Evaluating ROI in Health Plan-Community Partnerships [Podcast Series]
[:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Paula Turrichi
Paula Turrichi is Chief Strategy Officer for Parkland Community Health Plan.
[1:10] Parkland Community Health Plan
“[W]e assist [families] with addressing their healthcare needs, access to clinic appointments, in patient care, behavioral health. And then we also have value added services and different events that we hold in the community to support the members who have joined our health plan.”
[2:06] Taking healthcare out into communities
“So many people throughout the community are serving the same types of community members that we do. So we try to get together and sort of increase the impact of our work together.”
[4:04] Assessing community needs
“And so what is it that we could bring not only as a health plan, but as a health system, and then in conjunction with all of the other agencies in the community, to affect those health needs, those life expectancies, those social determinants of health? And how can we do that together to have the most impact?”
[5:43] Partnering to connect members to services
“So we just, we try to partner with as many agencies as we can who can help us to connect our members and the community at large to services that exist that folks may or may not know about.”
[8:53] Determining fit for partnering
“[W]e are on the receiving end of a lot of innovative ideas. And so one of the things that we try to do is determine if there's a match.”
[11:53] Evaluating return on investment
“And so in some cases, we take a look at our data that we have on hand. Do we have a need for this particular tool? Is this a good fit with our membership population, the folks who we serve? Is there an economic benefit, for example? Or is there a clinical benefit? Is there a quality benefit? And we try to do some cost benefit analysis with regard to the financial situation to see if what the offer is, is truly going to pay off.”
[14:31] Using data to drive decision making
“If you're trying to quantify cost avoidance from that prevention, it does take a while. And I think that's where you have to bring as much data as you can, or as much research as you can, to back up your proposal To say folks have studied this, and this is what we see in the research. This is how we can benchmark ourselves. And really, to have a persuasive argument, you need to have that background, and that backup information, to really convince folks to move forward with those long term types of proposals.”
[15:47] Addressing whole person health
“So I'm really excited to see how many folks are really taking social determinants and whole person care to heart and really incorporating that into the way we deliver care.”
[19:33] Providing gym memberships
“I think that we have a long way to go in terms of incorporating movement into the services that we offer for our members. We found that through our value added services, we had an idea, oh, well, we will offer a gym membership to our members. And so what we found was that very few of our members took advantage of it. And that was somewhat disheartening.”
[24:36] Barriers to using gym memberships
“Also, during COVID, many of the gyms were closed, and so it wasn't really something that folks could use. So having those opportunities to engage in that movement, and that physical activity, in your own time and in your own space, was much more valued.”
[26:28] Reframing exercise as movement
“I'm not sure that I have seen a huge difference in the way they're framed. I think that we have an opportunity as an organization to reframe that. And also to really engage with members about what they want to do or what motivates them, as opposed to, we as sort of a paternalistic organization want you to exercise because that will make you healthy.”
[27:32] Defining a successful partnership
“I think that a successful partnership is one that there is a mutual relationship. It is a partnership, it's a collaboration, and there is a shared opportunity to really impact the community.”
