This episode features an interview with Robert E. Andrews, CEO of Health Transformation Alliance (HTA), where he oversees the strategic direction of 60+ corporations that aim to fix our broken healthcare system. Prior to HTA, Robert served as a Member of the United States House of Representatives for nearly 24 years and was an original author of the Affordable Care Act.

In this episode, Kirk and Robert discuss the evolving trends in health care, the potential impacts of gene therapy, and the importance of reducing friction in health benefits administration for employers.

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“ When you have 5 million lives, which we do, and $40 billion worth of spend, we're able to go to behavioral health providers and say, people shouldn't have to wait six weeks to see a psychiatrist when they're feeling anxious or depressed. Why can't they see them in six days or less? And we're able to do that to expand the networks that are available.  So that's how we measure our effort.  Both in terms of the price that you pay and we think more importantly, the service that you get and the quality of the work that you get. So we're really all about using the leverage of collective bargaining to improve outcomes.” – Robert E. Andrews

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Episode Timestamps:

*(00:58): Reflecting on the Affordable Care Act

*(02:17): Current health care system challenges

*(12:50): Founding of Health Transformation Alliance

*(19:08): Employer challenges and solutions 

*(30:43): Future of health care and AI

*(37:53): Global health care perspectives

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Links:

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn

Learn more about HTA

Connect with Kirk on LinkedIn

Learn more about Collective Health