Relentless Health Value

Health care cost is a function of volume unit cost. For the past few years, the medical cost trend hovers between 6% and 7%, and health spending continues to outpace the GDP. This isn’t sustainable. There’s only so much cost shifting patients can bear and that more and more employers, the ultimate payers of commercial insurance, can afford as health care costs exceed revenue growth. David Contorno is on the podcast today. We discuss these realities and what these realities mean for health systems, insurance carriers, drug companies, employers, and employees. David was the founder of Lake Norman Benefits and is now regional practice leader and equity partner of the Hilb Group.

David is a nationally recognized thought leader, speaker, and author on disrupting health care and delivering better care at lower costs for employers and their employees. He spends much of his time educating the industry, including his competition, on how to bring these powerful solutions to the masses. The rest of his time is working directly with employers to improve benefits and improve overall company profitability.

00:00 David’s journey to founding adviser at Health Rosetta.
02:10 “Be the least bad option.”
02:20 “Why are we not focusing on the health care?”
03:30 Where David sees health care going in 2020.
07:30 Why insurance is a result of the problem, not the solution.
07:45 “Just changing who pays, we haven’t changed anything.”
09:30 “We’ve relinquished control of the costs, and all we need to do is take that control back.”
12:20 The 2 pathways into the health care system today.
15:30 Reducing regional differences by traveling to higher-quality facilities.
18:40 The cost incentives are there to have lower-quality care.
20:00 How the shift from fee for service to value-based care is changing or not changing this.
21:15 “Value is the intersection between cost and quality.”
24:26 “It’s only daunting and difficult because the system wants it to be.”
32:00 Tackling the knowledge gap.
35:40 The financial incentives that help motivate behavior change in employees.
41:00 David’s advice for health systems.
42:20 “There needs to be a new way forward, and it needs to be patient centered.”
43:40 The three entities that David cares about with his clients: The Payer, The Patient, and The Provider.
44:45 Addressing high-cost drugs.
47:00 You can learn more by finding David on LinkedIn.