Ep. 30: EJ Heckert of United Healthcare

Transcription:

We keep marching ahead with our Summer of 50, Pittsburgh Tech Stories with Comcast. I am Jonathan Kersting. With the Pittsburgh Technology Council TechVibe Radio, I keep telling everybody this is the highlight of my day. I love talking to people who are just shaking it up in the tech industry and within our ecosystem. Today, I'm really excited to talk to EJ Heckert from United Healthcare. People often forget man, healthcare is at the core of all of our businesses, our people need to be happy, they need to be cared for the death benefits. And people will be amazing amount of technology takes to make that happen. There's technology in some of these plans, and that they've been at the core of the whole COVID response as well to ej they're gonna talk about today. ej, I'm so glad to have you on the call today. We've talked a bunch of times in the past, we've done some some some things before and I thought it'd be a great opportunity for us and people know more about you and really what United Healthcare is doing here in Pittsburgh. You guys are a big player here. It's really good to talk to you Well, hey, thanks for having me. I'm excited. Excited to spend some time here today.

Yeah. So quickly. What's your background? And how long have you been a united healthcare for?

Yeah, my, my official role united is the executive director and market leader for Western PA. So that that includes 29 counties. So we basically go from, you know, Erie out to Penn State college and all the counties they're in. It encompasses the sales and account management for employer groups that have two employees, up to 3000. Man prior I joined join united in 2013. Prior to that, I was with MetLife for 13 years. His most recent as a regional director leading their Ohio, West Virginia Western pa markets for their life dental and disability products. Yeah, really like I like the city. I like the I like the town. I like the way people do business. My wife and I have three kids and we Live currently  in the North Hills.

Awesome dude that's super cool and super cool and I I got to know more about united because a we're like neighbors over in new have a place back and going to the office today right right as I'm quite the presence there and I'd always see you hanging out eco veestro and stuff like that those days but tell us a little bit about the footprint here in Pittsburgh and everything like that. I know a lot of folks use you guys to their benefits you guys were really leading the way forever because you were offering flexibility between carriers and stuff like our hospitals and stuff like that. And that was such a huge deal. Yeah, we Yeah, we're over and over place so we are neighbors. I don't want to say word because we still are because we both have reasons right? Although it is I do go in the office couple days a week our employees. What's unique about united in general, not just locally is a third of our population roughly work from home hat. We're working from home prior to COVID. About 90% you know of our hundred plus thousand people. We're working from home now locally in Napa. And we've got about 150 280 employees and about 1500 in western PA. What some folks don't know. I mean, we are fortunate six company so we're the largest health insurance provider in the country.

And a lot of the other day because like over 300 bucks.

Yeah, it's, yeah, it's crazy. It's all it's fun to watch and find the follow up, especially the last last couple months, but a lot of folks work from home so if we give people we give them give our employees opportunities to work in different health plans to so they can be supporting, you can be in Pennsylvania and supporting a health plant in Arizona with technology and the way things work, they can do that. And with a cost of living in Pittsburgh and us being Pittsburghers, you know, we don't like to leave or venture too far from home. So yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah. So it gives them the opportunity to do that as well. So yeah, it's it's worked out really well. Our position In the market, we are a national carrier. So what's important is to have choice. So we've always had UPMC health system and Allegheny Health Network in our, in our, in our network.

Because for a while when people had to be on one or the other, you gave this choice, you could still stick with your old doc ration ride that we use my doctor cuz it wasn't in the network and then Luckily, all got changed. But I could see why that was such a good differentiating factor for you guys in the marketplace having that.

Yeah. And that's and we still, you know, it's a value add that was was, you know, when I came on board in 13. And when the contracts were being negotiated prior to prior to my role, that's, that's where we stay on, you know, aren't we can we stand behind those two providers, they're great health systems. But then also, you know, don't forget a lot of the other local hospitals such as St. Clair heritage Valley, accela. Butler, just to name a few and all the way up into Erie. So you know, we Have you know you shouldn't be able to find your doctor and your hospital should be in network with, with our United plants. And what what what you know, where we really differentiate ourselves to is our national account presence. Okay, Jonathan, your neighbors, your family members. They could have UnitedHealthcare card, but they work for a company outside of Pennsylvania. So there's a lot of national accounts that have employees that reside and run Western pa that are actually scientists outside of outside of yet. So we were involved in a lot of those deals and have relationships with those large organizations, which helps fill the beds for local hospitals.

Yeah, I think that's interesting because like, you're gonna see a lot more of that in this day and age, we're gonna see more people, Pittsburgh company, hiring someone that's in Arizona to work because there's going to talk to them so knowing that like they can still have, you know, coverage in Arizona, despite the company being based in Pittsburgh is a huge deal.

And the plants work really nicely too. Because if you ever if you have a child that goes to college outside of PA, they have that unite. Yeah, the United Healthcare brand. Obviously emergencies are always covered. But they can find a doctor they can find a doc they can find a specialist and use the you hc UFC card and the UAC. Grant.

To Have you guys been reacting to the whole the whole code pandemic. I mean, obviously your first concerns your costume and what they're facing and everything like that. Some of the big things that united has been up to in that regard.

Yeah, we we like to feel that we're an industry leader when it comes to this and a lot of things that we've done kind of show that I really, I mean, all the healthcare, all the health insurance companies stepped up. They all did. We all did and really to make sure the members The members are taken care of. There's so many other uncertainties out there. So healthcare is covered really shouldn't be one of them. One of the first things we did was waive all the costs for Cobra testing, and covered care and procedures. Secondly, at the end of March, early April, we had a Additional open enrollment period. So we have a This was nationally. So we have fully insured clients that that were opted like Jonathan, you may not somebody may not may not have elected health insurance, so they have it somewhere else. And now they look at it and say, You know what, I need it, no questions asked. We had over we added over 30,000 members nationally, over 13,000 of our 13,000. Our clients actually took advantage of it. So it was just the one time open enrollment for a couple weeks. It's today. We don't and this was back in, you know, late March, early April, where we didn't know how long this was going to be. And no one's thinking it's gonna be yeah, you want to come in? We got you. And that was? Yeah, so here we are, you know, August, you know, the end of August. So that was something we did. Those were two of the things we did first. One of the other things that we did is, you know, we helped we helped facilitate a lot of payments to providers. So the first thing that happened, you know, we all saw it, we still see it With the respirators and you know, the, you know, and I, you know, we're very fortunate to live where we do with such great health systems and providers and with Doc's, and just everybody and caretakers, and you know, they're, they're working like crazy. They're using all their resources. But what happens from a revenue standpoint is a lot of the elective surgeries get put off. So, so they're postponed. So those were, you know, that's revenue for the hospitals. So, so what we did is we help facilitate those payments in advance. So we started giving them up front. Yeah, so we started paying. So just to kind of keep them going and show our our partnership with them as well. It's really cool. It really shows that like, man, yeah, you're there for them like that. This is a time when you can move that money forward until that surgery happens.

And yeah, well, it's amazing. Yeah, well, actually, yeah, actually, just to clarify, we had, we were paying that instead of holding whatever we owed them for, for premium it was coming from the beginning. So it wasn't like we were going forward with those because the challenge Whenever those some of those may not get rescheduled, but hopefully they will. And just because people need them, and you know, the hospitals are there ready, ready to help, so we do everything we can. And then also we add a premium relief to our employers. So and so we looked at kind of our medical loss ratio and how the claims were coming in for really, March, April. So we for our employer groups that are fully insured to employees enough, we took a percentage we looked at what their enrollment was, for May, and we took a percentage off their bill that was that was paid. That was decrease a credit in in July. So some employees in Pennsylvania received between five and 10%, depending on the size for their fully insured groups, other states at very other states were either higher or lower, but it was pa was between five and 10%. So that was something that we automatically did to help you ease the blow as much as we've got.

Very cool. Yeah, it goes to show you how Sometimes, like a huge place like United Healthcare gets scenes this giant organization but no the idea local people like you to work here and care. They're here they're here to help and you help me to know that I'm really glad that we're like talking about that right now. That's so cool. So maybe we can switch gears a little bit cuz we know our passion technology, the Pittsburgh tech council members are all about it as well too. And there's some really cool plans that you guys offer through our our PTC benefits program that I think are really unique out there. And especially because they involve actually using technology to help whatever you're out there. And I wish we had this plan at the tech council.  You wouldn't be paying premium we'd be paying you.

Yeah,and how many miles a year are you riding your bike?

But I love the idea of wearing a Fitbit and it tracking and sending data back And being able to then adjust and adjust, you know what you're paying and actually put money into a health savings account. So you can be Yeah. Which I think is cool me to give us the nuts and bolts as to how it works because I will not describe it to its best. That's Well, it's for it's for employer groups that have 51 employees in a box eligible employees and above, it's called UFC motion. So they can either use an Apple Watch, or we call it BYOD. Bring Your Own Device. Yeah, so whatever wearable device that they're using, whether it's a Fitbit, you know, it seems like there's, you know, there's hundreds of them out there now, the majority of them will, will link in and essentially, they're going to get the way the plans are structured is we we add a high deductible, right? So if you're an employer and in order as you're negotiating your rates with your broker, or your account manager from whatever carrier, you know, you increase your deductible and that lowers rates, right, no different than if you we were negotiating with our homeowners insurance or auto We increase the deductible, but then we give money back through either an HSA a health savings account or HRA Health Reimbursement Account, if the employee if the member and or their spouse meets three goals, so it's fit frequency, intensity, and tenacity. Frequency is if you get 500 steps seven times a day. Within six, I just want to have to look to I don't want to butcher 500 steps within seven times a day, okay? Yeah, I'm sorry, within seven minutes, which is six times a day, and you can get between $1 $1 50 intensity, which is the eyes is three 3000 steps within 30 minutes. Okay. And tenacity is just if you had 10,000 steps, and you can get between, it's you can get between $3 and 450. a day back towards you. Now you look at that and you're like, Okay, that's not a lot. But if you just about it, yeah, it stacks up. It's money coming from United that we kick into these HSA HRH and then the member starts offsetting their deductible. So there's a number of parentheses a lower cost, so they're your premium. So their monthly premium coming out of their check, and then decided to dockable that they have, they're able to pop it off or run it off. And that's it's really taking. Taking steam here in western PA, we have one with a client that has over 300 employees, and they have around 55 to 60% participation.

That's awesome. Yeah, and it's a question we always get, which is a great follow up is which, which industries are the best, right? So you think about is it that insurance company that's perceived as being in the office all day or a company that is it the PCC that's, you know, going 1000 miles an hour and and run it outside? And although I know you eat grilled cheese sandwiches at lunch, because I'm right there in line with you, so turn them off. Yeah, that's right. That's right. But we have manufacturing we have we have financial services. We have banking, we have mortgage companies that have it. And a lot of it depends. And it varies, you know, varies. We statistics show that about 65% of the people that use it will hit two of the three. Okay? It was a three trackers per day. So they're getting around two or three bucks, consistently, but we're seeing different industries Come come forward with it. And so we really can't pinpoint it even as we look at national data, but it has to be driven and communicated from up top. So you have a business owner, you have a you have HR director, manager, that really, it's really into wellness and really keeping up I mean, we all talk about low absenteeism, right we need. Everybody needs us at work. We talked about we want people to have good mental health, good life balance. If you have leadership at the top that really, that really lived that and believe it were his program works really, really well because it starts to see from the employers and And the employees, you know, they they talk to each other, you know, there could be somebody that's sitting at lunch saying, hey, competitive last month. Yeah. And how did you do that, and you know, they talked about it, it's pretty cool. So it keeps evolving, it keeps evolving and, and with that program too, we also offer a $5,000 Wellness credit to kind of help with the communication and started the program and help the employers grab, maybe they you know, they open up, free COVID post over here, but pre COVID, they would open up a walking trail, or they would do things throughout the plant throughout their business, throughout the industrial parks, we help facilitate that from a financial perspective. So, yeah, it's a great program. And, you know, I'm pretty proud of it, especially the results we've had in western pa with it just because people think that, you know, we're a little bit we're not really into into wellness or change and, and it's really taken off and we're excited to continue to move forward. And that's what United Healthcare is all about making sure people are well and incentivizing that I think that's really easy. Some cool technology to do it even dead yet so that's just cool. Anything else? We missed it anything else new that united rolling out or?

Yeah, I mean we have our you know, we continue which is for research and development you know last year we invested over $3 billion just in rd and alone and that's the reason we do like Yeah, wow. Yeah it's it's a huge number. But we continue to in order to be a leader, you know, we have our online tools, you know, my UFC comm which you can basically do just about anything. You know, we'll talk about I want to talk about the wall savers as well, during this pandemic, we've seen an increase in membership. So employers are are really looking at they're looking at their benefits looking at the programs. And so that's, that's great. And then they say, okay, what's next we have to employ, we have to offer it to the, to the employees, how are you going to do that? Because no one's in the office. So we do webinars, we didn't use WebEx or we'll do brainshark so however, it

Yeah, if I heard about it, usually probably from a long time ago, but it's, it's a video that one of our field account managers take. So they'll put it on, on, you know, on on their intranet, and then they can actually make new employees can look at it and HR HR staff can use it as well so and just to help communicate the program, but they also have this program with the PTC and united and continues to be along with Jrg and Emerson read continues to to be a great option out there for level funded product for employers about five employees up to 50. And what you see with that is depending on how your your group runs, there's the opportunity for refund at the end of a 15 month 15 month period. And you also get data so you get claims information and information wouldn't normally get, which is really, which is really exciting. And, you know, if you if I don't, if I own a violent group and I have 20 employees, and every year I get my renewal doesn't matter which carrier it's from, you know, you ask questions, right? And you should, but now you at least have some data and you have some negotiating ability to offer to. So that's called all savers. We're also giving a 2% discount for PTC members as well, that's good. That's what it's all about. And people say, Oh, 2% or 2%, an actual hunk of cash to a company like that, can you not get the money right there. So that's nothing to sneeze at. As far as that. I've learned a lot about the insurance industry over the years as I've been in many of our senior manager meetings, and I've just been so educated as to how important it is and the complexities of it. And the fact that places like united healthcare, make it really simple for HR to implement these things and make sure they have the right benefits like good prices with the right things at the right times. for everybody. It's huge. They say it's really Quarter, Every business has to have those right benefits. And the thing I've learned the most today is that, you know, United Healthcare is a massive company. But they have a local presence here in Pittsburgh. And it's a bunch of people that really care, you know, and they're here helping out. And so you've kind of shown us today, which I think is just awesome. ej, I'm so glad we got to talk about that.

Yeah, good stuff. Thank you. At the end of the day, at the end of the day, our job is to make this massive company feel small. And that's what we continue to do. And hopefully, the folks that are listening today listening today, or watching hope they feel that way. And if, if there's anything we can do differently or better, we're all ears because we're always constantly looking to improve and grow in western PA.

Great stuff. Thanks for hanging out being part of our 50 summer stories of Pittsburgh tech with my friends over here at Comcast makings happens to remind everybody we're trying to raise a little awareness around the digital divide and raise some money for beyond the laptops.org just go there and check it out. We're helping Pittsburgh public school students get the right equipment, their hands. When they go back to school. There's too many people That don't have the right technology, that cannot be the case. And I think so far to date, the PTC along with Aurora and so many other tech companies and foundations have stepped up over the past four months, almost 150 thousand dollars has been raised so far. It's kind of cool. And we're just trying to add that number to ensure we can keep this thing going. So  Once again, thanks for having me.

All right. Thank you. All right.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai