Evernorth brings the power of wonder and relentless
innovation to create world class pharmacy care and
benefit solutions. Our connected health services make the
treatment, prediction, and prevention of health care's most
complex conditions
easier and more accessible as we drive organizations
and people forward. Ever North Home Based Care
provides value based care that helps patients with
multiple chronic conditions
and social determinant of health barriers get the
care they need and the personalized experience they
deserve. We serve patients who struggle to navigate
the health care system by bringing high quality
primary
and preventative care services to the home. By
providing clinical care and support services that provide
whole person care, we improve health equity, access,
and outcomes for the populations we serve.
Hello, everyone, and thank you for tuning in
to the Becker's Health Care podcast. Thrilled today
to be joined by Brendan Kerrigan, senior director
of business development at Evernorth Health Services Home
Based Care. Brandon, thank you so much for
joining us today. Thank you.
Brandon, can you please share a little bit
about yourself and your background with the audience?
Sure. I'd be happy to. Thanks.
So I lead business development for Evernorth Home
Based Care.
I've been in the, health care environment for
a good 30 plus years. And I've been
in the payer space as well as the
payments and digital therapeutic space.
What drew me to Evernorth and for the
services that we provide is really around the
why.
And the why for me and for us
is really focusing on those members and those
patients that,
are challenged with our current healthcare delivery system
and how we can help improve their care
journey by bringing care into the home.
So from improving member experience to controlling costs,
payer executives have ambitious goals for 2024 and
beyond. Can you please tell us a little
bit more about how Evernorth's HBC model can
address these goals?
Sure. I think there's really three things I'd
like to focus on,
as we think about the the opportunities for
health plans
as they address their their,
strategic objectives for 2025 and beyond. And the
first is the shift in demographics.
And I think we can all see this
in the data that plays out that we've
got an aging population. And along with that
comes, an increased prevalence in chronic conditions.
So that's the first. The second one,
and the data supports and bears this out
is that there's a growing,
preference for care to be delivered in the
home. I think we can all appreciate,
loved ones who,
would really prefer to have care delivered in
the home.
We know that it optimizes,
clinical outcomes,
for the members for whom we serve. And
I think the third is really around the
the intersection of of quality and cost
in that we know that by providing,
care in the home,
to the extent that it is going to
be,
clinically,
validated,
we know that there will be, improvements in
clinical outcomes and member satisfactions and cost savings.
So how does technology play a role in
developing your growth strategies?
So for us, we take a little bit
of a different view on technology.
We invest in a couple of different areas.
The primary area that we invest in on
technology is how do we help support our
clinical care team that is going into the
home
so that their engagement with the member is
really focused on the member and less so
on any administrative
tasks.
So we really wanna make sure that they
have the best tools and resources available to
them as clinicians going into the home so
that they can focus first and foremost on
the needs of the member.
The second area that we we do focus
on is,
to provide
technology to our members and patients
that can help them on their care journey.
However, it is not, something that is always
going to be adapted, especially if we're dealing
with
a a age member of the population
who may not be as technologically savvy in
terms of the services that we would provide.
In closing on that statement, I would say
that we we do use and will use
virtual services,
when the patient or member is comfortable with
that to help advance the care journey.
So 2025 is right around the corner.
What are some of the top areas of
focus for Evernorth home based care you head
into the new year?
So I think one of the one of
the primary things that we're focused on with
our health plan partners
is how do we help them on their
strategic journey to meet the needs of their
members around health equity and social determinants of
health? I know this is a topic that,
has been getting a lot of, press lately
and
our view is that we think we can
serve a critical role in doing that. As
our clinicians go into the home,
we're able
to be what I call the eyes, ears,
and hands on in the home to understand
what are the SDOH factors that that member
might be faced with. That's something that just
simply can't be accomplished through a
a telephone or other type of virtual interaction.
However, with our clinicians in the home, we're
able to look at those things that will
impact,
the journey around SDOH and health equity. And
those examples would be,
is there appropriate transportation? Are we dealing with
any literacy issues? Do we have housing issues?
Do we have activities of daily living issues?
And so what are the things that we
first and foremost must address before we can,
begin helping that member on their care journey?
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Brandon, for
joining us today on the show. But before
I let you go, do you have any
final thoughts you'd like to leave with our
listeners? Sure. You know, one last thought I'd
like to leave, especially as we partner with
health plans, is it's really about alignment of
the services that we can bring forth
and integrating those with the existing programs that
our health plan partners might have in place.
We're not,
here to replace what's working well. We're here
to help supplement,
what is already in place and to bring
that, clinical care team into the home to
help the members on their care journey.
Awesome. Well, Brandon, I wanna thank you again
for joining us today on the show. To
our listeners, thank you for joining us, and
please be sure to check out others back
and please be sure to check out other
Becker's health care podcasts.
Have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank
you.