Karen Hanlon: President and COO of Highmark Health Shares Background and Insight into Current Health Care Trends

At Highmark Health, we believe what makes us unique makes us better. Our differences broaden our perspectives and foster a variety of skills to complement each other, creating a stronger and more vibrant workforce. It's this belief that earned us recognition as the Best Place to Work for the 10th year for individuals with disabilities in a survey by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN. We'll continue to celebrate and benefit from the inclusion of all people. To find out more, visit highmarkhealth.org.

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone, this is Joyce Bender with Disability Matters. Welcome to the show and I have to thank you as usual. Here I am, year 22, 22 years, 1,000 episodes. And would that happen without listeners? No. Can't have a car dealership if you don't sell any cars. So I want to thank you so much for your loyalty. I'm always so excited when I meet people and they tell me, oh, I listen to your show. You know, people that I don't know at all. So thank you, thank you. As you know, I live with epilepsy, and I am the CEO of Bender Consulting Services, a company that focuses on the employment of people with disabilities, and chair of the 501, the Bender Leadership Academy, training high school students with disabilities about the world of work. And how to fight bullying. And guess where I was today? I just can't get enough of Highmark. That's where I was. The training was at Highmark today for the Bender Leadership Academy. My friend Chaz Callum helped us out. He is so great. But, you know, it's all about these kids. It's all about them. And they have my heart. There's no doubt about it. But anyway, I thank all of you. And now we have, believe it or not, for years and years, I would say, and I want to thank the 14 countries that listen to the show. Okay, it's 75 now. We are really taking off. And so thank you to all of you. I mean, for a while, while Germany, you had the biggest listening audience. But as you've heard me say so many times, I don't care if you're one person in an obscure place that even I haven't heard of. I don't care because one person, one, can make a difference. So thank you, all of you. Remember, tell everyone about the show. You know, if they want to go in their country to the U.S. State Department's American Embassy, they could hear the show. So thank you. Yoshiko, shout out to you. Yoshiko, lead on. I know you're listening. Have a great day. And now my sponsor, who has been the sponsor faithful sponsor for many years. Wow, what a surprise. It's the best company in America for people with disabilities. Highmark. Highmark Health. I mean, I, I could never stop telling you all the things they have done to support me, but more importantly, people with disabilities. So thank you, Highmark. And since I'm thanking Highmark, how about if I thank the president of Highmark, who is, yes, on our show today. I'm so excited to have Karen Hanlon, who has been named president, second in command, and on her way to the tippity top. And I want to tell you, everyone listening, I'm going to give you examples today, but she is the real deal. You know how you meet, you hear CEOs speak, or politicians and you think, yeah, right, you're going to do well. Yeah, she has. She really does. She is a wonderful person in a powerful role known across the country in the healthcare area. Karen Hanlon, president, Highmark Health. Welcome to the show.

Thank you, Joyce. Always glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

Well, last week we had David And it was so interesting. David Holmberg, the CEO of Highmark Health. If you didn't see it, go to YouTube. You can see it. It was really great. Or go to Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and you can listen to it if you don't go to YouTube. But I loved when he told the story of how he started by selling jewelry. And how his family lived paycheck to paycheck. And, you know, I know if you would meet him or hear him speak, you'd be thinking, oh yeah, right, easy for him. You know, he's the CEO of— is it the third largest?

After we close the affiliation with the Blue Kansas City plan, we'll be the third largest Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in the nation.

Can you believe that? Wow. Well, David started by selling jewelry, and he was telling our listeners how his background working in retail, he believes, prepared him for this job because he was dealing with the public directly. And, you know, just such a great— I'm sure that you agree with that, that his background played into his Success.

Yeah, yeah. His first real job was— his first real job was working at McDonald's, Joyce, when he was, uh, you know, in high school.

Oh, there you go. Yeah, wow, amazing. Okay, trivia, trivia. I know, now, um, so Karen, how about you? What was your first position and how do you feel it helped prepare you for your role today?

I mean, I, you know, I was an accounting major in college, so I came out of college and started in public accounting, and I worked in public accounting for 5 years and then moved over to work at Highmark. And within about a year of arriving at Highmark, I settled into a role in our corporate finance group that where I had, you know, a variety of responsibilities over time. But I think the most significant accountability that really was most critical, I think, in terms of my career trajectory was the role that I had around financial planning and analysis, which, you know, was forecasting for the business to understand what were they projecting 1 year out, 2 years out, 3 years out. Why were they projecting that? What, you know, what strategies were they putting together and putting behind that? And then every month as our actual financial results came in, we would, of course, look at the projection we had put together and compare that to the actual results and update our understanding of what was going on with the business and how that influenced how we thought about where the business was going in the future. And that role for financial planning and analysis really stuck with me. I had accountability for that all the way. You know, I was promoted to be the enterprise CFO in 2014. And of course, it still reported up to me, you know, as the CFO. But it was that That connection to the business very early in my career that helped me to both build relationships with people, and they were people throughout the entire company, you know, which was a much smaller company at the time. But nonetheless, you know, it helped to know people in different areas and that worked in different parts of the business. And it also helped me to build a ton of knowledge about the business. You know, what were the key things that mattered in terms of that business running? And what were the things to look for that would tell you that, you know, something was going sideways and wasn't going to be so good. And so it just, you know, gave me a unique position and an opportunity to really build a set of knowledge that was quite influential in my career here at Highmark.

Yes. And I would say that background you talked about, CPA accounting, at a public accounting firm, you had to deal with all the customers. And not every customer is as nice as you are to me. So I'm sure that you did, you know, you had to not only deal with them, but you had to constantly come up with suggestions for them strategically with finance. And I would say that that really did help you you know, in your career as you moved up. Karen, do you remember when it was called the Big Six?

Of course I do. When I, when I joined public accounting, it was the Big Six. Yeah. And yeah, I, but I think you're exactly right, Joyce. I really think any, any role where you have to engage with a lot of people and, and, and you have to engage with them because you're, you're trying to get something right. In the case of public accounting, when I was in public accounting, it was I was trying to get the information that I needed from them so that I could do my audit work and complete the audit. Right. In the case of David's job in retail jewelry, he was interacting because he wanted to make a sale. You know, anything that where you're really having to interact, you're having to read those people, understand what makes them tick, what matters to them, how will they make a decision. Helps to just make you smarter. You know, my, my very first job ever, I was a waitress, you know, and I was a waitress through high school and college. And boy, you talk about interacting with the public, you know, like you, you either get it right and, you know, you make a decent tip or you don't get it right and you don't make a decent tip, you know. And so you get good quickly at reading people and thinking about customer service and, and, you know, finding the way to make the interactions matter.

That was my first job also. Well, no, wait, no, no, I get substitute teaching and then being a waitress. But boy, when you're a waiter or waitress, you're dealing with the public. Yeah. And I always say it doesn't matter how good you are. If the food is not good, it doesn't matter.

For sure.

Yeah, absolutely true. But, you know, that, that dealing with the public, it does do something to you because you see there are all types of people and how can you handle that?

Yeah.

Well, Karen, Highmark has grown, oh my goodness, so much over the past 10 years because I remember the building you used to be in. Yeah. And never would I dream it would go from that to what it is today. But let's hear a little bit about Highmark. The size, revenues, diversified business, AHN, because I want people to know you aren't just an insurance company and you're not just this smaller Pittsburgh insurance company. You're big. So why don't you discuss it?

Yeah, just about $32 billion in, in revenue. And as you said, a big part of our business is our health insurance business. We're the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, parts of New York. But we really help health insurance members sitting throughout the nation. We write some health insurance that is not under the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand that does business everywhere throughout the nation. We also write dental business through a company called United Concordia Dental. So we're providing dental insurance to over 10 million people throughout the nation, including some that sit international. We have a stop-loss insurance company called HM Insurance Group. Both United Concordia Dental and HM Insurance Group really are operating in all 50 states. And as I said, United Concordia extends some of their services even beyond that. We also have a technology company called NGIN, where we've taken some of our core technologies and actually market those to other, other businesses outside of our own. If you look throughout the nation, we are today, I think it's the 5th largest Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. And as you and I were saying in your opening, we have a transaction pending right now that, assuming we close that transaction, will become the third largest Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in the nation. And so, and then the last component of our business, but certainly, you know, the closest to the heart, frankly, is, is Allegheny Health Network, which is our care delivery system really centered here in West western Pennsylvania, almost $6 billion in premium, 14 hospitals, about 1,200 physicians, a full set of services within that delivery system. And it really gives us a unique position, you know, to understand the delivery of care. We started as an insurance company. Allegheny Health Network was formed back in 2013. So it's about 12 years old. And it's just given us a unique position. And when we think about our goals and our mission, our mission is to create remarkable health experiences, freeing people to be their best. And so what that's about for us is in that remarkable health experience, making the experience more consumer-like than what people normally find in healthcare, making it a simpler experience, less fragmented, less complex. And it's also about working payer and provider jointly to enable the best experience for that individual, you know, finding the best clinical intervention for them, making it easy for them to engage in the healthcare delivery system so that they're taking the actions that they need to, to better their health. And, you know, through better health, we, we do believe that we will produce more affordable healthcare, which is an important, you know, aspect of, of what we focus on because it's hard for people to access healthcare when they can't afford to engage in the system. So Allegheny Health Network gives us, you know, a unique position to really think about what can the payer and the provider do differently together to enable our goals around achieving that mission. And so it's been, you know, great for us. That's been one of our major growth mechanisms over the past 10 years or so. But we've also, you know, been able to acquire some other Blue Cross Blue Shield business that's enabled that growth as well.

Wow, that, that is amazing. How many hospitals does AHN have? 14. 14. Yeah. Well, I personally love— I mean, obviously, AGH is so good. We know they're good. What the pit is there.

That's right.

Yeah. So we know that. Yeah. But that Wexford Health Pavilion, I love the Wexford Health Pavilion.

I know they do a great job.

Yeah, they do. They do. And if you do have Medicare, IMARC, whatever it is, the Wexford Health Pavilion is just fantastic. For example, I can go there and see my epileptologist. I could get a bone density test. I could get a mammogram all, all the same day. Yeah, in the same location. Yeah, but let me tell you, the people are so friendly there. I know, they are so nice. Yeah, not to mention, forget, of course, Jim Valeriano. Dr. Valeriano is my epileptologist, and I always say he's best in the United States. And titanium man, Dr. Tim Sauber, who, oh, you know, he always tells me, well, you're an outlier. I am telling you, I had no problems, none, none, none with my knee replacements. Because he is— so I, I like so many people there. But yeah, speaking of The Pit, if you're wondering what am I talking about, the TV show on HBO Max. And by the way, Noah Wow won Best Actor Golden Globe and talked a lot about Pittsburgh. But I, I know they always say that I mean, AHN doctors say that they're very, like, realistic as far— right on as far as when they show what they're going to do, what they say they're going to do, and about the medicine and everything else. But have you ever been there, Karen, when they're doing any of this?

When they— when the pit has been shooting at Allegheny General? I have not. Yeah, I have not gone over, but They, the folks from the show, have just been so gracious in, you know, spending time at Allegheny General. Of course, as you said, and I think, you know, they've gotten tons of acclaim from lots of different physicians that have said how realistic the show is. But they've also been really gracious in spending time with the doctors, the nurses, the care technicians. At Allegheny General Hospital. And, you know, as you said, you can see as they speak, as the actors speak about it publicly, the impact that it's had on them to really understand what it means to, you know, to be working within a healthcare system and in particular an emergency room and, you know, how chaotic it can be and how, you know, complex it can be and the emotional toll that it takes on the people that work there. And I think that, you know, they've just done a very nice job of engaging with the folks at Allegheny General. We appreciate that, and it's been great to have Pittsburgh profiled and to have Allegheny General profiled.

It is, it is, and it's so exciting. Every time I watch it, I'm saying, oh, I know where that is. Okay, I know where that is. Really, really exciting. Well, Karen, you and I have had several conversations about this next topic, artificial intelligence, which I know is not just being used, you know, in several industries, but a lot in healthcare. Sure. And so I wanted to talk to you. It's a whole new world for everyone. Like, this is moving so fast that you have to get on board or, or you'll be left out of the equation. But I wanted to ask you, um, what do you think about it? You know, first of all, do you use it at Highmark and AHN? And, you know, what do you just think about how fast this is moving? Is it bad? Is it good? What's your opinion?

Yeah, I mean, so first of all, I would say artificial intelligence has been around for a while, you know. Um, this latest iteration generative artificial intelligence, you know, is, is just yet another iteration of it. And so we have absolutely been using it, artificial intelligence, for, for a while to do different things, usually to allow us to, to do something in a simpler way or to do it faster, to provide a more real-time, you know, experience for the people that we serve and the people that we're working with to take some of the complex tasks and make them simpler for our people. So that they're not so hard. So we've been using it for a while. I think this latest advancement around generative AI brings a whole new set of capabilities to it. And we've seen some really fantastic work come from that. The concept of ambient listening, we're using ambient listening tools in our physician offices so that when the physicians are meeting with a patient, they can be looking at the patient, look them in the eye, you know, not standing at the computer and, you know, potentially even have their back to the person, but they can be looking them in the eye, talking to them. The ambient listening is capturing the discussion from the visit and then it's documenting, you know, the relevant parts of the visit. And that takes the burden off of the physician. They don't have to then document it later. And it's been life-changing for our physicians. You know, the physicians had what they, what they called pajama time, which was basically they'd see patients all day long and then they'd either, you know, then take an hour or two at the end of the day or go home and sit back down at the computer later in the evening and then document all of their notes from the visit. You know, these tools are now doing something like that for them so that, you know, they're not having to do it themselves at 9 and 10:00 at night. And, you know, there's, as we just said, as we were talking about the pit, you know, these can be very stressful environments. And so we can do something like that to take part of the burden off of them and make the job a little bit easier. That's a great thing, you know. And so that's just one very real example that has a very practical application and is making things better. For lots of people. I, I do believe that going forward, the capabilities that are embedded in this latest wave of technology combined with, you know, where the science is and where the science is going, I think this is going to be incredibly useful to us to advance how we deliver medicine and to help find what the best solution is for an individual with more precision and faster, you know, so that you don't have to try this and see if it works or not and then try that and see if it works or not. But we'll be able to use the data, the science, and the technology to get to the right answer more quickly, which will absolutely be best for the patient and, and frankly, better for the entire healthcare ecosystem. We'll produce more affordable care, you know, because we won't have that use of resources in the trial and error. So I'm quite optimistic about it in terms of its ability to really change the experience with the system going forward and to be additive to the clinical environments and help people to get the best care as quickly as we can.

Yes. I mean, just that one example you gave about the ambient listening, for the patient to have the doctor looking at you.

Yeah.

And versus standing there and, you know, looking at the screen and then saying something and looking. I mean, that alone is such a benefit. And I would even say increasing healthcare, increasing safety in healthcare.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yep. Well, I see we have Mathis on the mic with us. The great Jennifer Mathis. Hello, Jennifer.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm good.

Thank you. It's always great to see Mathis on the mic. Well, Jennifer, I know you have a lot going on there today. But what news do you have for us today?

So I will be quick today, but I think one significant piece of news that is worth highlighting today is that today in the Federal Register, HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, published a proposed rule saying that they are planning to eliminate their current rules around disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act. And disparate impact is basically a type of claim or a way that civil rights laws, including disability rights laws, apply. So for example, instead of situations that involve intentional discrimination where somebody says, I don't, you know, I'm doing this because of your disability. Disparate impact would be where there's a neutral rule that applies across the board. Nobody with Section 8 can live in our housing or something like that, and it has a disproportionate impact on a certain protected population like people with disabilities. And, uh, There has historically been in the civil rights laws a doctrine where courts have looked at what things that actions that have a disparate impact on a particular group like people with disabilities and said, well, you know, if there's a less discriminatory way to do this to accomplish the same goal, then you have to do that or else. You're violating the civil rights laws. And so this regulation and this issue of disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act has gone back and forth from one administration to the next. The Obama administration did a rule, the Trump— the first Trump administration changed it and did a different rule. The Biden administration went back to the Obama rule. And now you have this administration saying we're going to eliminate the rule altogether. I think they can't say, as they have been saying for other laws, that there is no disparate impact liability because the Supreme Court has said there is. They have interpreted the Fair Housing Act that way, but they are just saying you know, we're going to take away our rules and just let the courts decide. And so, you know, I think there, that is certainly, it's troubling. It certainly will apply to people with disabilities if they finalize this and take away that rule. We have some tools that some other groups don't have or that don't apply under other civil rights laws, like reasonable accommodations, that sometimes can be helpful in those same circumstances where you might have neutral rules that disadvantage people based on disability. But it is noteworthy. It's a very significant thing that they are doing this. They have had these very short comment periods. The comment period on this is 30 days. For people to submit comments. I think the disability groups will be joining the civil rights groups. None of us have really had much conversation yet because this just came out this morning, and it hasn't even officially been published in the Federal Register. That will happen tomorrow, and there will be 30 days from then to comment. But I would say stay tuned and I think we will have things in our newsletter and we and other groups in the disability community, DREDF, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, AAPD, American Association of People with Disabilities, no doubt will be putting something out to let people know what they can do. But certainly the main ask would be, I think that people submit a comment when comments are due in 30 days. And you can do that on regulations.gov. I think you can look at all of our newsletters and websites and all of that to get instructions on how to do that. I think people— the one thing that people should just be careful about is I don't think we want to say that if they take away this rule, we have no protection, because I think that is not necessarily true. And I think saying things like that can come back to bite us. So I think we will— there will be some needle threading here. And I think, um, the best thing to do is, um, wait for some guidance from, um, the disability groups like us and DREDF and AAPD on what people may say in there, what people should, uh, may want to say in their comments.

Well, Jennifer, are you going to then tell— you have a lot of power on this show. What do you want our listeners to do then?

Well, that's, um, what I, I think is worth waiting a little bit. Um, ultimately, I do think it's important for people to submit a comment and say You shouldn't take away this rule. This rule was carefully thought through. It is consistent with what the Supreme Court has said, and it has been, you know, it's worked. There's no suggestion that it hasn't worked well. And, you know, but for further guidance than that, I think for kind of what more to say. I would suggest that— I would recommend that people take a look in probably 2 or 3 weeks at what we and DREDF and AAPD and others are saying.

And we will also remind everyone. Yes, Jennifer, you can remind them. You're a good reminder. Yes. All right, well, listen, thank you for that update. Always love your news, Jennifer. So thank you. Have a good day.

Thank you.

You too.

Take care. We are the only place, Karen, anywhere where you can go and get the news about every week about what is happening in the disability community. Because, you know, I always say we don't have CNN or MSNBC or ABC or whatever it is. So people, every week, they get, okay, this is what's happening, which I think is so awesome that we can do that.

I agree.

I want to get back to a moment to AI. Am I also right that doesn't it long-term have the potential to be able to determine if people have a propensity toward cancer or whatever. Yeah. I mean, yeah, so great.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think to the degree that it can identify a propensity that you can do something about, you can take an action to help adjust or change the trajectory, that's amazing, right? It can help us to be healthier. And then I think the similarly to the degree that it can, you know, through that very personalized view of you, your DNA, you know, the makeup of your body, how it will or won't react to, you know, a certain pharmaceutical or a different intervention and help to make, you know, the clinicians smarter about that so that they choose the best intervention for you. And help to make you smarter about it so that you comply with the directions associated with that intervention, I think it will allow us to really make a material difference in healthcare. So that's part of the reason that I'm excited about it and think that it's going to bring big change to lots of things. But I can see a ton of benefits for what it can do in the healthcare arena.

So would you say for high school students, college students, and employees that it would behoove them to learn something about AI? What do you think about that?

I would, yeah. I mean, I think the, you know, the simplest framing that, you know, I think you pretty commonly hear out there is that, you know, this wave of capabilities is like what the internet was you know, 20, 25 years ago, whatever it, whatever it is, that it's going to bring that level, level of innovation and change to how we interact, how we work, you know, how we seek information and, and figure out what to do. And so, you know, with that in mind, yeah, you better figure out how to engage with it and how to use it. It, you know, to, to your advantage. And, um, yeah, I think, you know, kids that are going through school now, um, you know, are in a position where they can take the time to learn it firsthand and really get good training around it. You know, um, people like you and I that, you know, are busy doing jobs, you have to find a way to like carve out some space to, to learn a little bit about it and make ourselves better at it. And I'm trying to make sure that I do that professionally One, just so that I'm more conversant with it and about it. And two, so that when we're talking to our people here at Highmark about it and they're adopting and they're interacting with it, that I know what it means, you know, so that as a leader, I'm, you know, I know what it means for them to make the sort of changes that we're talking about making.

Yeah. And when people say to me, well, you know what, this is terrible. It's bad. It's going to be bad. It's taking everyone's jobs. It's going to do all these millions of things. I say, do you remember when the internet first came out? Yeah. And people said the same thing. Now, no doubt about it. There will be great things. There will be bad things. How is it with the internet? There are great things, there are bad things. It's just that it's far more great things. You know, you help people to live easier. Yeah. And something one of your employees said to me, Mike Stenson, he said, you know, the only people that are going to lose their jobs, they're not going to lose it because AI took it. They're going to lose it because they didn't take time to learn it. Right. I agree with that.

Don't you? Yeah, I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you want to, you know, put your head in the sand and, and not take the time to understand it and learn it, then of course it elevates your, your risk that you're going to get left behind, you know, and the better answer is to engage, figure out how to use it to make yourself better, you know, in terms of what you do. To make your job easier, to make your job faster, to provide better quality in the work that you do, to create new value, you know, find it to create new ways of adding value. And so I very much encourage people to, you know, learn and participate. We, you know, we offer our— here at Highmark Health, we're offering a lot of classes on it and training sessions and And, you know, we've, we've made an appropriately protected version of the, you know, the commercial large language models available to our people to use in their everyday work so that they can get more comfortable with it and accustomed to it. And I just would encourage people to, to lean into it. You know, you know the saying, the one thing that is certain is change. Everything will continue to change, and this is another phase of change, and you have to, you know, adapt with the times.

Yeah, you do, because that's— the other day my sister called me and she was looking for— she's working with a group of people on a petition to get cameras in skilled nursing them because they have that in Ohio. So she called me and said, you don't happen to have a petition or like a template, do you? I said, hold on, ChatGPT.

Yeah, there you go.

And I told them even what it was about. Yeah. And like in, oh, a minute less, no, 30 seconds, whatever it was, there it all comes. And I mean, And this is why— think how long that would have taken if I had done all the research trying to find this. So I too would encourage you, Copilot, ChatGPT, you need to look at it and, you know, use it. Yeah, start using it and you'll get used to it. Yeah. So So, Karen, I hear you talk a lot about healthcare being patient-focused. What is that? Could you explain what that is?

Yeah. I mean, you know, it's what I referenced earlier, that it's really remembering that we have to have the consumer at the center of how we're thinking about the healthcare ecosystem. I think historically, if you look over the past what, several decades of the healthcare system, it probably operated more with the constituents of the system, the people working in the system in mind than it did the consumer or the patient themselves. And listen, people's expectations are higher now. You know, you and I walk around with our phones and, you know, we can do lots on this phone. We can do most of our or all of our banking. We can, you know, look at our health records, we can, you know, manage our calendar. And so folks have just gotten accustomed to a level of convenience and engagement that looks different than what the system, the healthcare ecosystem really enabled before. And we need to update with that, you know, and part of the reason that we need to is because a critical element to better health is the way people themselves engage with the system. You know, it's the choices you make. It's the everyday, you know, you've got a daily medication you're supposed to take that you actually are committed to it. You're taking it every day. You're paying attention to the signs from your body. You're, you know, understanding your markers and scores on your blood tests and those sorts of things. Engagement is key. And so the understanding of the patient or the consumer, the ways they like to interact, what's important to them, when they want to interact, right, allows us to be more relevant in getting the best information to them at the most appropriate time so that they will act on it and ultimately take the best care of themselves. And then on top of it, you have just the fact that, you know, the system can be frustrating. And, and we all know that as consumers within the healthcare ecosystem. And, um, we should be focused on a, a, a better experience. For the people we serve. And so I think it's both, you know, just general experience as well as the difference it can make for somebody's health.

Yeah, and you know, as you just said, patients come first. So I want to say something here. Study after study has shown that companies that work with people with disabilities or are disability-friendly or employ people with disabilities. You know, there are trillions of dollars out there. When people think of people with disabilities, please keep in mind, brother, sister, father, mother, aunt, uncle, you know, spouse, partner. I could go on and on, but it's like a little family. That little family spends money. And I will tell you that I know from these studies how people with disabilities gravitate to those that do something for the disability community. And I am here to tell you, 30 years ago I started Bender Consulting Services with the help of Highmark. And here we are 30 years later. All these people have jobs. You know, it's ongoing. So when— if you're looking for thinking about a company that really gets it for the disability community, it's Heimark. I just want you all to know that, that it's Heimark. So Karen, you already told us about the states. And you also said you're international. Where do you work internationally?

United Concordia actually works on behalf of the active duty military in providing dental services. So when somebody is deployed, hopefully they're able to get their dental services. We, of course, take care of their dental needs before they're deployed. Once they're deployed, hopefully whatever dental needs come up, are able to be taken care of on base. But to the degree that they're not, you know, they require a network of dentistry services off of the base. And so we work to help facilitate that and put that together when folks are actively deployed. So doing some work there. And then, you know, honestly, we work with companies everywhere throughout the entire world in terms of our healthcare offerings and the skills and capabilities that we need and, and, you know, the different functions that we need to bring all of it together. It's, you know, it's a necessity for us to be able to work 24/7, 365. You know, when you're in healthcare, that's what you have to be able to do. And you have to be able to interact in real time based on what somebody's needs are at the time. And so it takes takes, you know, lots other than just the people that we directly employ to do that. So we're working with folks everywhere.

So people listening to this show, because I know enrollment is done, but people listening to the show that want Highmark Insurance or want to change their insurance to Highmark Insurance, can they do that or do they have to wait? How does that work?

So it depends on how you're getting your insurance. If, if you're employed and your employer employer is providing health insurance and you don't have Highmark, you'd go to your employer and you'd say, man, I'd really like Highmark coverage. And again, that would really be for the Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage if you're in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, parts of New York. If you were working for an employer that, you know, sat in North Carolina or somewhere else, there's a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan there. In that other state that could help you. If you are somebody that's over the age of 65 and you're, you know, you're purchasing your own insurance, whether it's a supplement to the regular Medicare or whether you're buying a separate Medicare product, a Part C Medicare product, you'd, you know, go on our website and look for the coverage options or you talk to a broker about the coverage options, certainly you could call our main call center numbers and we would get you in touch with somebody that can help you to understand your options and choose the best coverage for yourself. If you're buying your coverage through the Affordable Care Act, very much the same. You know, go to the website, we'll get you to the right place, or call our customer service, we'll get you to the right place. Things are handled a little bit differently state by state. If you're buying through the Affordable Care Act. On both the Affordable Care Act and the Medicare Advantage business, the, the business where you're over age 65, there are definitely time periods where you can sign up and time periods where you can't change. So it gets a little bit technical and, and you have to understand which product you're buying to, you know, comply with the appropriate time frames. But just in general, if you're trying to understand your options, go to our website and you'll find a link there or Give us a call and we'll help you get connected with the best coverage.

Yeah. And if you are like a small business or medium-sized business or whatever, disability-owned business enterprises, some have, you know, 1,000 employees. You heard what I told you about disability when it comes to Highmark. They always say Highmark sets the high mark for other companies to follow. Yeah. Karen, I wanted to ask you a couple last questions, but I'm going to skip ahead to this one because I want to make sure I get to talk to you about it. When you are interviewing someone or, or at your level making a decision on getting someone in a role, What are some of the characteristics you look for?

Yeah. So first of all, I want somebody that's collaborative, you know, able to get along with people. We talked at the very beginning of this conversation about being able to interact with other people and read them and understand them and figure out how to adjust your approach. So collaboration is a big thing for me. Emotional intelligence is a big thing. You know, when I'm asked the question, you know, what's the biggest thing that you interview for? You know, for leadership roles, it's emotional intelligence, understanding, you know, when it's time to just listen and let somebody else talk, when it's time to, you know, talk yourself, the best way to deliver a message because, you know, not every message is a positive one. So, you know, how do you best deliver the message you need to deliver so that it's received in the right way and, and the right actions are taken. So those are probably the, the two biggest things. Of course, you know, we— I want to know that the person has the right technical skill set to do the role and, you know, that they meet the criteria for the job. But that, that to me is kind of like the first screening to make sure that they, you know, they check all the knowledge boxes. And then I'm really interviewing going for who you are as a person and how you're going to interact with other people. Are you going to fit culturally here at Highmark? And part of the reason that I focus on collaboration and emotional intelligence is, you know, we have a very low ego environment here, and I think that starts with the leadership of David Holmberg and moves its way through the organization. And, um, that's a component of the culture that we value. So, you know, if you're not able to show the right emotional intelligence and kind of check your own ego when it needs to be checked, you're probably not going to do well here, you know. And so cultural fit is, is a big component. It's some of those behavioral things that we're looking for to make sure that you're going to be a strong cultural fit.

Um, so, Karen, we're getting toward the end, but I wanted to ask you, over the past 10 years, if you had to say— if someone asked you, hey, what do you think has been Highmark's greatest accomplishment, what would you say?

I think it's the standing up of, of Allegheny Health Network and, um, really taking a stand as it relates to healthcare and doing things a little differently. And, and You know, just a second of background. Allegheny Health Network got started because here in Pittsburgh, we had, you know, a bit of a crisis going on. The, the largest health system in the market basically said, hi, Mark, we're not going to see your customers anymore. And, you know, you're going to have to find other providers to care for those customers. And the second largest provider provider in Pittsburgh at that time was a provider that was majorly struggling. It was a system called West Penn Allegheny Health System, and they were frankly on the verge of bankruptcy. They weren't going to be capable of caring for all of the people that Highmark had accountability for. And so we went ahead and essentially acquired West Penn Allegheny Health System to resurrect it. To stand it back up to be capable of caring for people and to provide choice and competition in the healthcare delivery arena, uh, in Western Pennsylvania. And we did that, you know, we've had great success with that. Now we're using it and using that payer and provider that we have, you know, in our portfolio, being able to provide coverage for somebody and care for somebody. And we're saying, how do we use all the capabilities that we have to really change the consumer experience to enable better healthcare, and through better healthcare to enable more affordable healthcare. And, you know, so that's really, you know, that's driving the mission. And so I'm most proud of the decision the company made to really, you know, establish Allegheny Health Network, and then to pursue the strategy that we are You know, it's, it's healthcare is not an easy business. So you're trying to run a complex business and then do it with an eye toward affordability, experience, and health outcomes. You know, it's, there's, there's a lot to it, but I think we did a great job.

I agree with you. I think that's so great how Highmark went in, as you said, they were ready to go bankrupt. And saved it. Karen, I want to thank you so much for just you, for everything you do to help people with disabilities. And, you know, I'm just so blessed and honored to know you. And we all, people with disabilities, we all thank you. We end every show with a quote that reminds me of Karen. By Helen Keller, and it is, "Hold your head high, look the world straight in the eye," said the great Helen Keller. And in the words of Mary Brooker, when you get up tomorrow, remember, choose joy. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters at voiceamerica.com. Talk to you all next week as we continue to celebrate Highmark Month. See you then.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11:00 AM Pacific Time and 2:00 PM Eastern Time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.