Florida Blue Execs: ACA Just Start Of Industry Evolution
By Drew Dixon | |
Proquest LLC |
While the Affordable Care Act has already signaled change in the health care industry, two Florida Blue executives speaking at a
But
"We're in inning one of game one of a seven-game series," Geraghty said at the GrayRobinson law firm's
Beyond any health care legislation, technology, Geraghty said, will present new avenues for health care that require a recalibrating of the industry. He said it's early in the process, but health care and health insurance will have to overhaul their approach to serving those in need.
"Think about virtual care. How many of us grew up thinking that we would have a physician office visit where we take out our smartphone, put our finger in a device that we plug into our smartphone and our vitals get transmitted across that phone and now you're looking at the physician, ..." Geraghty said. "That's a very different environment."
The customers, those who are getting health insurance, are changing rapidly, and Geraghty said that is directly due to the federally mandated Affordable Care Act. Due to the technology and the regulatory changes, the approach to customers is changing.
He said health care providers and insurers are now dealing with customers they simply never had before.
Many are equipped with more information, Geraghty said, but many have never been insured before.
"Our delivery system ... was a sickness system. We took care of people after they were broken. We didn't think about how to keep them well in the first place at any level that is going to be commensurate with where we need to be," Geraghty said.
The shift in the industry will focus on wellness programs and providers who proactively treat patients rather than a traditional reactive approach, he said.
That also means there will be a need for more custom-care outlets in the individual communities.
Lerer said while Florida Blue is a large company that has about
"When you think about insurance a few years ago, insurance was about people who had jobs or people who had money," Lerer said. "The world is upside down now, in an appropriate way, where you get health care because you need it."
Lerer said Florida Blue is launching a new program where the company will begin instituting free-standing emergency rooms not associated with hospitals. Rather, they'll be established with the help of Florida Blue but will technically be owned by
The program is in the formative stages and the company has agreed to begin work on only one in the state so far - in
Geraghty said he can't even predict where the next facility will be located and added he's not sure if they'll target
"We built new models. So we're building clinic-based care," Lerer said. "Not only is
In addition, there are other Florida Blue health care clinics not involving emergency care already under consideration for construction and operation in
"There are people that believe that insurance companies are sitting there hoping that there isn't change. ... We're embracing it and moving change.
"We've actually institutionalized ways to make that happen," Geraghty said.
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