00;00;01;16 - 00;00;05;22 Announcer And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall 00;00;05;24 - 00;00;23;18 Cary Hall Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA, our producer, Mr. Darren Willhite, This is your show, America. Thank you for joining us and making us one of the most listened to talk shows throughout the United States. You can follow me on Facebook and you can do that on Twitter at America's Healthcare Advocate. That is the way to follow me. Also, the website America's Healthcare Advocate. Com If you've got questions or a comment, send me an email. I get a bunch of them, but I answer each and every one, by the way. Podcast platforms. We have 14 of them now. So I'll go through these and people ask me, why do I do this every show? Because I keep getting asked, What podcast platforms are you on? So Spotify, SoundCloud, RSS Podcasts, Overcast, Rumble, Stitcher, iTunes, TuneIn. Pandora, Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Amazon, Google, Audacy and YouTube. I think that's all out there for us anymore. We're not on You want us to be on. Let me know and a little bit about that. We have 225,000 views on YouTube since January of this year and we have 48,000 downloads on the podcast platform. That is because of all of you out there. So thank you very much for doing all that. And thank you to all of you listening on an FM radio around the country. All right. If you are a seasoned citizen, chronologically challenged and you are looking for Medicare coverage, the good people, but RPS Benefits by Design would be happy to help you anywhere in the country. 00;01;33;28 - 00;01;55;21 Cary Hall 877 385 2224. You can ask for the lovely Joyce Thompson or Carolee Steele. They are Medicare experts. I'll be happy to help you. And if you're looking for employer sponsored health care, Maria Ahlers is there to help you as well. 877 385 2224. Well, joining me in studio today is Grayson Carver and Ryan Roth, both from Blue Cross. 00;01;55;22 - 00;01;58;10 Cary Hall Welcome back to have you in here today. 00;01;58;13 - 00;01;59;04 Gratia Carver Glad to be. 00;01;59;25 - 00;02;19;13 Cary Hall You know, we're doing a kind of an interesting show today. We're doing a show on this. This is the J.D. Power Award that was given to Blue Cross and Blue Shield this year. And we're going to talk about that. And here's why. You know, I had a friend of mine say to me the other day, you know, it seems like customer service, the word customer service service has gone out of customer service. 00;02;19;22 - 00;02;38;23 Cary Hall Well, that's not the case. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. So you get a feel and a little understanding of why it's different there and what they do to make it different. So, Gratia, let's just start off with that. This is the second time you've won this award and this one was in how many categories was this for it? 00;02;38;24 - 00;02;45;20 Gratia Carver All six of the study factors for J.D. Power. We ranked number one in all six of them. 00;02;46;13 - 00;03;05;22 Cary Hall And that was for the Midwest region, correct? That's Blue Cross over all the rest of the United, Humana, Cigna, you know, go down the list. Okay. Aetna, the whole nine yards. They're ranked number one. To talk a little bit about what goes into that, It's kind of interesting how they come up with this and how they how many people they pull and all the rest. 00;03;05;22 - 00;03;06;26 Cary Hall To talk a little bit about that. 00;03;06;26 - 00;03;35;25 Gratia Carver Yeah, J.D. Power does a study every single year running from January to March, I believe is kind of their study cycle. And they randomly survey members across that the heartland region and determine which health insurance agency they are with. And with those results, we ranked number one in the heartland region this year. And again, I think it's really important, Carrie, to to really point out that we ranked number one in all six factors. 00;03;36;02 - 00;03;50;20 Gratia Carver So it's about cost, it's about providers, it's about the network, it's about payments, it's about customer service. And I think that just really speaks to the entire organization of Blue KC employees contributing to this work. 00;03;50;29 - 00;04;12;01 Cary Hall Yeah, it is. And Ryan, you know, you're, you know, you're director of sales and so you're talking to the brokers. You're also talking to employers who have the plan and other people. That's got to make things a little bit different for you in terms of what you're getting, in terms of feedback back from folks when they do have to engage with the customer service rep at Blue Cross? 00;04;12;01 - 00;04;36;17 Ryan Roth Ryan Absolutely. We get consistent feedback that it's easy to access people at Blue Cross and Blue Shield all the way through the process, from pre-sale, all the way through implementation and throughout the life of the case makes it easier for the broker community. It makes it easier for employers when they have an issue and need a resolution. So, yes, consistently get that feedback. 00;04;36;25 - 00;04;57;22 Cary Hall Yeah. And so, you know, Ryan said something interesting. That was the life of the case. You know, one of the things I referenced, for instance, when we talk about Medicare is you see all these commercials on television, right? And you've got the celebrity up there, you know, Jimmie Walker or William Devane or whoever it is when they're not selling coins or whatever they're doing. 00;04;58;01 - 00;05;22;05 Cary Hall Okay. Telling you to call this one 800 number for Medicare. What I always tell people is, well, first of all, you're going to call it okay, and you're going to get some high pressure sales tactic. But after we get to all of that, what happens when you have to call it back? Because you have one of these six issues, whether it's a billing and payment issue, a coverage and benefits issue, a customer service issue or provider choice, what do you do? 00;05;22;05 - 00;05;31;16 Cary Hall And when it's time to call back, there's going to be anybody there. Gratia And that that's you know, what Brian just said was for the life of the case or the life of the policy. 00;05;32;02 - 00;05;55;13 Gratia Carver Right? I mean, I think for for Blue KC because our value as members, first, we're doing everything we can to make sure that we understand, you know, what the top issues are. We train our representatives to handle those and we also do a lot of improvement work internally. Kari where we're driving out those issues and making things easier for our members as we go. 00;05;55;20 - 00;06;05;15 Gratia Carver So we design intentional experiences to really try to anticipate and be proactive in issues so that members don't even have to call. 00;06;06;01 - 00;06;25;28 Cary Hall Well, and that's that's the best part. But, you know, it is, you know, when I when I was doing this as a broker for 26 years, one of the things that I was always say to the client was not if but when you have a claims issue or when Ryan Smiley or when you have a provider issue, you are going to want to talk to somebody. 00;06;25;28 - 00;06;43;12 Cary Hall And what you don't want to do is get 14 voice prompts and then sit on hold and listen to music that you don't even like talk for however long and then get somebody on the line that is, Well, no, I really can't help you. I'm to pass you to this person that is completely different than the way things happen to Blue Cross. 00;06;43;12 - 00;06;46;27 Cary Hall And I speak from experience there, But talk about that for a minute and I'll come back to my story. 00;06;47;02 - 00;07;12;15 Gratia Carver Yeah, that's such a good point, because one of our key really value is in measurements, if you will, is that we are solving that issue on first contact for that member. So we empower our reps to have the knowledge and to have the tools in front of them to resolve those issues The first time a member calls, and that I will tell you, that is a big part of some of these other awards too. 00;07;12;15 - 00;07;23;27 Gratia Carver We were very fortunate to win over ten awards by four different agencies, all on the same day, coincidentally. But a big part of that is our ability to resolve those issues on first contact. 00;07;24;06 - 00;07;40;12 Cary Hall Yeah. And, you know, as I said, I speak from experience. You know, my wife had an issue here not so long ago where Q Medical Center had misquoted. I know it's a surprise that that would happen, had misquoted a lab bill, and she was kind of wide having to pay for it. And she picked up the phone and she called the customer service. 00;07;40;14 - 00;08;00;15 Cary Hall I told you is off air there a minute ago. She called. She was on the phone. I'm not exaggerating for at least 45 minutes with that person and they track back all the way through. They got the problem resolved and cue, you know, reclassified the bill and it got paid. It wasn't a big deal. I mean, it was like, I don't know, 60, $70, whatever it was. 00;08;00;23 - 00;08;16;03 Cary Hall But my wife was like, we're not paying this because it should be paid. Well, she was right. But the great thing was she didn't get shuffled off. Well, you need to go to the billing department. Oh, you need to go over here. You need to go over to that Lady state. I mean, she was in the office. The door closes, she goes, I'm still on the phone. 00;08;16;03 - 00;08;32;27 Cary Hall I'm like, You've been on the phone now for 30 minutes. It was all done. She goes, Well, guess what? We got it done. Yeah, And that's what I mean. Okay, Is it there? They're there and they stick with, with the, with the client to walk them through the process and get the thing resolved. So that first call thing is really a big deal. 00;08;32;27 - 00;08;33;06 Cary Hall It's a. 00;08;33;06 - 00;08;52;18 Gratia Carver Huge benefit. And you know, we balance that with employee engagement strategies as well. One of these awards looks at both of those factors. First contact resolution and our high employee engagement. Our feeling is, you know, without satisfied and empowered employees, you really don't get a lot in service. So we look at both. 00;08;53;04 - 00;09;10;25 Cary Hall Yeah. And again, you know, I think that's the key to the thing is is you're empowering the employees to do what they need to do, and that translates back to the experience that the customer has. And that in turn is what makes Blue KC different in this town. By the way, all those folks are located right here on Main Street. 00;09;11;00 - 00;09;35;28 Cary Hall They're not in a call center in a foreign country. Yes, that does happen. Or in New York or someplace else. So it's a little bit different. The way it works here at Blue KC. If you want information, the website is bluekc.com, blue KC dot com, or you can call 816 395 3858 Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. 00;09;35;28 - 00;09;46;14 Cary Hall You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network Coast to Coast across the USA. We've got more. Don't go anywhere. 00;09;46;17 - 00;10;19;22 Steve Kuker The Golden rule, Treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker and this is one of the founding principles of my firm, Senior Care Consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included honor our mother and father, respect our elders, care for those in need, and treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make, serving them in their greatest time of need. 00;10;19;25 - 00;10;47;27 Steve Kuker If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913 945 2800, 913 945 2800. Know your options and choose with care at Senior Care Consulting dot com. 00;10;47;29 - 00;11;09;19 Cary Hall Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the fruited plain here on the HIA Radio Network you can find out more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. If you've got a question or comment, send me an email I get a lot of them, but I'm happy to answer each one when I get them. 00;11;09;21 - 00;11;24;02 Cary Hall If you had a suggestion for the show or if you need help with something I you know someone call the they had a 90 year old mother and was having issues with trying to find a certain kind of treatment. We were able to help them do that. We are happy to do that. If you have questions, like I said, go to the website. 00;11;24;02 - 00;11;46;20 Cary Hall America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. My producer, Darren Wilhite. Behind the camera is Dave Thiessen in Studio three, Gratia Carver and Ryan Roth, both from Blue KC: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. So if you are looking for group health insurance, individual health insurance, medical excuse me, Medicare insurance, you can go to their website, BlueKC.com. 00;11;46;21 - 00;12;03;24 Cary Hall All their policies are up there and the information is up there. Or you can ask your local broker about that and they should be able to help you with it. Or you can call them directly. And they're happy to do that. You know, they are right down there on Main Street and you can actually show up down there, make an appointment, show up and go in and talk to one of their people. 00;12;03;24 - 00;12;28;19 Cary Hall If you've got a health insurance issue or maybe you're looking for one of those Medicare policies, whatever the case may be, they're right here in Kansas City and they're happy to help you. Once again, the phone number 816 395 3858. Ryan, let's shift this a little bit to the broker side of this equation, because I remember back in the day when we would go sit down with the employer or even individual health insurance or on the Medicare side, it's pretty much the same thing. 00;12;28;21 - 00;12;46;08 Cary Hall And we would show them the different opportunities ahead with various carriers. One of the things I would caution people about is and I said this in the first segment was because what happens is typically, especially on the employer side, is they drop right to the bottom line. They want to look at the price in your smile, get young, which I get okay. 00;12;46;11 - 00;13;36;18 Cary Hall I mean, I understand that you're paying for this for employees. You want to get the best value you can. But the flip side of that is I would say to them was there were certain carriers that I really cautioned them. I said, you go ahead and do this, but I want you understand that, you know, when your employees are standing at the pharmacy and can't get a prescription filled or, you know, have got a doctor issue or the case, maybe don't call me screaming and yelling because you couldn't get through to anybody to help you, because you called the one 800, I don't give a damn number. Okay. Which is exactly what the in this particular carrier's case is, what I called it. Or you can look over here at the Blue KC plan and you have that problem. They're going to help you. And if they can't help you for some reason and you call us, I'll be able to connect with somebody, a Blue Cross, who will do their best to get you know, I never said we're going to get it 100% resolved. 00;13;36;18 - 00;13;41;02 Cary Hall It was a claims issue or something, but you're going to get an answer. How important is that? 00;13;41;20 - 00;14;03;10 Ryan Roth I think it's critically important. And to touch on what you mentioned a moment ago, price is important. It is important, but insurance is complex and it's not something that people know inside and out because they're focused on the other things that they do day in and day out. So it's nice to know that somebody is there when they have an issue. 00;14;03;18 - 00;14;25;24 Ryan Roth It's going to walk them through the process and get them a resolution. And I'd like to touch on for a moment, which you had mentioned at your opening there, a local team, a local team's important there. We're in the same time zone. So when you need to issue resolved, we're talking on the same time zones as somebody is always available if you need to see somebody in person. 00;14;26;01 - 00;14;46;16 Ryan Roth Our team is local so you can come in or in some scenarios, you know, if it's a broker support or something. We have support teams that can go out and meet in a broker's office or help them with the enrollment meeting or whatever it might be. So it really goes a long way to have a company that is so highly focused on delivering that level of service. 00;14;46;21 - 00;15;04;26 Cary Hall You know, I made this little Segway earlier in the first segment. I talked about, you know, you can call the that television number, you want to call on Medicare, and they give you that number to call. And you're speaking to an agent. I mean, they may be in Illinois, they may be in Arkansas, they may be in New York, two maybe in California. 00;15;04;26 - 00;15;24;27 Cary Hall Okay. And I always tell people, when did you do this one? When you go to ask them about the hospital north of the river and they ask you what river you probably know, you've got somebody that doesn't know anything about Kansas City? You're laughing. Okay. But I mean, that that actually happens. I mean, I've had people say, you know, I yeah, they didn't know anything about. 00;15;25;04 - 00;15;38;10 Cary Hall So how important is that Back to this. Those are the folks that you go to church with. Those are the folks in your PTA, Those are the folks your kids go to school with. You know, you're the teacher, you know it. The local community people here understand the community. 00;15;38;20 - 00;15;59;24 Ryan Roth Absolutely. They know. They know where that hospital is and they know what north of the river means. They know they knew it. They know the nuances of this particular market. So when you have a question, you're not spending the extra time and energy explaining to them what the question is you're asking. They know. So so they're going to be able to get to the resolution quicker for you. 00;15;59;29 - 00;16;19;12 Cary Hall Yeah. Again, you're as you said, you're not explaining to them what the issue is. They're able to say to you, yeah, it's North Garden City hospital records, delivery wards, Cameron Regional, whatever the case may be. So they actually know where they are, what they do. And yeah, they're in network or know they're, you know, whatever, then that that's critically important, isn't it? 00;16;19;18 - 00;16;41;12 Ryan Roth Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I hear it regularly. I engage with the broker community a lot. I keep referencing brokers and they, they repeatedly say, you know prices important, but we put a lot of business with you because of your service model. You're there for our for the members, you're there for the groups. You're there to support us as brokers. 00;16;41;12 - 00;16;43;29 Ryan Roth It just makes the process easy from beginning to end. 00;16;44;02 - 00;17;06;05 Cary Hall Well, you know, from the broker viewpoint, the first one that gets the call, if they're unhappy is the broker. Okay. And it gets to the why did you put us on this policy, you know, which is why that little caveat that I gave earlier, what I would say to you, I hadn't picked that one, but if you pick it, okay, they're call centers in India. 00;17;06;11 - 00;17;27;10 Cary Hall Okay. And that's a true story. Okay. And I don't know if their call center centers still in India, but for a long time it was with that particular carrier. So, you know, try try figuring that out. Okay. You know, when you're calling the customer service center or the customer service centers in Connecticut or someplace else and they haven't got a clue, you know, what they're dealing with here in Kansas City. 00;17;27;10 - 00;17;31;22 Cary Hall And I think that's really important Gratia for people to know your team is right here. 00;17;31;26 - 00;17;53;28 Gratia Carver Yeah. And I think you know, the word local in this conversation reminds me, too, that, you know, our service representatives, they they're taking care of family. Right? We are local in town. It's their family that is also using our benefits. And I think that's one of our differentiators. Right. It's and we talk to our our representatives about that during training. 00;17;53;28 - 00;18;02;21 Gratia Carver We have, you know, long conversations about empathy. And they feel like in Kansas City, they are taking care of their family. 00;18;03;06 - 00;18;19;02 Cary Hall Yeah. And I you know, that's interesting. You use the word empathy. I don't I don't I don't think a lot of folks see a lot of that in customer service these days. I mean, you know, like I said in the opening, the word service has pretty much gone out of customer service. In a lot of cases. You do some of these big national companies. 00;18;19;02 - 00;18;36;22 Cary Hall I might just talk about health insurance. I pick any category that consumers have to interface with and try to get somebody to respond to you and care about, you know, what your issue is, is just not there like it used to be, though. It's not the norm. Not anymore. Oh, don't you want to go do an online chat? 00;18;36;25 - 00;18;42;17 Cary Hall No, I don't want to do an online chat. I want to chat with somebody. I don't want to go and do an online chat. Right. 00;18;42;26 - 00;18;56;20 Gratia Carver Right. I and I think that's, you know, one of the things that's really important to us is we also look very carefully at even our staffing models to make sure that we have people there to pick up the phone immediately. 00;18;56;20 - 00;19;13;03 Cary Hall Yeah, and you do. And that's that's one of the great things the website is Blue KC dot com, Blue KC, dot com. All their products are up there, whether it's Medicare or it's ACA, individual health insurance, or whether it's a group health insurance policy. They've got many models. They're up there on the website if you just want to connect with them. 00;19;13;10 - 00;19;32;28 Cary Hall 816 395 3858, 816 395 3858. I want to go down and talk to them on Main Street. They're happy to do that. Give them a call. We'll be right back after the break. Your listing to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA radio network Coast to coast across the USA. We've got more. 00;19;33;00 - 00;19;39;02 Announcer Tell me down at my right, I'm from. 00;19;42;05 - 00;20;00;02 Cary Hall Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. You can also go up on those 14 podcast platforms. We're on all of them that I named the beginning of the show. 00;20;00;04 - 00;20;15;21 Cary Hall In fact, if you look for one, you'll probably find us on it, including YouTube. If you want to tell somebody about the show or listen to it, you this one, whatever the case may be, they're all posted now on the podcast platforms and on YouTube. And a lot of folks are using that as their way to listen to us. 00;20;15;22 - 00;20;37;03 Cary Hall My producer in studio, Darren Willhite, the man behind the camera, Dave Thiessen in studio with me, Gratia Carver and Ryan Roth, both from Blue KC here in Kansas City. We are talking about primarily this, the J.D. Power Award, which they have won for the second time, and they want it in all the categories that J.D. Power surveyed, which is pretty amazing. 00;20;37;03 - 00;20;55;27 Cary Hall And we're talking about the value of customer service. And as I said a couple of times so far on the broadcast, unfortunately, in today's world, it seems like the word service has gone out of customer service. That is not the case. A Blue KC The other thing is not the case of blue cases. You've got an 85 year history and I don't think there's anybody else in town can say that. 00;20;55;27 - 00;20;57;10 Cary Hall Am I right or wrong about that one? 00;20;57;15 - 00;21;23;07 Gratia Carver Yeah, And I think it brings a lot of pride to our employees. And you know what's most important for our members because of our experience and our ability to take care of our members and just to tell you a funny story to carry, we do a lot of work internally just to make sure members first is in the DNA of who we are and one of the things that we did recently is we celebrated our first member honoring. 00;21;23;07 - 00;21;25;00 Cary Hall And celebrated your first member. 00;21;25;00 - 00;21;48;27 Gratia Carver Our very first member 85 years ago as part of our, you know, member's first kind of commitment. But we have Betty Jackson, who is our very first member, 85 years ago. We have her picture and her story and all of our conference rooms and we talk about our members all the time, just how important they are that that's why we are here and making sure that we treat our members like things. 00;21;48;27 - 00;22;10;29 Cary Hall Kind of cool. I doubt I'd see that in many other major health insurance carriers if I walked into their facility. I don't think I'd tell you who their first member was, actually. Yeah, so that's kind of I was up there of last week meeting with your pharmacy team with on some other issues, and I was there the day of the of the celebration of the 85th of the 85th anniversary is pretty cool. 00;22;11;01 - 00;22;23;22 Cary Hall Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember sitting in the conference room downstairs, they go it's going to get a little loud around here because there were all the folks in the in the cafeteria facility. They're going back and forth, the plates of food and just having a good time. 00;22;24;17 - 00;22;40;29 Gratia Carver Yeah, we take advantage of those kinds of special events for our employees. But again, it really is about a purpose. Blue KC And that's why I joined the organization. There is a purpose there in taking care of our members, and there's nothing more important than our health. 00;22;41;13 - 00;22;57;20 Cary Hall No, there isn't. And, and then being able to access it and having the benefit is is a huge part of it. Right. How important it is it know, because I remember back in the day as a broker, we did have a carrier come in the market and they'd put a product in the market and two years later the product was gone. 00;22;58;00 - 00;23;29;00 Cary Hall We just had a carrier do that. Okay, yeah. Who just pulled out of the market on the group Health insurance side? So how important is it back to this 85 year thing? I mean, you know, Blue Cross has always been there for the last 85 years and continues to be there, you know, as we move forward. So a little bit about that because to me, from on the broker standpoint, when we went when I was out, you know, actively as a broker with my agency benefits Partizan nod part of our piece benefits by design. 00;23;29;12 - 00;23;50;06 Cary Hall That was a big deal to me because I mean, you know, you put on a policy and then the carrier changed their mind and they pulled out of the marketplace and you're left, you know, holding the bag, which is going on right now with some folks. How important it is that 85 years of history, when it relates back to the broker that's talking to the client and or the client, especially when you're talking about the employer sponsored health care. 00;23;50;13 - 00;24;11;11 Ryan Roth Yeah. And if I'm thinking of it from the member perspective, I want to know that I'm with somebody that is stable and invested in their community and going to be there for the long term. We've been here for 85 years. We expect to be for many years to come. So you can put that out of your mind of will they be here in the future, will they not? 00;24;11;11 - 00;24;16;10 Ryan Roth Is it a good, stable place to be? And then you can focus on some of the other issues at play? 00;24;16;22 - 00;24;33;03 Cary Hall Yeah, and like I said, you know, we've had we've had some carriers in and out of this market on more than one occasion. So it does happen. Great. Let's switch gears and talk a little about these 2023 awards. These other awards is a r, c, t global. And did you say these all came about like in the same week? 00;24;33;03 - 00;25;01;27 Gratia Carver And just coincidentally, it all happened on the same day. I don't know how that happened, but yes, that's pretty good. Yeah. So these others are awards around customer experience, practice and and just how we think internally at Blue KC about taking care of our members and designing intentional experiences. And we were just very, very honored to, to win these four of them for goals by very different organizations recognizing us for the work that we've been doing. 00;25;01;27 - 00;25;31;12 Gratia Carver And I think my two favorites, our customers at the Heart of Everything. So we explain what we do at Blue KC to take care of our members and our customers, and that includes providers and brokers too, right? They're all part of that community of our members and and then customer insight and feedback. So just so your listeners know, we do a lot of work to gain customer insight and we use that in the organization to improve things, to design better experiences, to create better experiences for our members. 00;25;31;12 - 00;25;44;18 Gratia Carver And the last thing I'll say on that, Carrie, is that several of these were international, so it's not just local. And I told my team, I can just picture somebody who's in Turkey Googling what is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City. 00;25;45;05 - 00;25;57;20 Cary Hall But yeah, because these are it says World Yeah, World Series annual awards are global. Yeah. This is not JD Power. This is a different deal. It is. And these were you won gold in both these categories? 00;25;57;20 - 00;25;58;00 Gratia Carver Yes. 00;25;58;07 - 00;25;58;23 Cary Hall That's pretty. 00;25;58;23 - 00;26;01;07 Gratia Carver Cool. Yeah, we're pretty very honored. 00;26;01;08 - 00;26;13;05 Cary Hall Yeah. Yeah, you ought to be. That's, that's pretty substantial. And then we go to this service quality management group Annual Call Center Awards. Talk about that one, because that's another one that came across. 00;26;13;05 - 00;26;38;10 Gratia Carver Yeah, that's a really important category. Fighting does it as we won a multiple awards with service quality management, who is a contact center, customer service research firm, and they actually provide research services for most of the blues and they report these numbers back to the association. So it's really, really important. Report card. It is like a report card. 00;26;39;06 - 00;26;57;00 Gratia Carver And we were one of the call center finalists of the year. And I think the other important thing on perspective on this, as is not just the health care industry, as QM has over 500 clients across every industry you can imagine and Blue KC was in their top three contact centers of the year. 00;26;57;28 - 00;27;22;22 Cary Hall That's that's pretty impressive. I remember when you got the first award and Ron Rowe was up here doing the show with me and he talked about not just that, not just the did you just get to J.D. Power, but a number of individuals within your organization. One of them in that particular year was going to win the national award for call for management of customer is. 00;27;22;24 - 00;27;23;13 Gratia Carver Yeah, it. 00;27;23;13 - 00;27;24;20 Cary Hall Is something I remember something. 00;27;24;20 - 00;27;53;14 Gratia Carver Yeah. Service quality management has what we call a world class award, right? So it's world class service and individual reps and supervisors and you know, folks across that the area can win and it's based on resolving issues. And then the call center of the year is also based on employee engagement. So it's those two factors that get us into world class care territory, which means we're providing service above and beyond what others, even other industries are doing. 00;27;54;04 - 00;28;18;26 Cary Hall That's pretty remarkable. You know, there is there's a sort of a peace run that made me think of this with there were changes being made to the Medicare Advantage plan here two years ago and then in place for last year. And I remember sitting down with Jenny Housley and having this conversation and she said, Yeah, we went out and we talked to excellent people and we adjusted the plan to fit what they told us we needed to change. 00;28;19;01 - 00;28;28;13 Cary Hall This is mostly on the ancillary stuff and it was some pretty interesting things came out of that. But I thought it was interesting that you actually took the time to go out and talk to the people that the end users, the product. 00;28;28;18 - 00;28;46;14 Ryan Roth Yeah, we do that consistently. We'll have roundtable discussions, various different surveys throughout the year to make sure that we're delivering on what what's needed in the marketplace. So we'll do broker roundtables, we'll have a member surveys, we do it in a variety of different ways. 00;28;46;23 - 00;28;49;28 Cary Hall And that feedback comes back to all of you. Great to it. 00;28;50;05 - 00;29;22;01 Gratia Carver And so part of our experience work that we do at Blue KC is exactly what Ryan just described. We also have a blue KC Lessons panel that is a set of over 400 individuals and members who can give us feedback at a moment's notice, either via survey or maybe a focus group qualitative focus group. But we talk to our members a lot and will even design experiences and run it by our members to say, Here's what we're thinking about doing, and we may even watch them utilize like our mobile app Carry as one where we actually watch them utilize the app. 00;29;22;01 - 00;29;23;10 Cary Hall Right here on my phone. By the way. 00;29;23;17 - 00;29;27;09 Gratia Carver We make improvements based on that feedback and those observations. 00;29;27;09 - 00;29;36;13 Cary Hall How much of that too, you can answer separately goes into product development. How much of that feedback for what you do goes back to product development and the same for you? 00;29;37;09 - 00;30;01;19 Gratia Carver Yeah, I'll, I'll start first. I know we have an amazing product and strategy team and they're doing a lot of that experience work themselves even with their own department because I'm trying to at look see kind of evolve that culture that everyone owns experience. That's not a department, right? And so our product and strategy where they talk to members all the time about product and what they're designing, it's amazing. 00;30;01;19 - 00;30;24;18 Ryan Roth They do and they, they partner closely with us so that they know what the need is. They participate. And a lot of when I was describing broker roundtables and surveys and so forth, those product teams participate in those meetings. So they're listening, taking notes, recording when they can, so that when we are going through making decisions on new products, that that all plays a factor. 00;30;25;05 - 00;30;45;26 Cary Hall That's interesting. We come back to the break. We're going to wrap it up. You're listening to America's Health Care. Ever get to hear broadcasting on the HIV radio network coast to coast across the USA? If you want to talk to the folks at Blue KC, yes, you can call locally 816395 3850 8816395 3858 Website blue KC dot com. 00;30;46;03 - 00;31;08;08 Cary Hall We'll be right back after the break. Hi, I'm Kari Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate. Welcome back to the broadcast here on the HIV Radio network. You can find out more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. If you've got questions my producer the always perfect dare and will hide behind the camera Dave Thiessen in studio with me Grace McCarver from Blue KC and Ryan Ross. 00;31;08;08 - 00;31;25;29 Cary Hall We're talking about all things Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Most importantly, we're talking about the awards they have won for customer service and, you know, for all you brokers out there, you know the answer to this. You know, who is the first person that's going to get called and something goes wrong? Well, if they call the carrier, they can't get through to somebody and they can't get help. 00;31;26;05 - 00;31;42;17 Cary Hall It's going to be you. You might want to keep that in mind when you're looking at Blue Cross and Blue Shield versus some of these other policies that are out there. It's not always about price. It's about price benefit and service. All three of those things, the information, if you want to go on the website is blue KC dot com. 00;31;42;25 - 00;32;01;17 Cary Hall The phone number 816395 3858. So you know you started an experiment here in Kansas City. How many years ago do we start spire care. I remember being in the very front end of that when it was all being talked about, the net. Wilson was the CEO. That was her baby and it was very unusual. And people are like, Oh my God, they're really going to do this. 00;32;01;29 - 00;32;10;07 Cary Hall You're being mimicked now by a lot of people. I'm sure you probably noticed that. Talk about that. What that's grown into or what Spiral Care is now. 00;32;10;24 - 00;32;29;19 Gratia Carver Yeah, we're we're in about five years. I just received a five year anniversary cup from one of the leaders at Spire Care, and I talk about Spire care all day. I just think it's phenomenal what it can do for our members. And I remember when I joined in 2018, there were about 2500 members and Spire care. We had to do it. 00;32;29;19 - 00;32;30;09 Cary Hall And now. 00;32;30;20 - 00;32;38;20 Gratia Carver Now we've I know the math on the percentage increase, but it's way up there and we have nine centers across the metro. 00;32;39;08 - 00;32;42;19 Cary Hall These nine centers. Talk about what spire care is, right. 00;32;43;08 - 00;33;08;20 Ryan Roth So Spire care probably the easiest answer to that is it's an advanced primary care that has expanded services in the facility right there, labs, X-rays, many of those things are right there on location, depending on what location you go to. I think it's important to note that ninth location that was recently opened was an independence which has been very popular. 00;33;09;08 - 00;33;17;15 Ryan Roth And there was a there was, well, a coverage hole there. And now we've really rounded out the community and have a locations all throughout the metro. Yeah. 00;33;17;16 - 00;33;37;02 Cary Hall North of the river. They do have it north of the river. Okay. So north of the river, I know they're downtown there in Overland Park. They're Lee's Summit. They're on Shawnee Mission Parkway. If I heard that was the first one I think I ever went to. And now the brand new one over an independent. So and Wyandotte County Scott one so they're all over the metro folks so it's not hard to do. 00;33;37;15 - 00;33;55;22 Cary Hall It is a kind of a one stop primary care, okay. That allows people to do everything from behavioral health to, as Roger said, prescription drugs, labs, whatever the case may be. All of that stuff is available at Inspire Care. So let's shift that a little bit to what do you hear back from people? I told you a story off air. 00;33;55;22 - 00;34;09;29 Cary Hall I'll tell it again here a bit if we have time. But what do you hear back when you're talking about quality customer service? And I know you measure this. I know you talk to these people. What do they think? What are you hearing back on the experience for the member when they go to Spire Care? 00;34;09;29 - 00;34;29;27 Gratia Carver Yeah, we do. And I'm just so delighted to see when we get feedback from our members that have gone to Spira. We do post visit surveys and those satisfaction scores carry are in the nineties and it's just unheard of when you think about satisfaction across any industry. 00;34;29;27 - 00;34;39;07 Cary Hall When you think about primary care, let's just go right there, okay? Probably because you're not getting 7.5 minutes with your primary care provider, which is the national average, by the way. 00;34;39;13 - 00;35;00;11 Gratia Carver Yeah, I have a story about that too, just personally, and I'll make it really short, but because the doctor took time with my husband, we avoided a pretty dire cancer situation. So it really is true that they take time. They're not measured on, you know, a quick visit or trying to turn around those visits. Those are high quality. 00;35;00;28 - 00;35;04;17 Gratia Carver What you need at the time visits inspire care. 00;35;04;17 - 00;35;23;08 Cary Hall Yeah, You know, I don't think a lot of people realize this, but the average primary care doctor at a major hospital system or a primary care system has 1500 to 2000 patients in their queue. I mean, think about that. And then you've got 35, 40 people sitting in a waiting room trying to see the doctor and, you know, that's seven. 00;35;23;09 - 00;35;35;12 Cary Hall And they get you in there and they go through the little checklist and the the nice lady that's doing all of that and takes your blood pressure. Then comes the doctor. You got seven and a half minutes and they're back out the door because they've got the next patient down the hall. They've got to get cheap, they've got to turn. 00;35;35;17 - 00;35;46;19 Cary Hall That is completely different than the average. You know, you're taking 45 minutes to an hour. I've had the doctors on here multiple times. It's a whole different game in the way it's done. 00;35;46;19 - 00;35;55;26 Gratia Carver It is It's a whole different ballgame. And it's about listening to the member and, you know, really determining what their needs are in that moment. 00;35;56;19 - 00;36;13;03 Cary Hall Brian, what are you hearing in the broker community? Because the brokers are signing the group clients. You've got a huge participation on the group side now. It's available in Medicare. It's also available on ACA. What are you hearing back from the broker experience when they put somebody on? 00;36;13;19 - 00;36;38;16 Ryan Roth Broker experience has been great. So speaking to work, Gratia just mentioned there that they really spend the time to find to get to know the member and find the best treatment plan. And we found this is a good one that you'll find interesting that is driving lower cost which helps keep the premium down as well, which is a big win for everyone also. 00;36;38;26 - 00;36;58;20 Cary Hall Yeah, and you know, great to the fact that you've got care guides because this is another thing. So you go to the primary care doctor and he says, well, you know, you need to go see the ortho or you need to go see a neuro or you need to go see whatever the case may be, we're going to give you a list of doctors or you can look up in our system and do it yourself. 00;36;59;12 - 00;37;25;11 Cary Hall Okay, try that out. Okay. First of all, when you call, you know you're going to sit on hold and file. You're going to get to somebody and it's either going to be the doctor's nurse or the scheduler, and they'll get in and 30 to 45 days, maybe longer than that, the experienced inspire care. You don't do that. The care guide sit you down so you get referred out to an auto or you referred out to a, you know, neurology doctor, whatever the case may be. 00;37;25;15 - 00;37;31;10 Cary Hall Talk about how that is different, the way it works with the with the care guide, because the care guide is a big piece of this. 00;37;31;20 - 00;37;55;01 Gratia Carver Care guide is a huge differentiator. It has a specific role within Spire care and it really helps navigate the member through not only their primary care but the utilization of their benefits as well. And not only will they help guide you through that, but in my experience and just the feedback from members, those care guides will actually help you make the appointment. 00;37;55;07 - 00;38;07;25 Gratia Carver Yeah, they'll give you all the information that you need. It's just it's astounding, you know, what they are willing to do and what they do do for our members to really direct that member to the right next step. 00;38;08;05 - 00;38;26;26 Cary Hall Yeah, because as you said, it's confusing and people do not understand it. And this is a way for them to understand it makes sense. I thank you both for coming up here today. I think it was important to get this out again. I think, you know, when you contrast what Blue KC does here in Kansas City with what some of the national carriers do, there's a big difference. 00;38;27;07 - 00;38;53;13 Cary Hall The website again is blue. The phone number is 816395 3858. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with this thought from Dr. Martin Luther King. Americans must learn to live together as brothers and sisters are. We will surely perish together as fools towards never spoken in today's atmosphere. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HD Radio Network. 00;38;53;15 - 00;38;54;24 Cary Hall Good bye, America.