Episode #50 – Part II: Building a Value-based Employee Health Program with David Contorno

Dear Listeners,

Welcome to Part II – the continuation of our interview with David Contorno – an expert in employee benefits and employer-based health programs. David is a founding member of Health Rosetta and has over 20 years of experience in the field.

If you haven’t listened to Part I yet, you may want to start there. In the first half of our interview, David described the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ that exists between employees, employers and payers. He also shared the specific value-based strategies he deploys – interventions that assist employees in avoiding unnecessary tests and procedures; and that steer them toward more cost effective options – using pre-paid, at risk, bundled payment programs.

In Part II, you’ll hear :

• A story of an employee with severe back pain whose positive outcomes inspired David to depart from the “benefits-as-usual” approach.

• Some of the specific strategies David deploys to manage the significant and rising costs of medications, including his “PBM Last” approach.

• David’s scathing critique of Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) and High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP’s), which he believes lead to a spiraling cycle of unintended adverse outcomes for both employees and employers.

Judging from listeners’ responses (on social media) to Part I of the interview, it’s clear this is a topic of high importance and high complexity. While many listeners did not agree with everything David said, there was a lot of agreement on his intention and approach.

I came away from this interview inspired and wanting to hear more.

As I thought about David’s recommendations, I tried to come up with reasons why we shouldn’t follow his advice. I couldn’t come up with any.

Can you?

Zeev