Employer Health with Robert Andrews, CEO of Health Transformation Alliance

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Robert Andrews, CEO of Health Transformation Alliance (HTA).  HTA is a non-profit alliance of nearly 45 Corporations who are working to improve the outcomes of healthcare and reduce the costs of medical care.  The Alliance includes such names as: IBM, Coca-Cola, 3M, Walgreens, Marriott, Pitney Bowes, Verizon, Dupont, Shell, Prudential and Fedex - to name a few.  Rob outlines HTA’s bold mission which is to “fix our broken healthcare system”; to “help companies take better care of the people who take care of them”; and to reverse the perverse incentives of the current Fee-For-Service payment model by paying physicians for value-based preventive care and improved health outcomes. Placing himself in challenging situations in order to serve the public, taking on ambitious goals, and getting them accomplished, is not a new pattern for Mr. Andrews.  Prior to his current role at HTA, he served as a Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 24 years.  Upon his departure from the House, President Barack Obama praised Rob’s service as “an original author of the Affordable Care Act… and a vital partner in its passage and implementation”.  In this interview Rob outlines the three major tactics the HTA is taking in order to accomplish its mission. The first is to lower pharmaceutical spending through appropriately cutting out non-value added costs in the pharmaceutical supply chain.  The second is to select provider groups with a demonstrable track record of delivering excellent health outcomes, cost effectively.  And the third is to engage employees in becoming proactive participants in their own healthcare.  These activities are all informed by IBM Watson Health’s supercomputing analytics.   It seems like HTA is well on its way to achieving its goals.  They are predicting healthcare savings of hundreds of millions of dollars in the first three years.  However, Rob Andrews convincingly argues that HTA's mission is not primarily about cost; but instead, they are focused on improving health outcomes, which will drive costs down - a win for employees and their employers.  You’ll be inspired by the conviction, integrity and energy that Mr. Andrews brings to this critically important task at hand.