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This is Laura Diet with the Becker Health

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care podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be joined by a

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doctor Tim Ama, Chief Medical Officer at Uc

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care. Doctor Ama, it's a pleasure to have

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you on the podcast today.

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Thank you for having me.

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Now I'm really looking forward to our discussion

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and knowing, you know, what, your experience in

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the medical field as well is now being

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with you care. Some of the biggest things

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that you're looking at, how you're thinking about

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growth and development in the health care space

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and then, you know, what's the store for

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the future. So it'll be great to get

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your perspective on those things. But before we

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dive in, can q tossing a little bit

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more about yourself and your background

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or Yes. Absolutely.

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I am an executive Vice President and she's

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Medical Officer at Uc care,

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located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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I lead

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the areas that include medical director or office,

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clinical services, mental health, substance use disorder services,

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pharmacy

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population health,

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quality management, health equity and our long term

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services and support areas.

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I am a practicing physician, a critical care

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neurologist by training,

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and I have been at You care for

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almost sears now.

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Of fascinating. You know, all of those areas

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are so important, especially right now is a

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healthcare care system is really transforming me into

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a space where,

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we're able to recognize

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mental health and and behavioral health care and

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and bring that into the whole person care,

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and then to bridging the gaps in terms

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of disparities in health care in ideally achieving

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more health equity. So I'm excited to hear

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your perspective. What are some of the big

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trends that you're watching right now as well

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as the headwind

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top of mind for you?

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Yes, we are following a few trends and

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headwind that will potentially have significant impacts on

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how we take care of our members.

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To start off,

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we're looking at the increased medical

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utilization, particularly in the Medicare Advantage

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population.

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It is really not clear if it's pent

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up demand, you know, from the pandemic area

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versus a new trend or a new normal.

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As you know, the population

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is aging and growth in the Medicare eligible

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people

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could certainly be a factor

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certain medical diagnoses

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and subsequent

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complications become more common as new age. And

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then there is a need for specialized services,

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that becomes greater as we age.

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In addition to that, emerging concerns, including social

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isolation and its impact on mental health particularly

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in the post pandemic area, is significant for

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seniors.

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So increasing medical costs in this

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population would likely need to lead to higher

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premiums and

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potentially reduced benefit so that's really important to

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us, and we are watching that trend and

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headwind.

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Another 1 is advancement

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in

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therapeutics and pharmaceuticals

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are changing the lives of many, and it

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is really

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a wonderful trend to witness.

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It's not just Gl ones. There are a

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number of life altering

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medications such as biologic

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and anti inflammatory drug. And gene therapies

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that are more expensive than

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we've ever seen in the past. And we

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may have to find a different way of

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paying for them. So we're again following that

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trend.

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Another 1 is there is an ever increasing

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need for mental health services that is really

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unmatched by the current capacity.

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There's also a significant disparity

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in mental health services

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we have to take an all hands on

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deck approach.

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And

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Uc care, for example, the Uk foundation granted,

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more than 500000 dollars to 11 mental halt

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and substance use disorder initiatives

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that address a crisis in act us an

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equity for underserved

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population. And

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you know, even though we are all doing

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everything we can, this particular trend is a

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significant headwind in the way that we take

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care of our members.

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And along that same line, we are following

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closely the land gate to

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access to help services in general. For example,

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access to some services in your rural areas

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is challenging with the closure of Vape

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critical assets hospitals and other health centers at

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alarming rate.

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We're paying attention to the recent announcements of

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Dbs walgreens Walmart rite aid,

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exiting primary care models sits Really not certain

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yet, whether that will improve

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The

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fragmentation of healthcare delivery,

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particularly with primary care that is not integrated

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into the larger ecosystem that's a big health

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plan for a big health system.

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And another trend is increased

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competition and

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consolidation between the health systems and between health

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plans.

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So there's

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consolidation in both areas. And so that trend

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is interesting to watch

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and monitor.

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And and finally, because I am a practicing

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physician,

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this 1 is particularly important to me.

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Shortage of physicians and other healthcare professionals, particularly

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in rural Areas is a definite headwind.

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Demand and supply are simply mismatched,

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healthcare care is a tough and

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know, challenging

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industry to have a career in,

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especially right now. And there continues to be

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a high rate of, burnout and

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particularly in the direct patient facing

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professions within healthcare,

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recruitment

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burnout and more importantly,

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retention

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have proven difficult for some health systems.

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And so those are those are the things

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that we are watching and

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and monitoring very closely.

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That makes a lot of sense. You know,

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and I I know all of these issues

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are...

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Across the board, something that executives are thinking

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about, both on the health plan as well

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as a health system side as you said.

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And, you know, from your perspective, when you

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look out of the landscape and see

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some of those critical access hospital closures

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and or,

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you know, other areas where

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access is disappearing in spaces and then 2

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looking at

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consolidation in in costing cr for a hospitals

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and health systems.

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How does that inform the conversations that you're

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having on the health plan level,

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to really make sure that, you know, you're

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you're able to

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provide access to care work with

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patients think, you know,

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innovative, I guess it in terms of how

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you can, really, you know, fill some of

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those gaps and then,

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work with the hospitals and health systems to

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to to make sure

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that you're able to to provide care, I

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guess, in the communities were as possible.

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Yeah. We we have...

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Multiple

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avenues that we approach that particular issue, But

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the more important 1 that I'd like to

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mention is,

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our approach to

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partnership

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with our provider

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systems.

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We

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we approach it from a perspective of

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partnering with our provider systems in the way

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that is reached will

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beneficial. And more importantly put the members

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that we care about at the center.

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I think the future would probably bring

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some innovative approaches such as

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how could we put our resources together so

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that we can eliminate

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services, for example,

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care management is a program that is often

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duplicated on both the payer side and the

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health system side services or some clinical programs

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such as read admission prevention measures that are

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implemented on both the payer side and the

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health system inside. So

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what does it take for us to come

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together and partner in a way that is

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mutually

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beneficial putting the member in the patients? At

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the center so that we eliminate

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services and

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gain some savings that way, but also at

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partners strongly.

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Absolutely. You know, I I think that's so

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helpful to know and understand and think about

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those types of partnerships and,

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innovative. Approaches to

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addressing the care and access to care issues.

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Now from your perspective, in looking ahead, how

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are you thinking about growth for the future?

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Yeah.

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You care we are growth oriented

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organization and I am thrilled about that.

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We want to expand geographically to be able

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to do what we want to do for

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our members at a scale.

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Scalability and being able to spread our administrative

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costs, so we can deliver valuable product

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to our members is critical at this time.

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But we also think of growth as much

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more than just geographic expansion. Like I said,

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finding

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innovative ways of partnering with our provider systems

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is a way of growth. We want to

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grow out approach, and

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sophistication to value based agreements

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is another 1. We also want to grow

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in our ability to get the moat out

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of what everyone is talking about nowadays

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emerging technologies, such as Ai.

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But we want to do it in a

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way that is responsible and equitable. We want

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to, you know, grow our capabilities

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in Ai robotic process

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automation and machine