MyMichigan Health

Madhura Mansabdar MD

In an Interview, Madhura Mansabdar, CPE-chief clinical integration medical officer and Jennifer Felten, RN BSN-project manager lifestyle medicine, both at MyMichigan Health, discuss their views on integrating healthcare and technology for better services and outcomes.

What are some of the challenges in healthcare that technology integration is helping mitigate?

Increasing rates and expenses related to chronic medical conditions, complexities of behavior change, inadequate access to care, and the ability to track and monitor patient data.

Improving health outcomes through lifestyle and behavior change is a challenging process that requires frequent touchpoints and intensive, multidisciplinary team involvement that include a review of labs, biometrics, and other subjective and objective measures. Learning and engagement can be enhanced by group interaction so patients learn from each other while simultaneously receiving didactic information. Using web-based platforms to provide education and information meets an unfulfilled need. Complementing this with virtual group visits and various forms of remote patient monitoring to enhance interaction further strengthens engagement and motivation, ultimately improving outcomes.

What are some of your roles and responsibilities as chief clinical integration medical officer at MyMichigan Health?

This role has evolved with time. It involves developing and streamlining programs to improve the quality and effectiveness of clinical care that improves the value of the services that are delivered within the health system. This enhances the value proposition to payers while improving outcomes. It has progressed into connecting various clinical and management streams within an integrated delivery system to align and streamline processes to enhance efficiencies and achieve outcomes.

How have community-driven healthcare initiatives transformed in recent years, and how are you capitalizing on the emerging opportunities ignited by technology?

We have leveraged different types of technology, including virtual care, remote patient monitoring, and cutting-edge innovations to improve the care we deliver. Leveraging community-based collaborations by aligning program priorities with community health and education teams further enhances the impact of such initiatives. Recently we have leveraged evidence-based programs based on the principles of lifestyle medicine that have been proven to prevent, treat and even reverse chronic disease. The chosen program ‘Pivio,' initially called the complete health improvement program with its proven outcomes, has now been enhanced to be offered virtually through a highly engaging platform used in conjunction with facilitated group sessions. It is designed to engage participants in healthy lifestyle behavior change to support prevention, risk reduction, and self-management of chronic disease. The program empowers participants through evidence-based education, behavioral change techniques, and experiential learning to make lasting healthier lifestyle choices. Successful clinical and biometric outcomes of the program, along with enhanced well-being and engagement of employees in their own health have been demonstrated.

"Technology solutions need to be adapted to your customer’s needs rather than programs being developed around the available technology"

Could you please elaborate on your self-insured health plan and how it assists employees in engaging in healthy lifestyle behavior change and prevention/self-management of chronic disease?

MyMichigan owns and operates its self-insured health plan for its 10,000 plus employees. Management of chronic diseases accounts for the bulk of the expenses within the health plan, as it does across the country. Engaging and empowering our members to better manage their health is a way to tap into the instinct for self-preservation and achievement of well-being in every individual while reducing health care expenses. To support this individual instinct, MyMichigan offers a range of wellness initiatives paired with specific programs and benefits, which are incentivized through wellness points that convert into dollars through reductions of premiums or monetary gift cards. Coordination has been accomplished between the wellness team, which is an HR function, and the health plan management team to administer wellness and clinical risk reduction programs while maintaining the confidentiality of member clinical data. This is enabled through technology platforms to deliver and administer such programs.

As an ending note, what is your advice for other senior leaders and CXOs in the healthcare sector?

Take time to understand the needs of your teams and harness technology to implement solutions. Technology solutions must be adapted to your customer's needs rather than programs being developed around the available technology. Accomplishing alignment between people, processes, and technology delivers the best outcomes.