During the last few months, I sat in on a few focus groups with some of our members. I love doing focus groups because you get a raw, unfiltered understanding of the customer. Focus groups are one of the many ways I hear directly from customers, in addition to call center calls and visits, ethnographic…
Two unrelated but insight-producing experiences came together for me during a recent spring break vacation with my family in Florida. First was my daily visit to my favorite eatery, the SUGARCANE raw bar grill. The waiters have come to know my preferences, including my favorite table, drink and time of arrival. During spring break, they…
Wearable technologies like Google Glass are generating lots of buzz about their impact on many industries, including health care. The innovative and highly publicized approach from Google has cast a much-needed light on the potential applications of Glass and other forms of wearable technologies. There are many unique ways Glass could be applied to health…
Why is health care so complex and what can be done to make it simpler? This is an important question and I’m asked it quite a bit. When I’m asked, I think back to a mountain bike accident I had one early Sunday morning last year that did some pretty good damage to my shoulder.…
Recently, I spoke at the Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters Conference about how we can improve the health of Americans and revamp our health care system. I felt it was important to discuss issues that aren’t always seen as health-related, so I spoke about a recent interaction I had with one of Humana’s Medicare Advantage members.…
Addressing the many gaps and issues facing our nation’s health care system is, in some ways, as big a challenge as we faced in working to put a man on the moon in the 1960s. As a nation, we met the challenge issued by President Kennedy by creating a truly exceptional partnership between the federal…
During the last two months, there’s been no shortage of discussion about the challenges facing the launch of the federal health exchange website, Healthcare.gov. Despite all the noise about the initial issues with Healthcare.gov, we can’t lose sight of the forest for the trees. It’s important to remember that the Affordable Care Act was never…
Recently, I participated in my company’s 100-Day Dash, a friendly competition designed to encourage employees to take more steps – as individuals and as teams – over a 100-day period. I take my fitness pretty seriously, so this was a competition I really enjoyed. We had 12,000 employees sign up for the Dash, a solid number…
I received a letter from one of our Humana health plan members that was a valuable reminder to me of what the future of health care should look like from an individual’s perspective. It’s always refreshing when our members take time to tell us not only what they find of value, but, more importantly, what…
During a recent trip to the West Coast, I met with several small and large technology and consumer-focused companies about how they’re building stronger relationships with their customers. These customer relationships have enabled these once transactional-focused companies to create a unique customer experience that has transformed their respective industries. It’s no secret that health care…
