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This is Laura Diet with the Becker Health

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care podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined

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by Joanne and Mi, Coo of Banner.

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Joanne is a pleasure to have you on

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the podcast today.

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Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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Now I'm really looking forward to our discussion

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and and learning more about what Banner Ae

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is doing currently and how you're thinking about

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the future. Before we dive in, can you

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tell me a little bit more about yourself

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in your background?

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Sure.

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As you mentioned, I'm by operating officer for

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Banner Ae and,

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Banner Ae,

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for those who aren't familiar. It is a

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health plan that is a joint venture.

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A 50 50 joint venture between Ae and

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Banner Health.

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I have extensive background in the health insurance

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industry

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I actually worked

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for, couple decades for Ae

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in my earlier career,

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and

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really,

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you know, saw a lot of of, difficulties

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and and changes in the health health care

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and health

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insurance industry. And when I had this opportunity

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to join Banner Ae back about 6 and

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a half years ago,

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the the thing that really appealed to me

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and why I joined the company

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is, the goal of transforming health care and

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and simplifying and making things easier and better

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for,

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members and patients. And

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so that's what I've really been primarily spending

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the last 6 and a half years working

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on at Banner ae and I think it's

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been very exciting,

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more so than just traditional health insurance.

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And

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and really working on creating some some

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differentiation.

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That's great to hear. You know, really exciting

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to think about possibilities in the future of

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health care and the really interesting and cool

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things that you've been able to do at

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banner.

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Now from your perspective, what are some of

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the big trends and headwind that you're following

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right now?

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There's there's a lot on on both. Obviously,

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we're following the same trends everyone else is

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1 thing that I think we see a

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little closer because of our relationship with the,

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our health system owner

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is

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the increase that health systems

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are investing in

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operational

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transformation is what I'll call it.

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In in a way, we haven't seen prioritized

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before. So, you know, typically, those investments are

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around care delivery and and, the actual patient

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care clinically.

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We're seeing a lot more investments not not

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just from our parent company, but across the

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board

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in technology,

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to improve that patient and member experience,

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with all of their interactions with the health

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system.

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And I think that's a really positive thing,

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and I'm excited to see what that will

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do with

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you know, there's Ai as part of that.

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Right? A lot of opportunities with Ai, another

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trend.

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But

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you know,

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integrating the Emr interactions with other data sources

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to really

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understand

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what the patient is looking for and to

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really have the ability

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to direct and help that patient with the

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question. So I'm I'm excited about where that

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trend is going and I'm excited that there's

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such AAA

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focus on on that

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transformation in a health systems

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across the board.

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So that would be 1, I think in

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an exciting trend. I mentioned Ai.

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Obviously, that's exciting across all areas.

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Of care and beyond

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to see where that's gonna go and how

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that's gonna improve

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things for

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patients and and and

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simplify

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the administrative burden

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that that everyone has in the health system.

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So those are kind of some

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trends, I think, that are exciting.

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Headwind,

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we always have plenty of those, Of course,

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I think 1 that's that's definitely a trend.

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That as a health

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insurer is the

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adoption and expansion of Gl ones

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for weight loss.

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And you know,

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really,

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everyone's trying to get their arms around the

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best way to handle this for the,

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appropriate

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outcomes for members with keeping costs so that

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premiums don't go up as more utilization of

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these drugs happen. So

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that's something that we're very focused on and

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trying to understand as much as we can

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with our clinical partners as well as the

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health

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insurer side.

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And then I think another headwind. So we

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we're I think 3 years

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into

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participating in the federal,

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marketplace

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for individuals.

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And

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you know, we've seen

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incredible growth as the industry has in that

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membership,

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and there are some enhanced federal subsidies

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for that individual marketplace for,

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participants and and individuals and families

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that are set to expire in 20 25.

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So, you know, that's something that could create

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some affordability issues for some individuals, and,

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you know, it's something that we're very focused

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on really trying keep things as affordable as

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possible.

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I I could go on and on on

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headwind, but, I think those are some of

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the key ones we're focused on.

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That's fascinating to here. And definitely, you know,

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a lot to consider and think about when

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you're looking at

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some of the federal updates and policy updates,

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then as well,

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just really, you know,

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cool

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to note some of the things that you

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had mentioned on the patient experience side as

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well in corporate technology and making investments

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to improve that. From your perspective, when you

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look at,

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you know, some of the ways that patients

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are

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interacting with health care today. Are there any,

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I guess,

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things you've noticed or or trends that have

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been different from in the past on on

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how patients are

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experiencing health care or or where they really,

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want their experience to be better.

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Yes. I think, you know, just like in

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every other industry, they're looking for transparency.

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You know, traditionally in health care, you'd go

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to the doctor, you'd go to a facility,

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and they would tell you this is what

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we're doing in and,

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you'll find out later what it's gonna cost.

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Just again, like, all industries where we can

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go online and you can book a flight

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or you a hotel and, you know exactly

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what's nothing's is gonna cost. You go to,

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online retailers.

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Patients are wanting, more trans transparency around costs

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and around auctions.

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And

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that's something that we're very focused on at

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Banner Ae and working with banner health.

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On making that available for members creating

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concierge

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assistance for our members that goes beyond

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call us when you have a question, but

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to really help walk them through

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clinical

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complexities that they may be dealing with and

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helping them under stand questions to ask their

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their doctor about conditions and things like that.

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So III do think that that transparency is

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something that will continue

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to be

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a need

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and an expectation in this,

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the health care industry like it has become

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others.

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What's great to hear, You know, and and

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really appreciate those those additional insights. Now I'm

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wondering when you do look into the future,

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how are you thinking about growth in development

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at Banner ae.

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So at Banner Ae,

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the products that we

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deliver are health care only,

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medical only.

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And,

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commercial, so employer based plans as well as

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individuals. So we're not into Medicaid. We're not

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in

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Medicare

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at this point. So we really are focused

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on those

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2 the commercial employer

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plans as well as individual.

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And

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what what we're thinking about and especially

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visible in the individual marketplace

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is ways to improve

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member experience and make things easier

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for members to interact with us and with

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their healthcare care system when they need to

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use their benefits.

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So,

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those are the things that we really

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for investing in at this point is improving

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how members view us and view the health

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system.

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And we think that we can grow

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by becoming that trusted health care partner

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that's there to help them through whatever journey.

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They're going through. Whether it's a a chronic,

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an acute or a just, you know, I

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wanna live healthier kind of situation.

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That's great to hear it. And definitely, you

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know, I'm just fascinating to have all of

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these different opportunities now to

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explore ways that, you know, you can treat

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the whole person and and really integrate all

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the care into 1 space that seems like

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it would be ideal in

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fascinating

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way that we're seeing healthcare care just continue

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to grow and improve.

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Before we wrap up here, I'm wondering, can

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you tell me about a project or initiative

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from the last year that really yielded the

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best results.

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The work Sure. So we we've had a

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few initiatives and and I'll dress amber experience

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standpoint because as I mentioned that is where

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we're really focused on making us the preferred

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carrier for members.

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We've made changes to our prior auth

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outreach

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that has a significantly

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decreased denial rates

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and appeal rates for our members, so we're

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really happy about how that's worked out.

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We have

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created

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for our members

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an enhanced onboarding

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approach where new members that come on to

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our plan instead of waiting for them and

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giving them permission saying call us if you

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have any questions.

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We're actually reaching out to new subscribers,

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a live person by telephone

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to ask them if we can help them

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with the 3 things that our new members

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sometimes,

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get hung up on and that would be,

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you know, is my provider in their network.

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And if they're not, not knowing that until

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you go is a big deal. So Second

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1 is around, pharmaceuticals.

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And what... How their prescriptions are covered. And

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then the third 1 any kind of transition

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of care if they're in the middle of

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some complex treatment.

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So we have seen

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incredible responses

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from members that, you know, wow. I can't

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believe somebody actually called me to help me

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with this. And, it also just, you know,

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starts things off on the right foot with

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new members.

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So, those are a couple things that we've

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done in the last year that have provided

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some very positive results for us.

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That's fantastic to hear. And and really, some

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great examples. Thank you Joanne so much for

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sharing that with us and and being here

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on the podcast today. I really appreciate your

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perspective, and I look forward to connecting for

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you again soon.

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Thank you, Laura. I appreciate it.