AEE14: A Short Lesson for Self-insured Employers: Dr. Doug Eby Gives Some Advice That Everybody Should Hear Who Is Interested in Improving Outcomes and Lowering Costs, With Douglas Eby, MD, MPH, CPE

In this "An Expert Explains" minisode, Stacey Richter talks with Douglas Eby, MD, MPH, CPE, VP of medical services at Southcentral Foundation's Nuka System of Care, about the single piece of advice self-insured employers most need to hear: access and trust are what actually reduce downstream costs.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why access to a trusted care team is the key lever for reducing downstream health care costs

✅ How restricting patient access can counterintuitively drive up utilization and spend

✅ Why trust between patients and their care team replaces the need for more testing and follow-up visits

✅ What self-insured employers should look for when selecting a provider network

WHY THIS MATTERS

When patients don't trust that they can get access to care when they need it, they behave like people stocking up before a shortage — grabbing every test or follow-up they can while they have the chance. Dr. Eby's experience at the award-winning Nuka System of Care suggests that combining real access with genuine trust between patients and their care team does more to reduce unnecessary utilization than restricting access ever could, a lesson self-insured employers should keep in mind when selecting their network.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms

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=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

00:00 Introduction

03:19 "The employer is the total-cost provider."

03:23 "The people who don't like us are people who are trying to make profits … extremely high use of high-end medicine."

03:47 "Health care, for chronic disease management, should be provided when, where, and how the person on the receiving side wants and needs it."

07:05 "People think demand is driven by … paranoia … but when you replace all of that by trust … that's a massive replacement for all of that other stuff."