In this episode of the ShiftShapers Podcast, David talks to Hugh O’Toole. Hugh is CEO of Innovu, a company that offers analysis services and well-designed products to help companies seamlessly integrate data across all programs. David and Hugh discuss the use of data to help advise companies.

Hugh explains the process of cleaning data sets to set them up for proper analytics. He demonstrates how to utilize data sets to monitor and predict healthcare for employees, organize worker’s compensation, and identify fraud within a system. Hugh talks about particular insights gained after data analysis and how reconciling different perspectives generates the right modeling, reports and predictions.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 3:02 Cleaning data
• 6:05 Healthcare and workers’ compensation
• 12:52 Different lenses and views
• 16:32 Real time data and transparency
• 19:59 Accessibility of data services

Quotes:

“Big data that doesn’t create answers, in our opinion, is not very useful.”

“One of the things that’s really important when you get a data set in, you’re going to need to clean that data, you’re going to make sure that it’s accurate.”

“From our perspective, if you want market share, if you want to retain your business, if you’re not running something that creates transparency, accountability, ROI for your clients, I believe you’re already behind.”

Resources:

www.innovu.com

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In this episode of the ShiftShapers Podcast, David talks to Vicky Westra. Vicky is the Founder and Chief Executive of Artistas Café and Javamo Art for Autism, both social enterprises supporting individuals diagnosed with Autism. She’s a board member of Autism Shifts, a program and community of parents, educators and employers dedicated to understanding autism on multiple levels.

David and Vicky talk about understanding autism and its diagnosis. They discuss how people with varying degrees of autism can integrate into the typical society. Vicky explains how normal people and people with autism can learn from one another in the “real world”. She talks about the benefits of employing autistic persons and shares her personal experience.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 2:18 Understanding autism and its challenges to parents
•  5:31 Vicky’s calling
•  7:10 Employing people with autism
•  12:24 Educating employees and employers
•  17:05 Getting the word out

Quotes:

“As you looked up autism, everything that was related to the diagnosis was really surrounded with challenges with the diagnosis.”

“My personal belief is that every person that wants to be employed has the opportunity to be employed at whatever level that is and sometimes, what makes autism so hard to understand is because it is so broad..”

“People with autism think differently, they process information differently, they see the world differently, so part of it is helping them understand what the typical world expectations are and how it operates..”

“What they bring is of course, a lot of focus. they’re very focused which translates to productivity. They think differently which means they could bring new perspectives to businesses.”

“We have to feel to good about autism, our students have to feel good about autism, our families do before we can really go out there and say ‘hey, we have the same rights as everyone else to live our lives on purpose.’”

Resources:

https://autismshifts.org/

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In this episode of the ShapeShifters Podcast, Host and Chief Transformation Strategist David Saltzman features Kev Coleman, President and Founder of AssociationHealthPlans.Com to explain what AHP’s are all about and how small businesses can benefit from them.

Kev is a consumer advocate, researcher, and published writer whose works have appeared on The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Consumer Reports, USA Today. He has published a book as well called “Association Health Plans & The Future of American Health Insurance.”

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 2:05 Nurses in other fields
• 02:07 AHP vs MEWA
• 05:03 New regulations: Regionally-defined associations
• 10:04 AHP benefits to smaller firms
• 15:29 Short term health insurance
• 20:30 Politics, Pathway 1& Pathway 2

Quotes:

03:15 “Every AHP is a MEWA but not every MEWA is an AHP. Association health plans have very specific rules regarding the bonafide nature of the association that’s sponsoring etc. MEWA’s however have a narrower set of requirements and you can sponsor a MEWA that is not an AHP.”

06:10 “A regionally-defined association is one where the group of employers sponsoring the health plan just have a common geography among them. They don’t have to belong to the same industry or the same profession and that obviously expanded the possibilities for association health plans in terms of who could sponsor them.”

13:50 “So if you’re a small business and you want to retain as well as attract good talent, finding ways to be able to offer compelling health insurance is really a critical issue strategically for them.”

17:57 “One of the things that people should understand though about short term health insurance is that it’s a unique type of health insurance that was created to address a specific need. A very specific need which is temporary health coverage.”

18:26 “What insurers were starting to find is that there was a small segment of the market that would go through buy health insurance and only keep it for six months, nine months, etc. Maybe someone was in between jobs or they were doing some other new activity maybe school, etc. where they didn’t have their traditional health coverage. And that was the environment that short term health insurance from which it was birthed.”

Resources:

https://www.associationhealthplans.com

“Association Health Plans & The Future of American Health Insurance” by Kev Coleman

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In this episode of the ShapeShifters Podcast, David welcomes Jeanne Moore. Jeanne is a registered nurse who is now working in the health insurance industry, and providing consulting services. She is the author of Nurses Take Back Health Care One Employer At A Time.

Jeanne talks about the shift in the role of nurses in society today and how this relates to the quality of healthcare as well as the flaws in the business framework inherent in hospital settings. She shares her insights regarding disease management, data analysis and problems with the healthcare industry as a business. David and Jeanne discuss how to empower nurses and the current need to augment their roles in the healthcare system.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 2:05 Nurses in other fields
• 4:46 The quality of healthcare
• 7:54 The “dark side” of healthcare
• 10:36 How data analytics matter
• 16:05 Healthcare as a business
• 20:15 Getting nurses to understand the whole picture

Quotes:

“I think that nurses are finding their voices in a variety of ways across the country and across the healthcare system as a whole.”

“Most generally when we’re speaking about the quality of care in the insurance realm, it’s not about the quality of care that’s being received in the hospitals. It’s really focused around chronic conditions and ‘are we following the guidelines that are set by all the entities that are out in the world?’”

“There’s a lot of different things — reasons that your data is looking like it is but the assumption that are being made and applied to that aren’t necessarily true.”

“When you have folks in the hospital system, who have never held a patient’s hand, making business decisions, administrative decisions, those decisions are a lot different than if you have those decisions being made by someone who understands the clinical impact.”

“You know, if anybody thinks that the healthcare industry is nothing but a huge business engine, then let’s have a conversation because it is all about the money.”

Resources:

Nurses Take Back Health Care One Employer at a Time by Jeanne Moore [book]

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Host and Chief Transformation Strategist David Saltzman welcomes Emma Passe, COO of E-Powered Benefits and self-described relentless change seeker, to share her thoughts on change and empowered leadership by females and other minorities.

Emma describes how things have changed and continue to change in the landscape of leadership, as well the different elements that make it up like confidence, growth, and success. She also gets down to the details of some important and current topics like reference-based pricing (RBP), High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP), and Health Savings Accounts (HSA).

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 01:50 Defining “relentless change seeker” and the rise of empowered leadership
• 08:17 How to say “I don’t know”
• 11:15 Plain leadership and servant leadership
• 15:13 Case analysis: RBP and HSA’s
• 19:58 Quality healthcare for employees and lowering costs for employers

Quotes:

“I believe in my heart that there’s a direct correlation to good customer service training and great customer service. In the companies that we complain about, I would say 99% of them do not have some sort of customer service training in place for new employees and ongoing training for all employees.”

“You will never exceed anybody’s expectations with ‘as soon as possible’ because your ‘as soon as possible’ is different from my ‘as soon as possible.’ So the phrase just needs to be ‘and I will return your call.’ That’s the only statement you only need.”

“Go ahead and call your own office and ask for something simple. And if you do have a recognizable voice, some of us have an accent or a voice that is so recognizable, have somebody else do it for you. Stand by the speaker phone, put it on speaker, listen to it, get on an extension. There are nine ways to Sunday that you can listen and call and find out how your customers are handled.”

“For first impressions, the great experience, it absolutely starts at the top and at the beginning.”

“There’s a huge gap between where people are and where people want to be. And that’s what Telephone Doctor and Nancy try to fix, is to give you information, give you ammunition, I should say, to fill the gap between where you are and where you need to be. And every company needs that.”

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Today’s episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast welcomes The Telephone Doctor Nancy Friedman on the show to share her thoughts on customer service, how it goes wrong, and the best ways to fix it.

Nancy discusses common phrases customers hear which simply do not encourage good business, and moves on to the more modern modes of communication like email and chat. She also highlights quick solutions for companies to boost their customer service relations–all in just one call.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 02:34 Three words that started The Telephone Doctor: Your People Stink
• 05:24 Five phrases customers don’t want to hear on the telephone
• 08:29 How to diagnose your own poor customer service
• 13:23 Top frustrations with email
• 20:08 Quick tips: How to make your customer service great

Quotes:

“I believe in my heart that there’s a direct correlation to good customer service training and great customer service. In the companies that we complain about, I would say 99% of them do not have some sort of customer service training in place for new employees and ongoing training for all employees.”

“You will never exceed anybody’s expectations with ‘as soon as possible’ because your ‘as soon as possible’ is different from my ‘as soon as possible.’ So the phrase just needs to be ‘and I will return your call.’ That’s the only statement you only need.”

“Go ahead and call your own office and ask for something simple. And if you do have a recognizable voice, some of us have an accent or a voice that is so recognizable, have somebody else do it for you. Stand by the speaker phone, put it on speaker, listen to it, get on an extension. There are nine ways to Sunday that you can listen and call and find out how your customers are handled.”

“For first impressions, the great experience, it absolutely starts at the top and at the beginning.”

“There’s a huge gap between where people are and where people want to be. And that’s what Telephone Doctor and Nancy try to fix, is to give you information, give you ammunition, I should say, to fill the gap between where you are and where you need to be. And every company needs that.”

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Today’s episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast explores innovative ways of sourcing the best talents for agencies. Host David Saltzman features Susan Rider, Vice President of Employee Benefits and Human Capital Strategies at Gregory & Appel Insurance, and they discuss disabilities, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Susan begins by sharing her own learning difficulties and how this shaped her interest in bringing in otherwise overlooked opportunities for her agency. She also goes more in depth in the specific ways Gregory & Appel taps talent, both from existing and prospective employees.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 02:16 Susan’s learning disability and thoughts on diversity and inclusion
• 06:44 Opportunities: Investing in employees with learning disabilities
• 10:39 Uncovering hidden talent and spearheading innovation
• 13:34 Inclusion in the company mission vision and volunteerism
• 17:47 Where to find great untapped talent

Quotes:

“We all learn differently, we all have great ideas, and when we come to the table with a diverse perspective, that helps keep things fresh and innovative for our clients.”

“In regards to training and scaling up and those types of things, it might take a little bit longer than a traditional employee but when you show them that you care and you’re empathetic for their needs, I think that translates to an engaged employee. And they stay with your organization more because you’ve invested time, money, and training in them.”

“I think a lot of people especially in this tight job market need to start thinking a bit more outside the box on how they can bring talents, how they can bring intellectual conversation, and how they can bring innovation to their agency.”

“Our human resource manager is our champion and so she’s done a lot of training with our management team so that we sort of remove our biases, if you will, and interview differently because things that are important to a traditional employee might not be as important to someone who has a different need or want.”

“Other people, based on their family situation or whatever, maybe they need an alternative work schedule so we try to look and see how we can adapt the role to fit what their needs are and we just have that open upfront dialogue with them.”

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Today’s episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast by David Saltzman is called “Healthcare’s New Front Door” and focuses on the expanding space of telemedicine. David features Kelly Bliss, Chief Client Officer at Teladoc Health, and explores what telemedicine is all about and how it breaks barriers to serve millions upon millions of people in need.

Kelly begins by telling the story of her mother’s condition and eases into an in-depth discussion on areas where telemedicine is breaking ground, specifically in areas of mental and behavioral health, healthcare literacy, and accessible costing.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 01:56 Kelly’s background and introduction to telemedicine
• 05:21 Cast study: Kelly’s mother and the benefits of telemedicine
• 08:19 Fighting the stigma: Services for behavioral and mental health
• 14:12 Employers and employees: Healthcare literacy
• 16:17 Costs and quality

Quotes:

“About 65 million adult Americans live in primary care deserts, so for millions of under-served populations, access to virtual care is really their only option in the moment of need.”

“Virtual care is really sort of what we call the great equalizer, meaning it’s exciting, it’s now understood by consumers, employers, health plans, and governments around the world.”

“US Department of Health and Human Services says 96 million Americans live in areas where there’s a shortage of mental health providers.”

“We see these cases where the traditional healthcare system and behavioral health tools just aren’t accessing patients where they need to be and stigma is certainly one of many barriers.”

“Oliver Wyman actually just put out a survey yesterday that published the 2030 Predictions Report that stated that, overwhelmingly, leaders in healthcare thought that innovation by tech companies focused on value and consumer experience. We’re going to spark the shift.”

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