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Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless

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innovation to create world class pharmacy care and

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benefit solutions. Our connected health services make the

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treatment, prediction, and prevention of health care's most

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complex conditions

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easier and more accessible as we drive organizations

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and people forward. Ever North Home Based Care

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provides value based care that helps patients with

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multiple chronic conditions

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and social determinant of health barriers get the

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care they need and the personalized experience they

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deserve. We serve patients who struggle to navigate

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the health care system by bringing high quality

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primary

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and preventative care services to the home. By

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providing clinical care and support services that provide

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whole person care, we improve health equity, access,

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and outcomes for the populations we serve.

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Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Health Care

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podcast.

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I'm joined today by Eric Cannon, chief pharmacy

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officer and general manager at SelectHealth and Scripius.

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Can you start by telling us a little

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bit about yourself and your organization?

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Yeah. You bet. I'm a pharmacist by background

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and training.

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SelectHealth

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is the payer arm of Intermountain Healthcare,

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and Scripius is the PBM subsidiary

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of SelectHealth.

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So I started my career. I've been in

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this role now since

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1997,

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and we created

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the backbone

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of the PBM, which is Scripius

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today in 1998.

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Okay. So from improving member experience and expanding

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value based care to controlling costs,

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payer executives have ambitious goals for the rest

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of 2024 and the year ahead. In your

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role, what would you say is your top

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priority, and how are you planning to get

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there?

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Yeah. Right now,

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our our top priority is additional growth

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within Scripius. And I think

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a lot of that's driven by how we

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take care of our members. A lot of

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that's driven by how we take care of

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our customers.

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And and what is that experience we want

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people to have, both

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for for the member themselves and and for

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the client or the payer or, you know,

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the employer that may whichever it may be.

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So at an industry level, how would you

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describe the biggest barriers to effectively serving and

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engaging members?

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And, what opportunities do you see for large

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scale improvements, and how are you applying them

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in your current strategies?

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You know, it's a fascinating question. I think,

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you know, there's there's several barriers in in

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what I do

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within the PBM industry. The lack of transparency

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is massive. Mhmm. And I think

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we've we've tried to move in a direction

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where we've always owned all the paper.

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So we contract directly with the manufacturers.

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We can show people exactly what the contract

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is, unlike

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most of our competitors where those contracts are

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actually held

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offshore in,

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you know, Europe. Mhmm. So I think that's

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the first piece is how do we how

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do we bring transparency? How do we allow

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transparency

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to help drive costs down by letting people

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see the full picture? The second is that

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member experience piece. And I think when we

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talk about barriers and member experience, especially when

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we're talking about pharmacy,

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we have to acknowledge that there's a lot

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wrong

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today in the retail pharmacy space. I think

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we see Walgreens and CVS

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taking drastic steps, closing stores, trying to

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improve their financial picture. At the same time,

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that experience that members have at the pharmacy

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is not great. We saw a decrease this

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year in, rating of the drug plan. And

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as we really drilled into that, it wasn't

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anything that specifically we were doing.

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It had everything to do with the member's

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experience of the pharmacy, the inability to talk

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to a pharmacist, the need to stand in

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great big lines,

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not feeling

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like like you're important.

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All of those things have had a negative

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impact on members.

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So keeping in mind today's dynamic health care

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landscape,

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what's one piece of advice you'd share with

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other leaders in the industry to help grow

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their businesses while keeping members top of mind?

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It's an interesting question. And then, you know,

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I remember talking to an executive at a

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health plan,

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4 or 5 years ago and

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made made the comment that it was super

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important

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to focus on the member the member experience.

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And he was adamant that you could not

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improve member experience

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and also decrease costs.

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I I think I disagree with that. I

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I if we look at at our business

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today, we've actually, as a result of having

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a negative 20% trend in pharmacy,

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been able to reduce

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what consumers will pay on the individual exchange

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for their insurance this year.

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So with the election last night, I think

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we really saw how important the economy is

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to people. And so every step that we

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take, I think, to reduce what they have

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to pay is a step towards improving the

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experience they have. Mhmm. And and then that

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that experience, you can't you can't have a

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good experience without coordination between

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your your

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health care delivery partners.

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So what role is technology playing in your

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organization's growth strategies? And can you share a

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couple examples?

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Yeah. You bet. I I think,

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a, we're we're in a situation where

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it's harder and harder to to hire frontline

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employees, and and it's even harder to retain

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them once you've hired them. Mhmm. So how

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do we look at AI? How do we

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look at the digital tools that we need

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to have in place that actually

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put us in a situation where we don't

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have to add employees to improve our customer

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service. I I think that's the first one.

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The second one is how do we put

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the power of information in the hands of

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our our members, our consumers?

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And, you know, we're in the process right

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now of rolling out a tool that'll allow

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members to have their physician send their prescription

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to their wallet.

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Once that prescription gets to their wallet,

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they can then look at all the pharmacy

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alternatives that they have, what they'll pay at

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the different pharmacies,

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what those options are. Is it mail?

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Do they have to drive down the street?

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And then they can shop and pick where

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they wanna go for the lowest cost.

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On top of that, then they're able to

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see what coupons or discounts or other things

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may be available in the market, and they

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can stack that on top of that.

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So really, our goal is to say, you

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know, we're moving towards e commerce.

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We see that happening more and more. You

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look at the pharmacies that are growing. It's

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Mark Cuban's Cost Plus. It's Amazon. Mhmm. People

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really want that ecommerce experience. So how do

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we engage that member with the digital tools

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they need to make those decisions?

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So how is technology,

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supporting value based care or member focused initiative

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at your organization? And, you know, what excites

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you most here and why?

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Well,

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we we talked about putting Mhmm. Information in

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front of the member. Right. Right. I I

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think it's it's also crucial that I'm putting

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information in front of the physician. Mhmm. And

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so how do I coordinate with those medical

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directors,

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those medical officers that may

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be over those physicians in their clinics? And

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then how do we make sure that we've

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put the digital tools out there in terms

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of electronic prior authorization, real time benefit check?

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Are we taking the steps to make sure

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that it's easily accessible within the EMR? I

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think we we've had an experience with one

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client who's on Cerner,

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and the physicians won't use it because it

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is so cumbersome to actually find the real

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time benefit check within the system. And so

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how do how do we make sure that

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all of those pieces are in place? It

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has to be easy.

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Well, Eric, thank you so much again for

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joining us today on the show. But before

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I let you go, is there any final

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thoughts you'd like to leave with our listeners?

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Yeah. I think I think the one thing

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that we've really learned is as we've brought

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on clients, as we improve transparency,

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we're seeing improvements in in the cost profile.

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We're seeing improvements in that experience that the

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members actually have. And so, you know, the

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model that we've tried to build upon, which

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is total and complete transparency,

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is really helping to drive and improve the

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financials and and drive and improve that that

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member experience.

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Awesome. Well, thank you again for joining us

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today, Eric, and I hope you have a

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great rest of your day. Hey. Thank you.