This is where health insurance leadership comes together.
Becker's fourth annual spring payer issues roundtable brings
together over 400 payer and health plan executives
and more than 100 speakers to Chicago April.
This year's event includes keynote conversations with the
industry's top leaders and former president George W.
Bush. For the full agenda and event details,
visit beckershospitalreview.com
and click on the events tab in the
upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
here in Chicago.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Becker's Health Care
Podcast. I'm Scott King. Thrilled today to be
joined by Brett Bingham, chief network development officer,
Banner Plans and Networks. Brett, how are you
doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.
Thanks for having me. It's a great day.
Certainly is. In some parts of the world,
we were talking weather earlier. Chicago's suffering. But
despite all that, we, you know, we have
a lot of big topics
and news to get to, with health plans
and with health care in general. But before
we do that, I was wondering if you
could please just tell us a little bit
about your background and your career journey.
Sure. I'd be happy to. So I've been
with Banner for about five years now, and
I get to lead our provider networks.
Really enjoy the role with Banner. As an
integrated delivery system that's not for profit, it's
very focused on connecting the right pieces of
health care,
and it's fun to align with such a
great organization.
Before this, I got to spend some time
with a rural,
sole provider
health system down in Yuma, so about 420
beds there on Vida Health. And then did
some work with UNC Health, a small APACO,
the Durham kind of VA Medical Center and
some other things before that. So it's it's
been a fun ride.
Appreciate sharing that background info. Definitely interesting,
career you've had so far and a great
perspective on things.
How are your relationships with providers
changing
as both sides face cost pressures and workforce
shortages?
You know, this is really interesting. I think
in the industry, we're seeing a lot,
in the media of potential
adversarial
situations and that's something to be very cautious
of.
Our relationships
with providers are really more moving more into
a shared interests and aligned incentives aspect.
We think that trust is something that's really
important right now as we're all facing these
pressures
and building that trust with providers is certainly
critical.
One of the challenges that we're kind of
seeing is
the dynamic of shifting away from more fee
for service rate fights
to more,
focus around solving access staffing,
and other aspects that are a big challenge
for providers.
So, Brett, do you think kind of, like,
across the board, certainly now with, you know,
a lot of the regulatory
pressures and and some you just touched on,
are both sides just kind of maybe a
little more so coming to the table and
willing to collaborate because they both know, look,
you're up against x y z. I'm up
against x y z. Let's try to get
something done.
Yeah. I I think you're exactly right. Many
providers and payers are coming together in more
creative and innovative ways, and I applaud that.
We're also seeing some providers
or payers taking a different approach, which is
a bit tougher because
those that are focused on the collaboration are
those that are really gonna win in the
long run.
Absolutely.
Brett, where do you see the biggest gap
today between payer strategy and operational execution?
You know, this is a really good question.
I think that strategy is very much so
outpacing the infrastructure across the industry.
Some organizations that are more vertically integrated are
definitely farther along.
But I think one of the pieces here
is everybody has some kind of value based
care strategy,
but very few have the data, the contract
terms, or the operation set up in a
way that they can actually achieve things.
What's one investment or initiative you believe will
most reshape how health plans operate?
I mean, everybody's hitting AI pretty hard.
I think
health plans that really invest on a different
payment methodology
are those that are going to win.
The biggest challenge is that with value based
care and actually incentivizing for the outcomes that
we need,
the data latency is just so long. Reports
and and shared savings can be two years
away.
Getting leading indicator payments on annual wellness visits,
care gap closures, fully addressing and and
not just clicking the button, but actually treating
patients for the conditions they have.
Yeah. Absolutely.
If you let me ask you. If you
could change one
regulatory or industry practice tomorrow, so, you know,
very soon,
to improve affordability and access,
what would it be and why?
That's that's a really good question. I think
there's a lot of struggle around checking the
box,
with some of the different pieces that are
out there.
As we think about how we engage the
consumer more, I think that is a missing
piece.
We know that incentives and and things like
that to the actual,
patient or member,
there's a real delicate line to be walked
there. But, ultimately,
if we can engage individuals more meaningfully in
their health, I think that they'd find better
outcomes.
And, Brett, do you do that by embracing,
you know, a lot of the things that
emerging tech
have given to to health plans? Because they
like like you said, they the consumers expect
things easier. They expect to be met. Do
do you do that through emerging tech?
Yes. I think that there's there's all sorts
of different pieces around that. Banner has invested
very heavily in how we're working with our
consumers,
especially in the realms of patient experience, member
experience,
and just making health care easier so life
can be better. The big challenge with all
this is moving large organizations forward can take
time and effort, but Banner's certainly been very
committed to that cause.
That's great to hear. What issue is putting
the most pressure on health plan margins right
now,
and
how will you respond differently, this year in
in 2026
to that?
You know, that's that's a really good question.
I think
we've seen a lot of increases in expenses
across the board. And so I think there's
just multiple pieces coming together at the same
time.
And organizations that can really focus on their
agility
and rely on the time that it just
kind of living out their investments that they've
made and making sure they have the time
to kind of see those through is really
important.
I think we've seen a number of players
in the industry shift strategies too quickly.
They'll be partway through an endeavor and then
then they maybe shift before they finish it.
Banner has been really true to its course,
and that's been, you know,
a great thing because it allows us to
remain committed on the pieces that we're well
grounded in
without floundering
when we see a hiccup of of challenge.
What are some investments, Brett, that you think
either either banner or all payers just have
to kinda be a little patient with in
terms of seeing them through and and seeing
them pay off?
Yeah. That's that's another good question.
A big piece on that one is more
deeply integrating care delivery capabilities.
So as we think about the historical payer
landscape,
it's very contractually
based.
I think the organization that focus on focuses
I think the organizations that focus more on,
the actual integration of pieces and getting the
data to connect
at point of care and then
allowing for flexibilities,
for different payers to kind of work with
advanced models, c I n, ACOs,
MSOs,
and just other type of engagement vehicles with
primary care is really important.
And the last thing I want to ask
you, Brett, you know, I I think leadership
is so important now in health care, you
know, probably more than ever before with everything
going on. Just wanted to ask,
how you evolved as a leader?
Yeah. That's that's another good thought. I think
the biggest thing is transparency and collaboration.
It's a big industry, but at the same
time, it's really small. And
if if you burn your relationships,
for some kind of a quick win,
those those never recover. And so as we
think about working with with teams, no matter
how big or small they are,
just being transparent and straightforward with the challenges
that we all face,
and then being willing to kind of hear
the voices of lots of different individuals
to navigate through things in the right way.
We're all doing the best that we can.
It's a challenging time. But as we continue
to kind of work together and focus on
our greatest asset, our people, then we're gonna
be able to get through it.
Brett, thanks so much for joining us on
the podcast. It was a great conversation and
really looking forward to having you speak at
the Spring Payer Issues roundtable. Hey. Thank you.
I've definitely enjoyed it.