Blog

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    The myth of excellence

    Cathy Eddy, President, Health Plan Alliance
    3/8/2016
    In order to set yourself apart from your competition you should dominate in one trait and differentiate yourself in a second one. The rest of the traits need to be on par with the market to be competitive. If you are below par on any of these, you may not be considered a viable option, regardless of how well you are on the rest.


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    Member or Patient? Either way you slice it, they are the customer.

    Dennis Bolin, Member Engagement/Chief Marketing Officer
    4/11/2016
    “Customer Experience” is a term I hear and read everywhere these days. Amazingly, in our current Twitter-driven language I recently saw it shortened to CX. That abbreviation only adds to the confusion and challenge of defining what we mean by the customer experience. For years regional health plans have claimed customer service – we primarily pointed to our customer service reps – as a competitive differentiator.


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    Reflections from the Board Room

    Cathy Eddy, President, Health Plan Alliance
    5/10/2016
    As someone who works in health care, it is easier for me to understand the trends and the direction of an industry that has been through a lot of change due to economic pressures, regulatory scrutiny and major legislative reform. For my fellow board members that come from outside of health care, I admire your willingness to devote the time it takes to understand the dynamics of a complicated business and to offer credible direction and advice.


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    Reflections: The Alliance’s 20-year journey

    Cathy Eddy, President, Health Plan Alliance
    6/1/2016
    The Health Plan Alliance is celebrating our 20th anniversary during 2016. The symbol for 20 years together is platinum, which is strong and enduring -- sounds like a good symbol for the network we’ve built together.


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    When the Disruptor is the Disruptee

    Dennis Bolin, Health Plan Alliance
    6/28/2016
    I don’t know about you but I am becoming tired of hearing about “disruption” in the health insurance industry. I hear and read the term everywhere and I wonder if it is overused. I just returned from this year’s AHIP Institute and I heard the term repeatedly in presentations and discussions. Whether the word used is “revolution,” “transformation,” “innovation,” or “reimagining,” the pressure to integrate to “make it happen” is mounting.


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    Common Culture - A source of strength for integrated delivery systems

    Cathy Eddy, President, Health Plan Alliance
    7/24/2016
    On July 20, I had the opportunity to be part of a discussion that American Hospital Association and Sharp Healthcare hosted in San Diego for integrated delivery systems with health plans. I was asked to facilitate an exchange on key trends in product innovation.


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    ASO Insights

    Dennis Bolin and Rick Koven
    8/18/2016
    Guest Blogger: Rick Koven is a long time consultant to the Health Plan Alliance and its member Plans on self-funding issues. Rick offers ASO Business Coach, a consulting and coaching service to support management's evaluation, development and advancement of ASO product lines.


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    Parental wisdom

    Cathy Eddy, President, Health Plan Alliance
    9/14/2016
    I’m sure we all have that phrase that pops into our heads (usually in our parent’s voice) when the perfect situation calls for it. Recently I was having dinner with some fellow board members and Pam shared one of her father’s pearls: “Never judge yourself by a bad example and feel good about it.”


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    Leading Change

    Dennis Bolin, Health Plan Alliance
    10/10/2016
    You have probably heard the axiom, “Different isn’t always better, but better is always different.” My research on Google attributes it to the great thinker “anonymous.” But the maxim, no matter how true, doesn’t say anything about something else we know to be true: doing things better and different isn’t easy. Change takes effort.


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    8 lessons I learned while leading the Alliance

    Cathy Eddy, Health Plan Alliance
    11/7/2016
    Cathy Eddy has been with the Alliance since the beginning! Read what she shared with attendees at the 20th Anniversary Gala.


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    How will the 2016 election impact future health care policy?

    The Health Plan Alliance
    11/11/2016
    Recent post-election resources from industry thought leaders on how President-elect Trump's healthcare priorities will impact healthcare policy.


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    Customer experience - It isn't just for your call center

    Dennis Bolin, Health Plan Alliance
    11/28/2016
    Three resources to help migrate your health plan to an enterprise-wide customer experience organization


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    13 takeaways from 2016

    Dennis Bolin, Health Plan Alliance
    12/12/2016
    The Health Plan Alliance team reflects back on the thousands of conversations had with health plan professionals throughout the year and shares 13 top takeaways for 2016


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    Top six Health Plan Alliance presentations of 2016

    Dennis Bolin, Health Plan Alliance
    1/10/2017
    Last year, the Health Plan Alliance coordinated more than 200 webinars and in-person presentations for Alliance members. Check out the top six most downloaded presentations of 2016.


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    Aggregating data is only the first step

    Kristin Rodriguez, Health Plan Alliance
    1/24/2017
    Many plans are excellent data aggregators, but transforming that data into insights that are actionable, reliable and accessible to those who could use it to improve outcomes is a difficult next step in our efforts to manage populations’ health. Hear how seven health plans have overcome these challenges, improving their data governance and integrity.