Drew Hobby – Powerlist – Health Care

Opportunities abound for Blue Cross of Idaho and its stakeholders, and Drew Hobby gets to help those opportunities be realized.

Hobby is the executive vice president and chief innovation officer for the insurance company, and in that role, he leads strategy execution, oversees provider network functions, shares analytics to guide health care stakeholders in providing overall better care and leads a team dedicated to innovating value-based care by consulting with providers. This, Hobby said, is something he feels has been particularly innovative for Blue Cross, because while many providers understand their patient base and the need to strive for better outcomes in various areas, those providers sometimes have no infrastructure in place to execute new opportunities, such as for proactive care or financial approaches.

“I really want Idahoans to be able to rapidly access the highest quality care in the lowest cost setting,” Hobby said.

Hobby is also proud of the company’s accomplishments around analytics, including utilizing patterns and developing predictive models that, for example, could help figure out if someone has a high probability of being a very high-cost claimant in the next year. Analytics teams have also created affordability solutions being measured for impact.

“We need more access to more care, but we (also) need to address the affordability crisis of health care,” Hobby said. “And we also need to continue to move in the direction of the most cost-effective setting for care to be delivered and, ‘Can it be delivered in a more affordable setting?’ That impacts a patient’s pocket. That’s what we’ve got to do.”