May 15, 2019
I recently attended the HealthEdge User Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida. Inspired by the theme “Be the Change,” this event featured keynote speaker, Dan Buettner, with breakout sessions focused on several relevant topics from health plan senior executives and specific HealthEdge company updates – all of which provided excellent opportunities to network with peers and colleagues.
While I have attended the HealthEdge User Conference in the past, this was my first time attending on behalf of emids. We are thrilled about our partnership with HealthEdge and the great work our two organizations are doing together to change healthcare.
HealthEdge has undergone tremendous growth in recent years, as indicated by the broad range of professionals attending this highly informative and well-run conference. The attendees included HealthEdge’s employees, customers and partners from across the payer ecosystem including executives, directors, PMs and analysts.
A unique aspect of this conference was that attendees were encouraged to donate to the Homeless Coalition, which I felt spoke highly to the professionalism of the HealthEdge organization.
Two key sessions really resonated with me in relation to how we at emids partner with our healthcare clients on their digital transformation journeys. One was an interactive presentation given by the VP at Elder Plan, Craig Azoff, on Emotional Intelligence and the importance of leaders to not just oversee tasks and projects, but to also be aware of – and manage – the emotions and perceptions of their team members. Given the ongoing transformation occurring in the healthcare industry due to changes in provider and payer relationships, industry regulations and mergers and acquisitions, it is imperative for leaders to have emotional intelligence to help their staff and themselves better cope with day-to-day tasks, and ultimately be more successful. This perspective reminded me of Praveen Soti’s blog about talent management being an often-overlooked yet crucial lever to pull within organizations. Transformation cannot happen without understanding of and investment in the process from all team members involved.
The second session was a lively discussion on Blue Zones, presented by Dan Buettner who discovered the five places in the world, dubbed Blue Zones Hotspots, where people live the longest, healthiest lives. It was truly fascinating to learn how these Blue Zones projects have actually produced well-living initiatives being shared with entire communities by focusing on changes to the local environment, public policy and social networks that can help influence healthier living. We’ve seen it ourselves working with clients on understanding the social determinants of health and the fact that close to 70% of non-medical factors influence healthcare today.
Perhaps the most valuable takeaway from the HealthEdge User Conference centered around how all of the recent trends impacting the healthcare industry, in particular the payer space, are driving organizations to find agile, experienced partners to assist them in their transformation. This is where our track record and ability to drive successful implementations, and capability to partner with our customers in this capacity, sets us apart from the competition. We’ve experienced working with clients in the effective completion of such processes and understand the complexity of bringing these achievements to fruition.
If your organization is currently doing core administrative systems implementations or planning to do so, we invite you to contact us for a free consultation to experience how we can partner together.
As AVP for Payer and Digital Solutions at emids, Vinay Pal leads the Payer Systems Consulting practice focused primarily on consulting and implementation services in the core administrative system space. In this capacity, he works closely with a broad range of health plan organizations including commercial, individual, Medicare, Medicaid, Blues, Dental and TPAs.
Vinay is a healthcare leader with significant experience directing business and technology consulting solutions focused on providing strategic and operational services to private and public organizations. His exceptional thought leadership, analytical expertise and people management skills allow him to identify opportunities to improve operational efficiencies, strengthen relationships and manage change to achieve and sustain success. Be sure to connect with Vinay on LinkedIn.