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Hello. This is Arianna Portolatin with the Becker's

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Dental and Dia Silverview podcast. I'm thrilled to

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be joined today by Sarah Chavarria, the CEO

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at Delta Dental of California and affiliates. Sarah,

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thank you so much for being here today.

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It's great to speak with you again.

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Oh, hi. Thank you so much for having

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me. Happy to be here.

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Yes. Definitely. To start us off, can you

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introduce yourself to our listeners and tell us

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a little bit about your background?

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Absolutely. So, Sarah Chevarria.

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I run Delta Dental of California and affiliates,

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sit in the San Francisco area most of

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the time.

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And my background has been largely focused on

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helping

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large organizations

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drive transformation.

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So really,

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coming in and helping

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specifically over the last twenty years, health care

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organizations think about how do you get the

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patient at the center

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and really reimagine

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the business that you're in to make sure

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that decisions that you make and products that

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you offer

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are all pointed at improving health. So I've

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been here about seven and a half years

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and, you know, have had a variety of

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roles,

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but really thrilled to have taken the CEO

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seat,

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about January of last year.

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Great. Thank you so much for that intro.

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Really excited to kinda kick off our conversation

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here and dive in a little bit deeper

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into some of the trends and larger issues

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facing the dental industry. So first question here,

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what are some of the biggest issues that

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you're following in the dental industry right now?

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Sure. I think, you know, some of the

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things that we are watching

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start as simple as

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helping to create awareness

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for patients, for people

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about the link between oral health and overall

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health. I would say I personally spend a

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lot of time

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doing conversations like this to just invite people

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to think about their dental visit as more

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than a cleaning and really think about it

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as a part of their preventative care journey.

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We know that twenty seven million Americans

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go to their dentist but may not make

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it to their primary care physician.

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And how do

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we reframe those visits so that they

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are getting that checkup to make sure that

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they are living a healthy life and dentists

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are helping to take a look at that.

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And, you know,

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related to that, one of the other things

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that, we're really always curious about is as

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we look at our provider

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network and all of the wonderful people who've

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chosen the profession of dentist and dental hygienist

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and dental assistant,

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Do we have enough

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folks interested in this career so that we

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can continue to support them in our network

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to deliver that care? And what do they

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look like today? You know, how is the

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space changing?

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And, you know, what do dentists imagine

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their career looking like so that they can

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really dedicate their time

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to taking care of the patient? And then

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maybe underneath all of that is our role

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as a payer, and how do we help

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really partner with providers

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for those patients to think about

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how can we remove some of the administrative

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burden, how can we bring some of the

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technologies to the forefront to really support them

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in maximizing the time they have to deliver

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that care.

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Great. Thank you so much for sharing some

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of your thoughts there.

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Next question here. I'm really curious,

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to figure out, and learn what are you

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most excited about when it comes to the

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dental industry right now and dentistry,

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and also what makes you nervous about, dentistry

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right now?

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I've always said I think over the last

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year, I've said, I don't think there's ever

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been a better time to be in this

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field of oral health. I think we're really

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at this incredible place where

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people are paying attention and they agree that

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in, you know,

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in connecting that oral health to overall health

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is such a big opportunity. So I'm really

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excited about

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the response that we've received in

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doing some things around senior oral health and

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menopause

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oral health. I mean, the,

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audiences

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who have found our surveys or have connected

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to us talking about that have just really

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brought this

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incredible appetite to learn more,

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find new ways to take care of their

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health, and I I think that's really exciting.

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I think we've also made a lot of

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progress in

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finding ways to connect better with our providers.

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We've got a provider advisory council that we

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work with. About 350

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providers sit on that council, and it's really

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important for us because

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that's our feedback loop to really make sure

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that a lot of the things that we're

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thinking about and that we're doing

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matter and are in fact,

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a response to listening to those providers and

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those folks who work in dentist offices. So

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I'm incredibly

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encouraged,

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just by the last few years and and

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the response that we've gotten to this transformation

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that we're on. And I think the things

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that, you know, I continue to think about

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that, I'll just call them opportunities

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are

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we know that the younger generations

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and even, you know, we know that millennials

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take care of their parents,

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health care needs and their financial matters.

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How do they expect to interact

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with companies like ours?

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They really want a digital forward experience. They

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want just in time information.

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And when you think about an industry that's

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been around for seventy years, this is our

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seventieth year,

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the investments,

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you know, that we make in technologies, you

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know, are we doing the right things

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to bring forth,

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the solutions

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that consumers

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expect, that patients expect, and that providers,

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you know, expect

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all at the same time,

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so that we can really keep up with

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facilitating

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that easy and improved access to quality care.

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Great. Thank you so much for that. And

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next question here, which I'm really looking forward

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to to hearing your answer for.

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With you being, you know, CEO of such

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a large organization

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with seventy year, you know, the seventy year

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legacy,

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what will the most effective healthcare leaders need

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to be successful in the next two to

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three years?

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I love that question because I I I'll

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answer it a couple of ways. I think

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one,

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really finding ways to connect with and listen

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to the changing

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needs of the population that we're taking care

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of. You think about,

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an insurance company, for example, and then you

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kind of take that to provider care. In

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this country,

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a lot of that relationship is built around

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the employer

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making that benefit available to the person that

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works for them and their families.

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But we know that not everybody has that

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same

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opportunity for access to care. And I think

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over the next two to three years,

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a lot of us are coming together in

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a lot of forums really thinking about

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how do we improve access to care either

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through

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the foundation work that we do. We have

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partnered with some of our community partners and

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really

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helped shape some coalitions.

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So Howard University,

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Mary Center is a great example in Washington,

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DC.

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We have replicated that model in other states,

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but really targeted at, look, how do we

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help take care of older Americans

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who

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may not have the same access to quality

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care

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that, you know, a 35 year old working,

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you know, patient might have through their employer?

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And

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what do we know about them? And how

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do we start to take those insights around

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what their needs are? What's what's keeping them

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from getting health care, and what's our role

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in providing solutions

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to get that access? I think if we

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can solve that over the next two to

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three years, all coming together

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and thinking through what our insights are and

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what our innovations

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are showing us work,

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I think we will have just an incredible

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story to tell in three, four, five years

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time around the access that Americans have to

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incredible

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preventative health care and their well-being overall.

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Some great ideas there. Thank you so much.

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Definitely interesting to hear a little bit more

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about what's top of mind for you lately,

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the models that you're kind of taking a

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look at for health care delivery and whatnot.

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So, yeah, thank you so much for sharing

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those thoughts. That's all I have for you

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today, Sarah. So thank you so much for

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joining us on our podcast today. It's been

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a pleasure speaking with you, and I look

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forward to connecting with you again in the

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future. Oh, I would really welcome that. Thank

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you so much for having me and letting

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me talk a little bit about what's going

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on.