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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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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's healthcare

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podcast, and we are live at the 2024

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pair issues round table.

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I'm joined now by Abdu Ba, who is

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the senior vice president medical management and chief

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health equity officer at EmblemHealth.

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Abdu, thanks for being here. Would love to

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start off by having you introduce yourself and

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tell us a little bit more about your

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role.

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Thank you. Thank first of all, thank you

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for having me. So as you mentioned, my

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name is Abduba.

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I lead our population health and medical management

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area at EmblemHealth.

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EmblemHealth is a New York based health plan

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that serves roughly about 3,000,000 lives, And we

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have members in the commercial Medicare and Medicaid

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space

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and mostly located in the tri state metro

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New York area.

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Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time

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today. And let's start off talking about

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goals and growth for the rest of the

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year. So from improving member experience and expanding

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value based care to controlling costs,

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pay executives have ambitious growth goals for the

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rest of the year and as we look

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into the year ahead. So right now, what

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is your top priority, and how are you

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planning to get there?

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I think that's a great question. I think

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number 1, it's about controlling and managing ongoing

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health care costs.

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As you think about health care costs coming

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out of COVID, we're still seeing an increase

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in cost. In in addition to it, member

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experience and making sure that the members that

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we do have have a excellent experience starting

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with customer service, but also making sure that

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they're getting the services and the care that

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they need to be able to manage their

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health care needs.

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Absolutely. And at an industry level,

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how would you describe the biggest barriers to

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effectively serving and engaging members? And what opportunities

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do you see for large scale improvements, and

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how are you applying that to your current

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strategies?

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Yeah. I think there's a 2 tier answer.

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I think part 1 is engagement and being

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able to reach members

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the way the members wanna be reached. And

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as we think about different engagement strategies and

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the ability to reach a member is the

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number one barrier today. And as we think

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about advancement in technology, such as using AI

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and other tools, and being able to use

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digital channels will certainly help with engaging a

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broader population.

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And changing pace slightly to growing leaders.

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Keeping pace in today's dynamic health care landscape

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is challenging. So what is a piece of

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advice you'd share with peer leaders to grow

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their businesses and keep members top of mind?

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I think it's about building programs and solutions

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that serves your members' need, understanding your population,

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understanding the population, the community that you serve,

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and building programs, initiatives that,

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are tailored to that population need. Right? So

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if you have a a population that's high

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on diabetes,

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then you wanna make sure that you have,

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initiatives and program that are for diabetic members.

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Also, I think it's important

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to be innovative and creative as you think

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about solving

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SDOH and other social barriers, which are the

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invisible barriers today that prevents member from getting

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the care that they need.

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Well, Abdu, thank you for joining me today

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on the Becker's healthcare podcast and sharing these

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insights. Again, we are live at the 2024

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payer issues roundtable.

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Thank you.