EP269: Prepping for the Next Wave: What Payers and Providers Should Be Doing Right Now to Get Ready, With Eric Bricker, MD, From AHealthcareZ

In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Eric Bricker, MD, from AHealthcareZ, about prepping for the next wave of COVID-19 and what payers and providers should be doing right now to get ready. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ How COVID-19 is squeezing revenue for insurance carriers, PBMs, and self-insured employer plans ✅ Why health systems could face a "cash crunch" even as they treat the surge ✅ Why telehealth revenue is more complicated than it appears right now ✅ How shifts from high-deductible plans to Medicaid could affect population health outcomes ✅ What hospitals need to be thinking about as they come out of the peak WHY THIS MATTERS Eric Bricker walks through how nearly every health care stakeholder's revenue picture is being reshaped by COVID-19, from carriers bracing for employer layoffs to PBMs and health systems facing their own cash pressures. He and Stacey discuss the coming second wave — not of infections, but of patients who deferred care and will need it urgently — and what that backlog could mean for population health outcomes as people shift coverage and care-seeking behavior changes. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 🔗 EP251, with Dr. Kimberly Noel 🔗 EP267, with Dr. Marty Makary 🔗 EP268, with Dr. Marty Makary === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page 🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts 🎤 Listen on Spotify === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X 00:00 Introduction 02:48 How COVID-19 is impacting insurance carriers and payers. 06:16 How COVID-19 is going to affect payers with self-insured employers. 07:59 "The carrier's revenue is going to go down because of layoffs." 09:05 Other helpful or harmful COVID-19 factors to insurance carriers. 12:37 The risk to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) revenue. 13:14 The financial stability of recent health system mergers. 14:03 The potential "cash crunch" for health systems because of COVID-19. 17:01 The issue with telehealth revenue right now. 20:57 EP251 with Dr. Kimberly Noel. 21:32 "In health care, you add technology and the price tends to go up."—Stacey 22:02 "Telemedicine allows for geographic competition." 22:19 How COVID-19 will affect specialty from a revenue perspective. 24:31 "An economic truism … one person's spending is another person's income." 27:06 "Pain causes change." 28:01 Do population health outcomes go up or down after COVID-19? 29:15 The high number of moves from high-deductible plans to Medicaid and how that will affect patient outcomes. 32:38 EP267 and EP268 with Dr. Marty Makary. 33:02 Coming out of this peak, what hospitals need to be thinking about.