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What if your health plan could spot that you need help before a missed appointment, medication gap or health issue turns into something much bigger? On this episode of Health Care Reinvented, hosts Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo talk with Judy Arrow, VP of Health Engagement at Highmark, and Matt P*****a, VP of Product Development at enGen, about how Highmark is combining technology, data and human expertise to make navigating health care easier and more personal. The goal sounds simple: meet members where they are, identify signals earlier and remove the friction that can make getting care frustrating. Behind the scenes, however, that requires connecting information that once lived in separate systems and giving care teams a more complete picture of each member. Arrow and P*****a explain how AI is being woven directly into those workflows. It can prepare clinicians before a member call, listen during conversations, provide prompts and summarize interactions afterward. Instead of replacing the human connection, the technology is designed to give clinicians more time to concentrate on it. The conversation also explores Highmark's move from reactive care management toward earlier intervention, guided handoffs between nurses, pharmacists, behavioral health specialists and social workers, and the growing ability to use near-real-time data to determine when a member may need help now rather than next week. It's a look behind the curtain at how health care technology, AI and human expertise can work together to create a more connected experience and potentially keep small problems from becoming big ones.

What if technology could give doctors superpowers and personalized care became the standard for everybody? On this episode, we  are joined by two leaders at Highmark who are just on the. Forefront of healthcare innovation. We're talking to Maria Baker, vice President of Health Strategy and Delivery, and Mari Vandenburgh, vice President of Health Programs and Solutions. Together, they are transforming how healthcare reaches and supports nearly 7 million members. There are so many great reasons to keep on listening. First, discover how holistic care works in action as Maria and Mari explain how their teams collaborate to meet both targeted clinical needs and wide reaching population health goals, creating a seamless journey for patients. Plus you can learn how technology is empowering doctors and patients alike from real-time program referrals to data-driven insights that enhance decision making at the point of care. And also get insider tips to maximize your Highmark experience with advice for members, employers, and employees on accessing the benefits and solutions available through Highmark's innovative living health strategy. Don't miss this fascinating conversation on the future of personalized healthcare and how technology is shaping healthier communities today.

What if getting the care you need didn't involve weeks of waiting, endless paperwork, and frustrating back-and-forth with insurance?  On this episode of Health Care Reinvented, we sit down with Dr. Timothy Law, Chief Medical Officer at Highmark, to explore how their new Gold Carding program is transforming healthcare delivery. By using technology and trust to remove unnecessary barriers, Highmark is helping thousands of doctors get patients the care they need — faster, smarter, and with less stress.  This is more than an efficiency story — it's a patient-first innovation that could become a model for the entire healthcare system.  Three key takeaways you'll hear in this episode:  How Highmark's Gold Carding program eliminates delays by empowering trusted physicians to bypass traditional prior authorizations.  Why this initiative is dramatically cutting administrative costs and reinvesting those savings back into patient care.  The powerful ripple effect on patient experience — from faster cancer treatments to less anxiety waiting for test approvals.   If you care about the future of healthcare access, this is one conversation you don't want to miss. Press play now to learn how Highmark's Gold Carding program is redefining speed to care — and why it's setting a new national standard.

What if understanding your healthcare costs was as simple and predictable? Rising medical costs and confusing benefit designs leave both employers and employees frustrated. In this episode of Health Care Reinvented, Highmark leaders Jonathan Majernik and Taylor Mackay reveal how their new CopayGo plan aims to change that by offering transparent, predictable costs and a seamless digital experience for members nationwide. Learn how CopayGo eliminates deductibles and co-insurance to create a straightforward copay-only plan. See how a national provider network with tiered specialties can lower costs while improving quality. Discover how Highmark's enhanced digital tools empower members to confidently shop for and manage their care. Press play now to hear how CopayGo is redefining healthcare access, affordability, and transparency for both employers and members.

In an era where technology seamlessly integrates into every aspect of our lives, the intersection of healthcare and technology has given rise to innovative solutions that are transforming how we manage and interact with our health. Highmark's Digital Front Door is a prime example of such innovation, and it's reshaping the way millions access health services. * Jonathan Kersting, of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, welcomes Stacy Byers, Senior Vice President of Experience Design at Highmark to delve into the groundbreaking work being done to revolutionize healthcare access through Highmark's Digital Front Door app.  Imagine an app that acts as a personalized health companion, one that simplifies scheduling appointments, unearths hidden benefits, and provides secure data handling. Byers details how Highmark's Digital Front Door does just that, merging healthcare with cutting-edge technology to create a comprehensive health ecosystem. This innovation connects members to mental health services, virtual care solutions, wellness programs, and personalized recommendations, all within a seamless digital interface. By emphasizing user-centric design, Highmark has managed to onboard 1.2 million users within just a year. This rapid adoption highlights the pressing need for simplicity in healthcare access and underscores the app's ability to cater to a diverse user base, from tech-savvy professionals to seniors needing extra support. Byers reveals the challenges of modernizing healthcare experiences, which often involve different apps, login credentials, and fragmented experiences. By leveraging their living health strategy initiated in 2020, Highmark decided to create a comprehensive digital solution that combines these disparate elements under a single digital front door. Highmark aims to streamline experiences, from discovering medical benefits to accessing virtual care, reducing administrative headaches, and empowering users to take control of their health journey. It's about making healthcare less burdensome and more accessible, enabling members to focus on wellness rather than paperwork.

How are leading healthcare organizations using advanced analytics and AI to transform the patient experience? As healthcare costs continue to rise and patient satisfaction remains a challenge, many organizations are turning to data driven insights to improve outcomes and efficiency.  This episode of Healthcare Reinvented explores how Highmark Health is leveraging cutting edge analytics to enhance decision making across the enterprise. Highmark's Dr. Richard Clarke and Ian Blunt join the Pittsburgh Technology Council CEO Audrey Russo and VP of Communications Jonathan Kersting so you can discover: How Highmark's analytics team is embedding data and AI into every aspect of the business to drive better results.  How Highmark is partnering with tech giants like Google to accelerate their analytics capabilities and unlock new possibilities. The cultural shift required to make data and AI a core part of an organization's DNA. So hit PLAY to learn how Highmark is using analytics to create remarkable health experiences for their members.

In this episode of Healthcare Reinvented, Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo from the Pittsburgh Technology Council discuss Highmark Health's strategies to address the mental health crisis. Guests Dr. Anil Singh and Dr. Doug Henry explain how Highmark has increased access to mental health services by 40% through partnerships like that with Spring Health. The conversation focuses on the importance of a whole-person model of care, addressing health disparities, and ensuring equitable outcomes. They highlight the significant increase in mental health service demand post-COVID and emphasize the vital role of telemedicine. The discussion also covers Highmark's goals for 2025, including enhancing access, reducing stigma, expanding service offerings, and closing health disparities. The speakers stress the importance of early intervention, particularly for children, and the potential of digital solutions to improve mental health care.

This episode of Health Care Reinvented explores how technology and advanced analytics are helping to address and mitigate opioid and stimulant addictions. Health Care Reinvented Hosts Audrey Russo and Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council and TechVibe Radio interview Dr. Melissa Perry of Highmark and Dr. Michael Frost of WaySpring about their unique partnership to identify potential addicts and notify doctors.  They discuss the profound impact of opioid addiction in southwestern Pennsylvania and how Highmark partners with WaySpring to monitor more than 1.2 million members' prescription risks. WaySpring's data analytics help identify high-risk prescribers and patients to provide education and support to reduce overprescribing by 50% since 2018.  As concerns grow around rising stimulant misuse, the experts explore continued collaboration utilizing innovative monitoring technology to stay ahead of trends and address this emerging public health challenge through member-centered solutions.

For Allegheny Health Network (AHN) and Highmark, the goal isn't just to reinvent health care, but to also provide a seamless and supportive patient experience right down to the details of patient billing. After all, patients can get overwhelmed by the disconnected bills and explanations of benefits piling up in their mailboxes. Not only can it compound stress patients already have about their health, but it can also lead to missed payments and costly customer service inquiries. In this episode of Health Care Reinvented, we explore how ANH and Highmark leveraged technology and a leading-edge health care IT company, Cedar, to deploy a solution that not only increases payments but reduces patient stress around the billing process. Listen in to Neil Kulkarni, Vice President of Customer and Clinician Experience Solutions at Highmark Health; Kimberly Wilkinson, Director, Central Business Office, AHN; and Shanti Krishnan, Vice President of Sales at Cedar, detail their journey to radically simplify their customer financial experience by implementing Cedar Pay. With the Payer Intelligence Layer, Highmark members who receive care at AHN have access to uniquely integrated billing information and insurance data. In less than one year with Cedar Pay, AHN added $17 million in patient payments, thanks in part to the integration with Highmark. But the clearest signal that payer-provider partnership was working came from patients themselves, who gave the integrated experience a 90% satisfaction rating. Listen and learn how embracing technology can create so much positive impact and how more projects are in store for the future. Transcription: You're listening to the healthcare reinvented podcast series. And I'm your host, Jonathan Kersting. With the Pittsburgh Technology Council. This podcast is all about the intersection of technology and healthcare. And we talk about it at every single level, whether it's in the operating room, whether it's about virtual visits, and everything in between. It's where technology is making a positive impact. And today, it's all about how technology is simplifying the payer provider system. Simplifying just makes it sound, dare I say too simple, because it is super complex. But you want a streamlined system, you want a sensible system, you want an easy system and understandable system, so the customers don't have to be stressed out when it comes to paying and understanding their bills. And joining us on the podcast today is Neil Kulkarni, who's the vice president of customer and coalition experience solutions at Highmark Health. We have Kimberly Wilkinson, who is Director of Central Business Office at Allegheny Health Network. And we have Shanti Krishnan, who is vice president of sales at Cedar. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I'm excited to explore this conversation. And I always love starting with introduction. So our listener knows who is who. So why don't we just start down the list and I went through Neil, let's start with you your background real fast, and what you do, how you do it off the ball, Jonathan, thank you so much for having us and really excited to be able to kind of talk about this with the group today. I've been at Highmark, for a little under five years. And really what my role is all about is how do we transform our delivery system? And how do we make things easier for our customers? How do we make it easier for our clinicians? How do we think about simplification experiences being more practice personalized, and then working with our provider partners to really deliver a seamless and blended experience for people and so we say customer because it doesn't really matter if it's a insurance member or a provider system patient than today, it's a person. And healthcare is really complicated. And so I'm excited and unfortunate that I get to spend kind of my day thinking about how we think make things easier from a system perspective. And you make it sound easy. And that's very complicated, because it's like, like I said, In the beginning, it's one of those deals where it's like, you're dealing with people here, we need simplicity from a very complex system. And that's when you get to work on every day. And that's just improving the quality of people's lives. I love that is so cool, Neil. So Kim, how about yourself and what you do at Allegheny Health Network? Hello, everybody. I'm Kim.  I'm the director of the Central Business Office for Allegheny Health Network. And my team is compromised of our Customer Care Center, which is our call center where patients are calling in inquiring about their bills, our Single Billing Office cash management, enrollment and credit balance. So as you can imagine, my areas are very involved with the patients and answering their questions as healthcare is very complicated. And we're, as Neil said, trying to make it uncomplicated for our patients and it easier for them to navigate and understand their bill. And not make it so stressful, because they're stressed enough. That's what I was gonna say. I mean, you're often talking to customers that are at an inflection point in their life where they're dealing with maybe a medical crisis or something and you're just stressed out like crazy. And all of a sudden, they you're getting some, some bills, or some get some questions, and you can't figure it out. So it's just increasing that stress. And you don't want your folks to be stressed out. So that's why I love what you're doing, because let's bring the stress down and help people heal. Right. Right, and make it easier for them make it easy. That's what I'm talking about. And of course, we couldn't have this conversation without our friends from cedars. So Sean cheap. Tell us about yourself and really like what cedar is all about, because I love the fact that like Highmark comes in and uses these tech partners like this to make these things happen to make that simplicity happen based on a technology platform. I'm Shanti Krishna and vice president of sales at Cedar I've been with the company for almost four years now. So we've evolved quite a bit over that time. But really thrilled to be here today. And of course, just so excited to have such wonderful partners in Miele Kim and the rest of the Highmark and AHN teams. What cedar does is that we have a platform that really aims to make it easier and more intuitive for patients to navigate and ultimately fulfill their financial and administrative obligations in health care. We know this is a real pain point for patients and as Kim just alluded to, it's often coming at a moment that is already stressful because of some sort of healthcare incident. And so our view is if we can take the stress out of what is already a pretty stressful situation, you know, we're doing our job. And so, we aim to do this in two kind of key related ways. One is just bringing the best of other consumer industries to this known pain point in the patient healthcare experience, making it more personalized, more intuitive, really leaning on data and design science to help inform the experience And the second is really bringing disparate parties such as payer and provider together on one platform because we know that patients don't see these things as being entirely separate. They're actually very related, yet our system treats them as totally separate. So, again, an area where agent and Highmark have just been such fantastic partners and really helps us to realize this vision. Yeah, I was looking at your website. And you have, I mean, you have the biggest clients out there. And of course, Allegheny Health Network. Highmark, they're right there with you guys. So you're, you're helping lots of lots of big organizations solve these very tough problems. So that's, that's cool stuff. Certainly a privilege. Most definitely. So let's get the conversation rolling. I guess maybe starting off with talking with with Neil Kim about maybe some of the problems that were that Highmark was looking at knowing that you needed to find a solution around this. Can you guys set the stage for us? Yeah. So happy to kind of chat through that. So I think the last couple of years, as we've been looking at how do we drive a better experience for our customers, I really started to break that down into a bunch of buckets of things that we want to focus on. But one of the major ones is around kind of the end and healthcare financial experience to say, hey, people struggled to understand financial costs, they struggled, they don't get treatment at times, because they really don't understand that as well. So that relates is often delayed care, when they actually get then care, then there's really complicated payment processes, we don't do a good job of connecting people to financial services and advocacy programs that they might have access to. So that entire ecosystem is really, really complicated. Everything from kind of understanding what costs are known, giving, comparing cost options, making it easy for people to kind of pay their bills, helping them understand the benefits that they have, as well. And so once we started kind of looking at the space, we said, hey, this is an area that we really need to kind of dig in and and tackle, and we're not doing a good enough job today. And so about three years ago, we really started kind of looking into, Hey, what are the set of partners because this is it's complicated, like it's talked about, it isn't something that we're going to solve completely on our own. And we know that there are other organizations and kind of other companies that are really partnering to drive this experience. And so we started looking at who are the center partners that are doing that. And so through that process, we identified initially, a company called boot up as a place that we wanted to start and that transition into cedar. And so I think one of the interesting parts, which I think we'll talk a little bit f

On this episode of Highmark's Health Care Reinvented, learn how Highmark uses massive data sets to improve patient experience and outcomes while simultaneously managing data bias and the utmost security. We welcome Ian Blunt, VP of Advanced Analytics at Highmark Health, where his group form a center of expertise for all things data science and sophisticated analytical techniques. Leading a team of 100-plus data scientists, researchers and engineers, Blunt and his team are at the forefront of developing new capabilities for novel use cases, building predictive analytics and machine learning models, next best action selection, behavioral engineering, evaluation of interventions, analytics enablement, natural language processing, coordinating Highmark's analytic product portfolio and transitioning analytics to the cloud. At the end of the day, Blunt says all of the work comes down to directly improving the patient experience and proving health outcomes. Listen and learn how the human experience is expressed through the data! Transcription: All right, Audrey, we're gonna get just a little geeky today on healthcare reinvented because we have someone who is no stranger to the healthcare reinvented podcast rodeo, we have Ian Blunt hanging out with us today. Very excited because this guy, when it comes to all things, analytics, we want to talk to you. Because he always I think last time we talked to moderate our brains were like, ooh, like this. And now it's great to do a deep dive. So we're really excited. So do you want to? So Ian, why don't you just tell people a little bit about your background, and why you're such an expert on the topic that we're going to be talking about? Sure. I'm very excited to be here talking to you guys about it. So my name is Ian Blunt. I'm Vice President of advanced analytics for Highmark Health. So we form a center of expertise for all things data science and sophisticated analytic techniques within the organization, Highmark Health integrated health care organization. So we've got a health insurance arm, we've got a provider arm in the form of Allegheny Health Network, and we've got a few diversified businesses as well and my team kind of sit at the parent company and help each of the business units with the various use cases they've got to apply. And that's that I think techniques that every now and again, we did get to this really interesting thing, or blended health, where we're using information from both sides in a regulated way to improve the experience for all of our members and patients make it sound so simple, but healthcare is really complicated. That's one of the things that I think makes it such a rich territory for analytics. It's also been an industry that's kind of slow to adopt some of the analytic techniques, often for good reason, because of the magnitude of the decisions being made and security concerns around the data privacy, and what have you. But I think when you look at how high marks really trying to transform healthcare, it all comes down to I live in health strategy, which really is about making healthcare simple, making it personalized, and making it more proactive. And there's advanced analytics applications throughout that kind of mission statement. So what are the big things that you're working on? So like, what keeps you up at night, so that, you know, sort of set the table for us so we can understand because sometimes people are listening to this? And they're like, huh, how does that, you know, how does that really translate into meaningful experience and meaningful outcomes? There's so much going on. It's really exciting, again, kind of a factor of healthcare having been traditionally slow to adopt these techniques, and also the huge range of use cases that Highmark Health covers. So some really good examples, I think about how we can improve the efficiency but certain services work with so got a really nice technique that's operational within chemotherapy infusion facilities with within Allegheny Health Network. So traditionally, if you have cancer, new on chemotherapy drugs, you'll go to the infusion center, you'll sit in an infusion chair for variable length of time. And you'll do that several times over the course of your treatment. And traditionally about was just booked based on where the local administrators thought they could see a slot, what we are able to do is, first of all, build a model that predicts how long each infusion is actually going to take. So personalize it around the patient and the treatment that they're having. And then apply some optimization techniques. So we can optimize for schedule. That means we can fit each potential appointment in where there's a good slot for it. And one of the things we found is we were able to increase the utilization of each chair from about 55% of its time being occupied to bet 90% of its time being occupied, which is great, because these are saving for the provider, which means we can lower the cost of health care overall. And also, these are really valuable resources, potentially life saving. So we want to maximize the access to it as much as we can. There's also other fringe benefits. So when you're not, don't have that schedule optimized, some sessions over run, they just take longer than expected, which means the next patient, you know, getting frustrated there, whoever's, you know, often people using the service need a ride, so whoever's come to pick them up, is now hanging around, no need to be there and no idea what's going on. And also, when the whole system kind of comes a regular, you put a lot of pressure on your pharmacy that mix in these chemotherapy drugs, which of course, if they're under pressure, that increases the likelihood someone could make a mistake. So there's some potentially very serious outcomes there. So by smoothing that all out with providing a much more efficient use of the service which is lower cost with providing better outcomes, better experience for patients and providers, as well. So it's it's a real win for that kind of application of advanced analytic techniques. That's an interesting use case and thinking. I mean, it seems like so niche, you look at all the things that goes into healthcare, but how important is that, I mean, the idea that you can get more people into the chairs, so that way, they're able to get the treatment in a faster way. And then the ripple effects, not like the safety of like a pharmacist mixing something and not being rushed to mix up things so that you're making sure they're getting the right, the right treatments. That to me is is amazing having problems come to you to say we need to solve this, obviously, there were some issues around that. So they came to your team. And they're like, Wow, we need to solve this. How can we do it? So how does that process work? Yeah, so I'd say it's about 7030, the business coming to us with things they'd like to do, and 30% of us heading out with ideas solved. So I think also, the cool thing about the way we've implemented that chemotherapy infusion example is even though chemotherapy infusions niche, and we're going to scale to all of the infusion centers, and then that's kind of a limit there, you see that pattern repeated many times. So for example, operating rooms, again, variable length, important resource problems, if it was schedules, that's the sort of clog up and then dialysis appointments, even MRI. So there's lots of places where those same basic principles can be repeated, to achieve similar even better outcomes. And then, of course, the challenge we've got is well, how do we manage it all, there's far more demand for these services for analytic techniques than we can meet. So it's about a process of running backlogs of requests, prioritizing them based on value. Again, one of the things I really enjoy about working in healthcare is we talked about value in terms of stakeholder quintuple aim. So it's not just dollars and cents, although lowering costs is an important part of the going to play. But you've got how can we bet get better outcomes for the population, and you've got the clinical and patient experience very important factors. And just recently, the IHI who defined quintuple aim added increase in health equity to that as well. So that kind of changes nicely with a lot of the sort of community based organizations that Highmark works about works with, and how we think about equity and social needs alongside traditional healthcare needs. What about the issues like around security? Right? Like, can you talk about that, there's so much data, people get so worried and intimidated. And yet they really don't have all the facts in terms of, of how that data lives and how that data is protected? Yeah. Healthcare data, medical industry data is I think, most fiercely protected by the public. I've seen literature out there where people do surveys, and they are more interested in protecting privacy around health care than they are, for example, criminal records, or their tax records. So critically, critically important that we treat those data securely. And with respect, it's a huge privilege to get to work with this information. And part of executing on that privilege really is concepts within healthcare industry, we call minimum necessary. So we should only be sharing the minimum necessary data that we need to go and execute. And in my line of work, that typically means we don't need to see names and addresses, we need to see some of the demographic factors, we need to see the health history, but I don't need to know who that piece of information is associated with, I can do my job just as well, without knowing that. So that's another way that we keep it secure. And then the other challenge we've got is thinking about exchanging information within healthcare. So it's actually relatively a security people shout at me, it's relatively simple to create a completely walled gard

Did you know that connecting to your doctor is literally just a text away? On this episode of the Highmark Health Care Reinvented Podcast Series, Benjamin Edelshain, MD , Vice President, Clinical Engagement & Digital Innovation at Highmark Health, gives us the whole story on how a secure mobile text messaging platform is building better patient-doctor connections for healthier outcomes.  The platform was deployed at the height of COVID-19, immediately proving its effectiveness in a world where people could not easily meet with health care providers. Ben shares some encouraging and surprising stats on how many patients are using the platform and how text messaging has improved customer engagement. Discover how a simple text message is part of an ever-growing ecosystem of engagement tools to ensure access to care.  Transcription: Welcome to Healthcare reinvented, exploring the intersection of healthcare and technology brought to you by Highmark, here are your hosts, the Pittsburgh technology Council's Audrey Russo and Jonathan Kersting. This is Jonathan Kersting. With the Pittsburgh Technology Council. This is the next episode of healthcare Reinvented, where we explore the intersections of technology and healthcare. Today's interview will be a lot of fun. It's a follow up from our previous season and today we are going to be talking to Dr. Ben Edelshain, and he's with Highmark Health. And I love the fact that that Highmark is finding ways for its patients and doctors to better connect and using technology where it makes sense. And in our first interview that we had was, I can't believe it's, I think, more than 18 months ago, and I'm so excited to follow up on this. It's all about just using the simple concept of using texting to talk back and forth with your doctor. And it sounds easier than you think, especially in the medical setting.  So I'm excited to learn a the progress of it and some new things they might be working on and get some numbers around this as well, too, just to see how effective it's been. So Ben, welcome to the show today. We're so glad to have you. And it's great to reconnect.   Yeah, Jonathan, thank you very much for having me. I'm honestly super excited to share some updates. And it's always great talking to you. And just coming back again, is a privilege and an honor. very humbled. Yeah. Looking forward to sharing some exciting stuff. And you know, following up from where we left off,. A year and a half ago, just flown by and you had a child. Congratulations.    Thank you so much. Yes, we we had our second little Clara, and she's turning one soon. So very cool. Very cool. You got to be stoked about that. Absolutely. Very cool. So before we get things kids, I'm just refreshing our listeners, maybe are they forgotten or there's the first time listening, could you give us your background and what you do with Highmark Health. Very happy to do so. So I am Ben Edelshain. I've been with Highmark, for about four years now, I'm a vice president in our enterprise clinical organization. I'm originally from the UK, hence the accent and used to be a national health service doctor back in London, but been stateside for about 10 years. And so my responsibilities at Highmark Health include kind of trying to push us to be more tech driven, more consumer focused. And then operationally I run a department to telephonic nurses who support our customers, as well as care navigate navigation as well, helping members find the best possible care. That is interesting, that's gonna be a very rewarding job, because you're actually seeing the work that you do improves the quality of patients lives. It just, I think that's going to be so much fun. I say this without any sort of sarcasm, and I love working. And I see a lot of similar missions to, you know, socialized care where I came from our country, slightly different by country and in the US. And but I think in Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, we're doing something special to try and change the paradigm. And I'm very excited to be part of that journey. So that's why I love having these conversations, because I think you said the right word. I think Highmark is doing so much to change the paradigm. I mean, the idea is using technology to empower people. And it's not just about the technology, because there's technology all over the place. But how you can apply it in a way that people can actually use it, and use it to actually make the experience better make their health better. That's why I thought it was so much fun when we first talked to you know, just detailing how using something as simple as text messaging, as a really effective way of being able to keep that connection going between doctor and patient, which is just so vital. Tell us more about how that kind of started up. And then really how this has been now it's up and running for more than a year and a half now. Yeah, so just if we rewind the clock, you know, even beyond, gosh, that year and a half ago, and you know, when COVID first broke out, right, and patients were rightly scared to go and see their doctors to engage in person with that health care. You know, what we discussed last time was we we challenged ourselves and said, Hey, look, we have this texting capability that traditionally use, you know, primarily for marketing purposes, right? We have adoption, why don't we try to juice it up and and use that one way messaging system and flip it to two way and then as people respond to us at Highmark, you know, let's have a nurse on the other end who's part of the benefit structure that I have or receives, and let's enable that nurse who's on the Highmark side, but to also be kind of that augmentative support for the doctor's practice. And, you know, for us that's, you know, really supporting our colleagues a lot to get Allegheny Health Network. But it's not it's not just a job.  So that's, that's like I didn't think about is the whole point that this is actually a way to kind of help the doctor out as well too. Because if you have a nurse that's helping out, they're able to, you know, it frees up their time to put it where it's more important, and being able to then you but still give the care to the patient at the same time. So that to me, I think is really interesting. So the docs are probably saying, Okay, this is great, it's like a little relief valve that we can talk, we can learn about something going on before it becomes a serious problem that would require someone to come in to the doctor or something like that.   I agree. And I think part of the strategy moving forward is, you know, as a former physician myself, I empathize with, you know, those still in practice where they're forced to have really short consultation time. Right, right. I'm sure as patients, we experienced that, where it feels like, you know, you have 15 minutes, and that's it. And so, you know, perhaps this evolves into what those other topics that you maybe can't fit into 15 minutes, and then, you know, take it offline, or actually take it online, right, and have it in a more digitally enabled manner, and at the convenience of the customer, right at the convenience when they want to talk about it. And so, I mean, we've so a year and a half has passed, we have had, you know, specific to these, what I would call like health conversations or clinical conversations, say, a nurse or other kind of professional, like a pharmacist or behavioral health specialist. Since going live, we've had 30,000 interactions.   Wow. Yeah, that's, that's a lot. That's awesome. Wow. You know, and to put that into context, that's just one year that was lost. And, you know, we use texting for other purposes, primarily, one way, we send about 4 million texts. You know, it's starting to become a decent chunk of Yeah. So, you know, again, changing the paradigm so that the conversation you have with your healthcare insurer, but you know, really, we're an integrated system, but the conversation you're having is more about your health and wellness, and less about your benefits and your right cetera. Exactly. Just the fact that it just keeps you in closer touch with your caregivers, I think is just so important. And you can do it in a way that's not eating into the system and just wasting people's time. But it's like, no, this is a great way that you know, something's not right, you're concerned about something you're able to easily address it before becomes that bigger problem. It just makes me sick, more convenient. And it just, I'm curious, I think this is going to keep growing. Because I mean, the first year, I mean, 30,000 interactions. That's, that's pretty amazing. To me, I'm thinking this is gonna continue to keep building, and you'll probably find more use cases for it as well.    I hope so. And we certainly have plans. And you know what? I like the elegance of the simplicity. Yeah, definitely. Text is essentially free. Right? And, you know, maybe your conversation starts with a text then goes into a secure channel where you're drinking bidirectionally. And maybe you decide, hey, I do want to talk to you, and then you set up a mutually convenient time. Exactly. My dream, my aspiration by the end of next year, is to eliminate any cold calling, that's not expected. That comes from a nurse for my health plan to okay, just like there is no reason why we can't achieve that. So, you know, part of where we're headed is okay. We think texting works. Well, we know texting works, right? I'll throw you out of fun facts. So you're familiar, obviously, as a technologist, kind of the click through rate terminology, right? industry average for texting, click throughs, about 15%, one, five. But when you start due to doing two way and having a healthcare professional on the other side, and picking the moments that matter to the customer, we're at about 30% click rate. Wow, you're doubling that. That's impressive.

With the My Highmark app, Highmark is building a "digital front door" to a holistic customer experience.   The new season of Health Care Reinvented kicks off featuring the key team members that brought My Highmark to life. Hear from:  Mick Malec, CEO, enGen and Enterprise Technology and Operations Officer at Highmark Health;   Tracy Saula, Senior Vice President of Product & Health Experience for Highmark Health; and   Naomi Adams, SVP Customer Strategy & Solution Engineering at League Inc.  With one username and password, My Highmark provides seamless care navigation, shared care plans, virtual/digital health and cost transparency.  Learn how Highmark is being very intentional integrating solutions to achieve a simpler, smarter, more seamless system of health, coverage and care. Plus, get more insight on how Highmark worked hand-in-hand with League to build and deploy the app with future functions and capabilities planned.

Can home-centered care be the catalyst for health care transformation? Listen to the next episode of the Allegheny Health Network/Highmark Health Care Reinvented Podcast Series, to see how Highmark Health subsidiary Helion is addressing that question. We welcome Nick Stupakis, Helion Vice President, to explore how with the right information, guidance and tools, provider organizations can deliver better care; payer organizations can reduce upstream and downstream costs; and patients have the opportunity to receive better care and an improved experience. It's the proverbial win-win-win in health care. Learn how Nick plays an integral part in the development and execution of Helion's "Healing at Home" strategy to transform quality, service and value in the post-acute space through an innovative payor-provider network management model.  Listen today and find yourself at the intersection of health care and leading-edge technology.

Big Data Analytics is creating new and exciting insights for health care that positively impact a patient's health, care experience and overall cost. In the next episode of the Allegheny Health Network/Highmark Health Care Reinvented Podcast Series, we talk to Ian Blunt, VP of Analytics at Highmark, about his team's work crunching and analyzing data to provide powerful and actionable insights. Ian details some of Highmark's current projects and addresses how it ensures patient privacy and roots out unnecessary bias. Even more exciting are some the potential future uses of data analytics to drive the best health care outcomes possible. Listen to learn more about this fascinating intersection of technology and health care.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. According to a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey, 14.1 million adults ages 18 and older had AUD in 2019. Among youth, an estimated 414,000 adolescents ages 12–17 had AUD during this timeframe. In the this episode of the Allegheny Health Network/Highmark Health Care Reinvented Podcast Series, we explore the seemingly countless impacts of AUD on people's mental/physical health, work performance and added burden to the health care system with Demetrios C. Marousis, Director of Behavioral Health at Highmark. Learn more about AUD, how to recognize symptoms and discover several treatments to help, including Ria Health's technology-enabled plan where patients can use on-line resources and tracking to manage recovery.