May 2015

Ep #60: Opportunities with Non-Insurance Benefits – Kyle Hodges

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On this episode of ShiftShapers, we’re exploring an area that a lot of our listeners have asked about –  non-insurance based benefits. Our guest, Kyle Hodges, president of The Broker’s Broker, tired of bringing clients “bad news” and changed his practice to specialize in only these types of corporate benefits.

Kyle shares some of the most common, and not-so-common, non-traditional non-insurance ideas. He also talks about how benefits advisors can start positioning these types of benefits in their practice and how to have that conversation with prospects and clients. Whether you want to go completely non-insurance, as Kyle did, or you want to add these unique opportunities to your current offerings, listen to learn how this strategy can help your clients increase their bottom line by creating savings opportunities.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • How Kyle got into employee benefits industry.
  • Examples of some non-traditional non-insurance ideas.
  • Commission compression as a driver for diversification.
  • How advisors can have the conversation with prospects and clients.
  • Whether this represents an opportunity to create strategic partnerships.

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Ep #59: Using Compliance To Be Column A – With Karen Kirkpatrick

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In today’s environment, employers look to their advisors for more compliance information than ever before. This week’s guest believes that when it comes to the subject of compliance, many employers “have their heads in the sand” – and that presents an opportunity for advisors to differentiate and deliver value.

We recently attended the North Carolina Association of Health Underwriters Symposium and had the opportunity to talk about compliance with Karen Kirkpatrick, owner of On Your Mark Consulting and one of the country’s top experts and thought leaders on the subject of compliance and regulatory issues.

On this episode of ShiftShapers, we talk to Karen about the opportunity this presents for benefits advisors and what they need to be aware of to effectively advise their clients on the multitude of compliance issues and how to understand the critical difference between strategy and implementation. While PPACA has made compliance more difficult, many compliance-related areas precede ACA. Karen also shares her strategies that help advisors, “Be column A”.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Karen’s  journey.
  • Compliance issues before PPACA.
  • Whether the benefits advisors are struggling to advise their clients about compliance issues.
  • How an advisor might approach clients with this new service.
  • The difference between “strategy” and “implementation.”
  • How to “get to column A.”

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Ep #58: Price and Quality Transparency In Action – With Dr. Keith Smith

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Dr. Keith Smith believes that health care pricing in the United States is “a scam” that he was determined to change. Continuing with our 2-part series on transparency, we thought it would be interesting to talk to someone who has a few years’ experience in taking transparency and is putting it into effect.  Keith is the medical director and managing partner of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma.

While working in big hospitals for 7 years, Keith witnessed the quality of medical care sinking and the prices rising. This inspired Keith and his business partner to start a private practice with a difference: they would post their prices and outcomes for everyone to see. To remain true to their pricing, they decided they could not deal with government programs. They are firm in their belief that the only way to move to a real free market is to be completely transparent and provide better care and outcomes than big box hospitals, and to do it for a fraction of the price.

We asked Keith about his journey as well as the challenges he and his partner had to overcome along the way. We also explore the disruptive consequences that his transparency is having across the country, leading patients (who bid for their non-emergent surgical care) to Oklahoma.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Keith’s journey to starting his transparent pricing surgery center.
  • How Keith and his partner began pricing their medical services.
  • Why he believes current pricing is a scam.
  • The farce of hospital’s non-profit status
  • The disruptive effect of posting his prices.
  • What the Free Market Medical Association is.

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Ep #57: Can Transparency Change the U.S. Healthcare System? – With Ralph Weber

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Perhaps more than any other single topic, transparency has the potential to be transformational to every aspect of health and health insurance. With that in mind, we are doing our first ever 2-part episode.

This week, on part one, we’re excited to welcome Ralph Weber, President and CEO of MediBid. Ralph is a passionate subject matter expert and serves as a member of NAHU’s Healthcare Cost and Quality Transparency Workgroup. We explore his belief that the current pricing schemes withhold information by design and why Millennials (in particular) will not accept the status quo on transparency.

Ralph shares his perspective about the effects transparency has on the U.S. healthcare system, the marketplace, and the competitive environment, and why transparency alone is not enough to effect the needed changes. We also learn why some hospitals charge more for the same type of treatment than others as we discuss the differences between static and dynamic pricing.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Ralph’s journey.
  • The difference between “dynamic” and “static” pricing.
  • How Ralph defines transparency.
  • Whether the most expensive care is the best care.
  • What Ralph sees happening in the future around the issue of transparency.

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Ep #56: How to Mitigate Your Clients’ Pharmacy Costs – With Tery Baskin

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We’ve waited a long time to find exactly the right person to talk to about the ever-increasing portion of our overall spend – pharmacy. Our today’s guest, Tery Baskin, founder, president and CEO of RxResults has been in the pharmacy field for over 30 years.  He’s owned 3 community pharmacies, worked in a tertiary care hospital before he got involved in the managed care side of things.

Today, Tery joins us to talk about the driving factors behind pharmacy costs and what we can do to help bring those costs down. We discuss how reference pricing can help guide employees toward optimal choices of medicine that cost less, but essentially do the same thing. Terry also shares how benefits advisors can design better plans and advise their clients, as well as how specialty pharmacies and genetically-engineered drugs are affecting the current market. Don’t miss this value-packed episode!

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Tery’s journey.
  • How “Evidence Based Pharmacy Benefits Risk Management” can help keep your costs down.
  • Whether that affects payers, members or both.
  • What  “Medication Therapy Management” (MTM) is.
  • How specialty meds are affecting the market
  • The intricacies of Genetically-engineered drugs.

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