This conversation today with Matt McQuide is such a follow-on to the episode from last week where I encapsulated a major theme from the past five or six episodes. I know I’m on a roll. The thing is, if an employer doesn’t take the initiative and steer members or help them navigate through our current healthcare marketplace, this marketplace can be a very dangerous place to be.
For a full transcript of this episode, click here.
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But if the employer doesn’t steer plan members, somebody else is going to, right? Big, consolidated health systems are gonna steer, for one. They’re trying to drive volume to high-revenue service lines. They’re trying to prevent “network leakage.” I mean, what does that even mean? It means they’re systematically trying to get specialist referrals.
That’s steerage. This comes up big-time in a show about high-cost claimants coming up with Christine Hale, MD, MBA. And it also comes up in a show with Eric Bricker, MD, who is back by popular demand, talking about exactly the contract machinations that health systems often use to enable high-cost claimants. So, that is interesting.
But Dr. Bricker says on that show, he reiterates these exact points. He says, not figuring out how to steer plan members and helping said members find the highest-quality and most cost-effective care settings (including good primary care, by the way), but plan sponsors who aren’t steering plan members should realize that then somebody else is.
Somebody else is driving the bus filled with members and steering that bus based on their own interests, which quite possibly are misaligned with the plan sponsors. Okay … so, sounds great. Steer the members.
But devil’s in the details. How exactly do we go about this steering plan members? It is clear to many that you can’t steer members without engaging them.
In fact, I had a whole conversation with Kate Wolin, ScD, about this today how if you try to steer members that aren’t engaged, they just, they either don’t pick up your phone call or they don’t listen to you. So, how exactly do we go about this engaging with members?
These members, as many have said, don’t engage. They don’t want to engage. And I guess, look, there’s a lot that may or may not be possible to be done with financial incentives; but at the core of it all, it would just be a whole lot easier if we could figure out better member engagement.
Well, welcome Matt McQuide to the pod, because that is what we talk about today.
The first topic that we’re going to get into in the pod that follows is, what are the assumptions that we are inadvertently making about member engagement? And assumptions, keep in mind, that are incorrect are bad, right? You know, you wind up either solving for the wrong problems and/or in the process often miss the solutions that might actually work.
So, that’s why it’s just an issue to have assumptions in the first place. But this can sometimes transpire because oftentimes we don’t even realize our assumptions are, in fact, assumptions. Like, if there’s this bedrock of conventional wisdom that gets so ingrained that we do things without even realizing what we’re doing is based on assumptions in the first place …
That was my feeling during this conversation with Matt today, because he brings to light three very common assumptions—the first two about health plan membership. And when he goes through them, I’m gonna bet many of your first reactions are going to be the same as mine. Oh, right. These things are all conventional wisdom, and they are actually assumptions. And when stated outright as assumptions, they even sound a little suspect.
So, the first chapter, I guess you could say, of this episode coming up that you’re gonna hear runs through both the assumptions that we’re inadvertently maybe making and then the reality of the situations. And then after that, we get into, if you consider the reality of the situations and not the assumptions, what’s possible to be done differently and the results that can be achieved.
This episode was, in fact, sponsored by Matt McQuide’s company, Synergy Healthcare. But I want to say that how the show came to be was this: Matt asked if he could simply sponsor a show for somebody else. He said he was part of the tribe, and he wanted to support our mission.
I said, “Thank you. That is unbelievably kind. Let’s just have a chat about who you might want to sponsor or the topic that you’d like to be talked about.”
Then we got to discussing this whole business with assumptions and their really not good impact that can result. And I was like, yeah, the guest, it should be you, Matt. So, here we are. And thanks so much to Synergy Healthcare for their generosity and for Matt for sharing his insights.
Matt McQuide is, as he says, a reformed benefits consultant. Today, he is CEO over at Synergy Healthcare, which serves plan sponsors with 100 to about 4000 members.
This episode is sponsored by Synergy Healthcare.
Also mentioned in this episode are Synergy Healthcare; Christine Hale, MD, MBA; Eric Bricker, MD; Kate Wolin, ScD; Rebecca Etz, PhD; The Larry A. Green Center; Al Lewis; Rob Andrews; Lauren Vela; Barbara Wachsman; Scott Conard, MD; Steve Schutzer, MD; and Betsy Seals.
You can learn more at Synergy Healthcare and by following Matt on LinkedIn.
Matt McQuide is the founder and CEO of Synergy Healthcare, a role he has held since launching the company in 2012. Under his leadership, Synergy has made significant strides in improving member health, enhancing the health insurance experience and the financial integrity of health plans.
Matt is deeply committed to the belief that when members are more engaged in their healthcare, they become both better stewards of their health and more informed consumers of health services. Synergy drives this mission by offering dedicated nurse advocates, on-site healthcare, and wellness program administration and coordinating value-based benefits.
In collaboration with employers and brokers, Synergy helps provide resources that reduce healthcare demand by fostering a healthier, more productive workforce.
Matt spent 23 years as a senior benefits consultant with a national consulting firm, where he gained national recognition for his expertise in member health engagement, on-site healthcare, and value-based benefits. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance, with a minor in economics, from the University of Tennessee.
Matt is a frequent speaker at both local and national human resources conferences and has been featured in Employee Benefit Advisor and Employee Benefit News magazines.
06:28 What are Matt’s three common assumptions that employers make about member engagement?
07:08 “Health is actually hard.”
08:19 Why is it important to meet people when their need for healthcare sparks their interest in their health?
11:29 “It didn’t take much … it just takes time.”
13:42 EP295 with Rebecca Etz, PhD, of The Larry A. Green Center.
13:53 Why are relationships and trust more important today for employee health and member engagement?
16:04 Do people actually want optimal health?
17:44 Why is it important to meet people where they are today?
22:38 “Employers don’t want to fix healthcare.”
23:20 EP430 with Barbara Wachsman.
23:36 EP462 with Scott Conard, MD.
24:10 Why it’s important to remember that claims are real people.
24:38 Quote from Steve Schutzer, MD, about EP463 with Betsy Seals.
26:44 How do you solve the “middle way”?
Recent past interviews:
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Stacey Richter (EP467), Vivian Ho, Chris Crawford (EP465), Al Lewis, Betsy Seals, Wendell Potter (Encore! EP384), Dr Scott Conard, Stacey Richter (INBW42), Chris Crawford (EP461), Dr Rushika Fernandopulle
