over, they’ve got a few different reasons for this. One is, they’re gonna burn out, they just can’t take it anymore. Two, they want to have relationships with their patients that last longer than the 10 minutes that they get to see them in some sort of episodic scenario versus the longitudinal relationship.”

7:55 “The satisfaction with the feedback that we would receive around how appreciative they are that there was a model that they could go to and doctor. They get to the practice, something that the patient will need it and experience or that their employer made accessible to them, it was genuine, and it was pretty moving.”

20:40 “This is an idea whose time has come and this is not going to slow down. I only see it increasing because of the context that it’s operating in, the different dynamics that are making it even more difficult to be a provider in today’s environment, the consolidation that you mentioned at the top of the show, I just think that the tailwinds behind this are very strong and especially as you have employers and plan sponsors, looking for new things, they’re starting to recognize this innovation and how can help them.”

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