Every health system that considers selling directly to employers hits the same wall. The discounted rate lands on patients you may already have, and nobody can prove the trade works.
Nick Stefanizzi says it does. He is the CEO of Northwell Direct, Northwell Health's for-profit direct-to-employer company, where an employer or union agrees on price with the health system and no carrier sits in the middle. Since its first customer in 2022, Northwell Direct reports serving more than 300,000 employee members across more than 75 employers and unions, with a network that now spans more than 55 hospitals, over 125 urgent care centers and more than 5,000 behavioral health providers. In December, it signed the 170,000-member 32BJ Health Fund, the largest direct contract of its kind in the country, with the fund projecting 20% savings in year one. Stefanizzi told HFMA the business contributes more net-new volume and margin than it cannibalizes, and is profitable on its own P&L. Before Northwell Direct, he was chief administrative officer and interim CEO of Formativ Health, and spent eight years in operating roles across Northwell Health.
For CFOs, CIOs and the executives weighing whether to become a network operator instead of a network participant.
Nick Stefanizzi, CEO, Northwell Direct
Megan Antonelli, Chief Executive Officer, HealthIMPACT Live
00:00:00 Intro: Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't as we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Jenny Sharpe and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
00:00:29 Megan Antonellli: Every health system in America has spent twenty years fighting for a higher rate. Northwell built a company to offer a lower one. Nick Stefanis runs Northwell Direct. No carrier in the middle. The employer and the health system agree on the price themselves. Since twenty twenty two, they have gone from one customer to more than three hundred zero zero zero members, including one hundred and seventy thousand union workers, in the largest deal of its kind in this country. Which brings up the very thing that every CFO says out loud. If you're discounting care for patients who already had. Are you not just cannibalizing yourself? Well, we're going to talk about that with Nick today. This is Megan Antonelli, CEO of Health Impact Live. And welcome to Digital Health Talks. Hi, Nick. Welcome to Digital Health Talks. So good to see you again. How are you?
00:01:17 Nick Stefanizzi: I'm great. Thanks so much for having me.
00:01:20 Megan Antonellli: Absolutely. It is so exciting to see kind of the growth of Northwell Direct over the last few years. And, you know, congratulations. Kudos. Um, tell our audience a little bit about what Northwell Direct is, where it sits in the organization and, and, you know, the work that you do there.
00:01:37 Nick Stefanizzi: Sure thing. So I have the privilege of serving as the CEO of Northwell Direct, which is Northwell Health's, uh, wholly owned subsidiary organization that delivers services to employers and unions. Uh, we do that in two ways. So on the one hand, we have a range of clinical services that we can offer in the office or virtually. Everything from, you know, routine vaccination and screening events to more innovative models around direct behavioral health, direct primary care, virtual clinical consultation and the like. Um, and then we also, and I think probably most relevant to our conversation today, um, we are also the arm of the organization that does direct contracting for employer and union sponsored health plans. And we're seeing on average, that our solution can save employers and unions about twenty percent compared to the traditional model for employer and union sponsored health plans.
00:02:35 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. Amazing. And, you know, I think as I was looking through your background, um, which I hadn't realized, um, is you actually started at Northwell, you know, you were working for their, the CIO years ago. And so, and at that, and then beyond that kind of have, you know, had a role selling EHR to physicians and, and, you know, kind of working outside of that. So your role within Northwell is somewhat non-traditional and that you're, you know, your, your audience is actually the employers. Tell us a little bit about how your experience has, has kind of brought you to, to this position.
00:03:10 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah. I mean, you know, one of the things Northwell is an absolutely incredible organization to work for. Um, and, and if you do look at my background, it is kind of non-linear and not what you would necessarily on a graph plot out as the exact career trajectory. But that's what's special about Northwell. Uh, there is a real culture here of allowing people to do and try different things along their journey as an employee and as a leader. And, and ultimately, you carry forward those experiences, those learnings, and importantly, the relationships that you develop in those roles as you move on to the next. And so, um, I've really, you know, had the privilege of benefiting from that culture, um, as a, as a team member, as a leader. Um, and, and certainly my experience in it was, um, was one where I learned a lot, uh, because I was not a technologist by background or training. Um, and, and I'll tell you one of the things, um, that was a really early personal learning in terms of just leadership for me was getting really comfortable in an environment where you're not necessarily the subject matter expert. Um, you haven't been doing it as long as everybody's sitting around the table. And I had to get comfortable really fast saying the words I don't know, and asking questions of the people around the table that didn't know the answer or that I knew I could get the answer from. And then figuring out how to, how to couple that with the skill sets and the experience and perspective that I did have and that I did bring to the table. And it's an incredibly humbling experience and something that I've really tried to carry forward with me in all of the roles I've had during my experience with the health system.
00:05:02 Megan Antonellli: That's great. I mean, I think that says so much about both the leadership at Northwell, but but kind of where direct contracting sits because it is this, you know, maybe disruptive innovation within healthcare, right? And it's not necessarily the easiest sell internally. So for Northwell to kind of embrace it. Um, tell me a little bit about what that, what that was like, where, where did the momentum behind it within the organization come from? And, and was there, you know, kind of a look at at what it was replacing or possible, you know, you know, where, where that would sit as an opportunity.
00:05:42 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah. I mean, one of the other sort of, uh, you know, cornerstones of kind of the Northwell culture is, you know, this commitment both to innovation and a commitment to thinking beyond the four walls of a traditional health system. And what factors influence the health and wellbeing of the communities that we serve. And, you know, as we looked at the environment, we saw and came to believe strongly, and by the way, as the largest employer in the state of New York, we have a point of view on what it takes to be able to provide robust, meaningful, accessible health benefits to team members. Um, but it was our view that that affordability and the crisis of affordability in healthcare that's been growing over at least the last decade, but, but really longer, um, is a determinant and an influencer of health and health outcomes in the communities that we serve. And so it was our view that we had an obligation as the largest provider organization to step up and provide a practical solution. And that really was the genesis of our thinking about how to get into this space, how to partner more meaningfully so that we could help the employers and the unions that we're serving thrive. Um, because it's our view that healthy and thriving businesses and, and unions are essential components to healthy, thriving communities and, and truly raising the health of the members of those communities that we serve. Right?
00:07:20 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. I mean, I think over the years, watching kind of the dynamic of who's going to fix health care, right? Is it going to be the provider? Is it going to be the payer? Is it going to be the employer? And, and there's this, there's always this sort of one's pointing the finger at the other. And it really does have to be a collective. But I think the employer role and where the employers have, you know, their perspective on it has certainly shifted through the years, you know, and it and the dynamic is more complex than just I'm an employer and I pay for this because there's a lot of middlemen in between all of that as well in terms of brokers and the decision makers there. But as you said, Northwell is one of the largest employers, you know, in New York, and, you know, with seventy five thousand employees, and I think. So you guys put, um, you made Northwell Direct available to your employees first, right? So tell us a little bit about that experience, what the learnings were there.
00:08:18 Nick Stefanizzi: We did. Um, and I think it was an important decision as you look back at decisions you've made along the way. I think it was an important decision. I think, you know, ultimately it helped bring a credibility, uh, to what we were setting out to do with other employers and unions by being able to say, you know, I access healthcare using this same program. My husband access his health care using this same program. All of our team members and our families rely on this product, uh, to be able to take care of their own health and well-being. That meant something as we started to get out and engage with employers and unions. Um, and I think they saw that, that it also signaled a real commitment, uh, to be in this for the long term. Um, and so I think that that decision was incredibly important in terms of the momentum that we've been able to establish and the credibility with employers, unions, and brokers that we've been able to, um, establish. But it also, you know, it came with a pretty high bar that we had to clear, you know, because as an organization and, and we've been on the fortune one hundred best places to work, we are, we take very seriously our obligation to our team members, their health, their well-being, and how we show up to support them every day. And so we needed to make sure we were ready. We needed to make sure we got it right. Um, in order to be able to have the organization have the confidence that we were going to take care of them in the right way. And once we had proved that, um, we felt really comfortable going out into the community, um, and saying, we're ready to support you because we've done it for our own and we've proven that it works. Right.
00:10:13 Megan Antonellli: And I think your point about credibility is an important one, because I think that when I remember kind of reading about and hearing about direct contracting, there are there are naysayers to it, right? I mean, there's the proponents believe in it and, and those who experience it. But at least in the past also, it put a lot on the actual, uh, you know, patient to, to manage and even within the confines of, of where they, where some of the direct contracting organizations were more organized. It was still it lacked some credibility. So I think that credibility piece is huge. As you've looked at the past six years and and, you know, sort of coming up to, to where the employers are now, what do you think has has shifted in, in that marketplace or, you know, on the employer side for them to be be more interested in this?
00:11:07 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah, I think there's a, there's a couple of key things that have shifted. Uh, I mean, one, it's my view that employers and unions are rightfully just reaching a breaking point in terms of their level of frustration with the status quo. Uh, the fact that if you look back over the last decade, you know, it's a sixty, it's sixty percent more expensive to, to provide health insurance benefits. Sixty, sixty plus percent Are more expensive to provide, you know, health benefits to your employees and their families, your union members and their families. And so, you know, I just think there's this real sort of frustration and a, you know, reaching a conclusion that they've got to look at things that are different, uh, to, to put this on a more sustainable trajectory. Um, so I think that is a change, I think coming out of Covid, actually, if you look back at the way business leaders had to think about issues of health and how to do their job while keeping people healthy and safe, it, it sort of made all business leaders, health leaders in a different way. And I think that that, you know, coupled with the, the frustration and the financial strain that the cost of, of healthcare has created for businesses is certainly an interesting confluence of factors. And then, you know, the third thing that I would say has changed is that we've started to prove that this works. So we started with our own employee population, but we've grown over the last four years to serve over three hundred thousand members from over seventy local, regional, national employers and unions. And what we've seen, you know, we've got a ninety seven percent retention rate, but ninety seven percent retention rate. Uh, and I think there are two reasons we're seeing that. You know, first is, um, the employers that we serve are seeing the savings, uh, and they're seeing the value. Um, you know, again, we say on average, uh, that, that employers and unions will save about twenty percent. We prove that out with data, uh, in our prospecting process, but we estimate that we've generated over one hundred and fifty million dollars in savings for employers and unions. Uh, we see low single digit or flat renewals on stop loss policies that are small to medium sized employers. Unions are purchasing. You compare that to the double digit increases that they're used to. So the reality is they're seeing the financial value. And by the way, to your to your other point, the experience that the employees and union members are having as they access and use the product is the right one. It's reducing barriers to care. It's making it more easy for them to access and navigate care. And by the way, the employers and unions are able to put this solution into place without disruption, without forcing a change, incentivizing the members to think differently about where and how they access change, but not penalizing them if they don't want to change. And so I think the confluence of those couple of factors, sort of the dynamics At play in the employers and unions. Plus, the fact that we've been able to demonstrate in a concrete way that we can deliver the value and the savings while providing for the right employee and union member experience. I think that's what's allowed us to sort of build the momentum that we have over the last four or five years.
00:14:56 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. Well, the proof of savings is is huge, right? And there's so many things we implement and do in healthcare where we don't actually see the savings. We spend a lot of money and see some incremental change. But those numbers are pretty significant, I know.
00:15:11 Nick Stefanizzi: And I add just in addition to the savings, we're also seeing improvements in health outcomes, which is at the core of the mission as a broader not for profit health system of what we're trying to accomplish. So whether that's, you know, through specific disease management programs that we're able to deploy around things like diabetes, chronic kidney disorder. You know, you sort of name it or whether it's, you know, preventing readmissions because as somebody transitions out of the hospital, we send somebody to the bedside to make sure they actually understand their discharge plan, to make sure their follow up appointments are booked in a timely manner. Like we are seeing real improvements in health outcomes, um, that also allow us to feel good that we're delivering on our broader mission as a, as a provider organization, right?
00:16:00 Megan Antonellli: So in terms of those, you know, kind of clinical outcomes and positive outcomes there, what is it about the direct contracting relationship or the way that Northwell Direct itself is, is managing those transitions of care that you think is, is to, you know, to credit for, for those improvements?
00:16:22 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah, I think first and most importantly, is that we are now in these relationships. We're sitting at the table with the employers and the unions that we serve. We're looking at the data together, and we are not trying to put a square peg in a round hole. We are building clinical programs and interventions that are tailored to the specific needs of their population. Um, and that I think is different. This is not a cookie cutter approach. Um, this is ongoing active engagement and customization based on their unique needs. And I think that's the primary differentiator. Two other things that I would, that I would point to, uh, the first is integration of these care management programs and these clinical intervention interventions with the broader continuum of care. So this is not a one off. We're not deploying one off point solutions, uh, that employers might not even remember, uh, that their employee or their employer or their union invested in on their behalf. These are clinical interventions and programs that are fully integrated with the broader continuum of care, integrated with the relationship they have with their provider. So it's more of an extension and a support versus something they've got to remember. Where do I go to get this thing? And I remember hearing in some HR newsletter that we have this new program, that integration, I think is really important. And, and lastly, you know, I think people are more willing to pick up the phone and engage with us when they see a phone number that they associate with their provider organization versus, you know, they see that one, eight, eight number that they associate with a traditional insurance company that they think, oh my gosh, they must be calling me about a bill. Um, I just think perception wise, uh, it's different because of that, because of the fact that it's integrated, uh, with the broader continuum of care and because the programs and interventions are tailored to the unique needs of the specific populations that we serve. I think that's the differentiation.
00:18:35 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. No, that's interesting because I would have thought it was more around kind of the less friction, right? In that, like with regular systems, you know, you'll have less transparency and less, you know, and trouble with prior authorization. And then care is not given. And, and maybe that's, you know, an underlying part of, but.
00:18:56 Nick Stefanizzi: I do think that's really important. You know, I, I do think, um, there is a lot less friction in these relationships by virtue of the fact that the true payers for care, the employers unions and the, and the members that they serve are connected directly and working directly with the providers of care. Uh, there's a lot of, uh, intermediaries that we've removed, uh, from that relationship. And friction does naturally Uh, dissipate as a result of doing that. You know, I think about, you know, northwell's colleagues in revenue cycle management, I think they're a lot happier working on the direct contracting relationships than some of the traditional, uh, payer relationships. And so, and then, by the way, we do, you know, we are able to provide resources, uh, to support members as they work to navigate, uh, access to their healthcare through these relationships. So, uh, that, that definitely is a component and value of the providers and the, and the real payers, uh, working closely together in these relationships right now.
00:20:04 Megan Antonellli: And it's interesting. And as, of course, as it grows and as the, you know, the savings become apparent, the outcomes, um, I mean, I think I read that in Indiana, they require, um, they're requiring some of the bigger nonprofit systems to offer direct contracts. Are you seeing that as a potential trend that might shift across the country is there is there, you know, sort of that momentum around, you know, potential state mandates.
00:20:31 Break: You're listening to digital health talks. When we return, we'll continue our discussion on how technology is revolutionizing healthcare delivery. Stay with us to hear more insights on creating sustainable, patient centered digital health solutions.
00:20:49 Nick Stefanizzi: You know, that is an interesting new, newer development in this space. Um, and that's certainly one way to go about it. You know, I, I'm not an expert in the, in the governance and politics of every, of all fifty states. But, um, what I would say to you is I, I spend a lot of time talking to other health systems about this, um, across the country and, and there is not a health system that I've interacted with that is not thinking about how to get into direct to employer, direct to union, direct contracting relationships. Everybody's going about it in different ways. And that's okay, because I think part of the beauty of this is, you know, an ability to, to, to think about local needs and how to best meet them. But my view is across the country, there is a real momentum behind this concept that has built, uh, in the last couple of years. And so I expect to see more and more of this, whether it's because of a regulatory requirement or because, you know, health systems have seen that you can accomplish your objectives without burdening the organization with significant risk. Um, and be a part of the real, uh, solution, practical solution to the affordability crisis. I expect to see more and more of this, uh, across the country.
00:22:20 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. No it's interesting. I mean, there's just there's very much there's momentum around it. I think, you know, we've seen Mark Cuban talks a lot about the cost pressures. And his company is kind of, you know, around this model, you know, in terms of removing, you know, the middleman in all of this. Um, and I, you know, transparency has been this need for a long time in healthcare and, and almost the barrier to, you know, real cost savings. Where do you see the, the sort of momentum and mood of, of folks in terms of, you know, making some of this more transparent and public?
00:22:57 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah. I mean, first of all, um, I have great respect and admiration for Mark Cuban and all he's accomplished and, you know, have been enthusiastic about his entry into the space and the work, uh, that he and his, his companies and teams are doing to try to bring real, again, practical solutions related to affordability and access. We think it's a great thing. Um, I similarly think transparency is, is really important. You know, I look at and we interact with plenty, employ plenty of employers, plenty of unions, uh, that don't have access to their own data today. Uh, from the carriers that they're with. And you look at that and you just scratch your head and you think, well, I don't really believe in coincidences. Uh, there's got to be a reason why the carrier therewith doesn't want to share that information. Maybe it's because, uh, sharing that information would allow, uh, the employer of the union would empower the employer union to explore different options and make different decisions about how they purchase care. And so we really believe there's value in transparency. We try to take a very transparent approach with all of the employers and unions that we engage with. We use a very data driven process. Um, as, as employers and unions are exploring whether this product is a fit will actually take historical claims information that they have, uh, we, we will, we partner with a true third party vendor who will run analysis using our rates, uh, that we provide to them, um, and feed back to the employer or union group. This is how we see the savings opportunity. If you had incurred that experience under the north wall direct network, under the north wall direct, here's what you would have paid, uh, compared to what you did pay. And, and we're willing to give those rates direct directly to the employers and the unions in that process. So I think to me, transparency is a strategic advantage for us in our, in our sales process with employers and unions. I think it's a right Uh, that employers and unions should have access to the data about their populations. And we've been supportive of efforts, uh, whether it's in the transparency laws that have been created or otherwise, uh, to bring, uh, more light, uh, and more clarity, uh, to how healthcare is, is financed.
00:25:35 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. I mean, I think it's so important. It sounds like, I mean, from that, I mean, obviously there's a lot of, um, technology behind this, right? I mean, in terms of going using those numbers, managing the risk, but also having a visibility to, to what the risk is. And, and you know, what this is going to cost creates a, there's no wonder to me that the employers are embracing it more because, you know, otherwise it's, it's sort of been this, this black box. So, um, you know, kudos to you, you know, going back to your technology background. Tell us a little bit about, um, in terms of what Northwell direct, What does the whole product kind of look like? And, and I think you had mentioned in a recent interview with Hfm a around, you know, it's not there's parts of it that you have and then parts of it that you've kept separate and tell me, tell me about kind of the decision process there. And then also explain around the network. Northwell is huge. There's a ton of hospitals, but I imagine you're also building a network beyond that, right?
00:26:38 Nick Stefanizzi: We are, we are. So, um, you know, you're hitting on two decision points that I think were really important for us early on. You know, as you're thinking about, okay, we see the opportunity to play in this space to bring a solution, but what should that solution look like? You know, we made a real decision. You know, we had a real question around how much of the product do we think we need to own? Do we think we have a right to own based on what we're really good at as a provider organization? And we made an early decision that we weren't going to try to own it all. We weren't going to try to build all the components ourselves, because some of the pieces and parts that you need to enable this product to be a replacement to a traditional insurance plan, um, we're not areas where we have core traditional expertise as a provider organization. And so we made the decision to sort of deconstruct the health plan. Um, and, uh, we were going to focus on building network, building a network to provide good high quality care. And we were going to focus on, on offering solutions to wrap around and support the members from a care management perspective, because we knew that we had real expertise and had demonstrated that we could do that kind of work within the communities that we serve, all of the other components that we need to enable this. We decided to create partnerships around. So we've partnered with third party administrators to provide customer service to provide the claims, administration and adjudication to provide the utilization management services. And, by the way, create a little bit of separation of church and state between those that are administering utilization management on behalf of the employer and those that are delivering the care. Um, you know, we partnered with stop loss carriers, uh, who could underwrite the risk, uh, and who could, uh, cap the risk exposure of the employers, uh, who, that, who could understand the value and the strength of the network and the discounts that we've negotiated, as well as the care management programs and bring an aggressive pricing solution to the market PBMs. And then, you know, lastly, uh, we wrap our network, uh, with national carrier networks, which allows us using benefit design to encourage members to choose providers within the high performance, lower cost network that we've built, but doesn't penalize them if they want to access a provider that's accessible through the national carrier network. And so that's allowed us to put this in a way that incentivizes choice, but doesn't penalize anyone if they don't want to make a choice. Those partnerships have allowed us in every part of the product stack to bring what we think is a best in class solution to the table. And then we've integrated it to make it really access easy to access and use. And then secondary to that, to your point, the network that we've built, Northwell is the largest integrated health system in the state of New York. We're now also in Connecticut. But even with the breadth and depth of our clinical footprint, there were areas that, you know, we didn't necessarily have adequacy in our network to be able to meet the employees and union members of those that we were serving, where they live, where they commute from. And so we've partnered with other high quality, like minded providers who saw the opportunity to be part of an affordability solution, uh, to round out our own network. Um, and so we've got our w J Barnabas in northern new Jersey, we've got Maimonides in Wyckoff in Brooklyn, we've got Garnet up in, uh, Sullivan and Orange counties. We've got a whole range of independent providers that have agreed to participate in this solution, with whom we've negotiated the kind of discounted rates that we need to be able to afford that are comfortable, uh, letting us access those discounted rates because of the friction that is removed from the experience, uh, by virtue of participating in a direct contracting relationship. And that has really allowed us to build the kind of network that can meet employees and union members where they are and ensure they have access to, uh, you know, high quality providers and can make that choice if they so desire.
00:31:11 Megan Antonellli: Wow. Yeah. No, that makes sense. And, you know, as you said, Northwell Northwell keeps expanding and, and grows so much in terms of what. But was there some resistance to expanding, you know, to cover those markets internally?
00:31:28 Nick Stefanizzi: I think, um, you know, it's been an interesting experience because it, it's allowed us to think about, you know, people that you might have otherwise looked at as competitors, as collaborators in an aligned mission. Um, and, and it's, it's, I think, opened up a whole new pathway for us to, as an organization, partner with different providers in the community. Um, and I think that's a strategic advantage as we continue to seek to grow the broader footprint of the health system. And so, um, yeah, I think that's been a really refreshing point of view. Um, look, it requires on the other side of the table, the providers that we're working with a real understanding of how this strategy works and what you need to be able to deliver in order to make this successful. Not all providers can get there. That's okay. Um, but, but it's allowed us to find those that are truly like minded, uh, and partner with them in a different way. And I think that'll be a really meaningful strategic advantage as our broader organization moves forward. Right.
00:32:38 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. No. And when you look at kind of how to build this and, and how we're, we're kind of technology earns its keep, if you will, you know, and I think to some degree, maybe that's what's making this possible. Now, that wasn't as easy then, you know, ten years ago, fifteen years ago that in terms of the, the transparency that's available and the technology that that can be the data that can be shared and all of that. Is there a particular, as you're sort of telling other health systems how they might do it and how they could do it, where they should be looking at what they they need to have as part of the, as, as part of the program.
00:33:20 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah. I mean, look, and it, it almost is starting to sound a little cliche to have a conversation where you don't mention AI. Um, but, you know, I think about, and one of the things I get most excited about in the work that we do, you know, I think about the, the potential for the use of AI to have a real impact on health outcomes in this space and really to support efforts from a population health perspective. I mean, we do great work today, um, helping to manage high risk populations, helping those with chronic conditions, um, helping address high cost claimants, uh, through the care management programs that we're able to offer. But I think a lot about the treasure trove of information that's sitting in claims data. And you think about our ability, you know, potentially to, you know, turn AI and machine learning on that treasure trove of information to surface risk that hasn't yet presented itself to intervene earlier and support members before they have some kind of catastrophic health incident. I mean, think of the power of that. Think about the way you could change, you know, on a on a personal individual level, somebody's health trajectory. But think about also the way that that can help to change the cost trajectory for employers and unions that we're serving. So when you ask about technology, I know it sounds a little bit cliche to go right to AI. Um, but that certainly is one of the areas that we get really excited about that we're spending a lot of time thinking about, uh, as, as a provider organization and then with our partners.
00:34:57 Megan Antonellli: Yeah, I mean it it is when when you think about the entire kind of owning it to some degree and owning that data from start to finish, the opportunity that is there. Right? And, and it sounds like what you have is a very collaborative relationship with that employer to also respond to it, you know, effectively, right? To, to see what's working, to see what's not and, you know, have a much closer relationship with all of that, even though you have, you know, you have a lot of partners in there. Um, but their relationship is, is fundamentally different and that they're not necessarily guarding all of that data in the same, in the same way. I mean, of course, it's.
00:35:38 Nick Stefanizzi: Relationship is with us and we're sitting and looking at that data together, making decisions together about where we go and what we do and how we continue to enhance and provide benefit. And, and that to me, really, the savings are important. The. The experience is important. The quality is important, but. But fundamentally, it all stems from the relationship that we're able to create. And again, you know, our hope and what we've seen thus far. Again, I told you, we've got a ninety seven percent retention rate. Um, what we've seen is that these can be long term relationships. And what that means is we've got a long runway to affect outcomes to improve health over time. Um, and that's, that's really exciting when we think about then the impact that that will have to our communities.
00:36:30 Megan Antonellli: Mhm. Yeah. No, it is, I mean, and I think, you know, that impact is exactly it all. There's so few sort of solutions or innovations or transformations in healthcare that benefit the employer, the health system and the patient. And I think, you know, that this does that, right? There's wins for, for all, all parties involved. And that's, you know, kind of bringing us back to where that momentum is. Um, but we only have a few minutes left and we always like to end on one, um, very optimistic question we have coming from the pandemic, we have our five good things. It was, you know, how we kind of motivated ourselves coming out of it. We were like, all right, let's just talk about good things. But we've kept a piece of that. And we always ask our last question is kind of what's the one, one good thing that you're really excited about now that's kind of benefiting patients, clinicians and the, the momentum behind all of this.
00:37:26 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah. You know, the pace of innovation, um, and breakthrough science, um, that we're seeing today, um, again, and this is a little bit outside of, of the work that I do, but when I just, when I look at, you know, what's going on in healthcare, the pace and the, uh, the speed of innovation, uh, that is being delivered into the care environment, whether it's AI, whether it's bioelectronic medicine and new ways of, of treating, you know, chronic conditions that have, you know, devastating effects on people. Um, you know, I just think we are seeing advances, uh, in science and in care delivery, uh, that are amazing, uh, that you can't help be, you know, cell cell and gene therapies. Um, you know, you just can't help when you look at that, just be in awe of, of this level of innovation and advancement. And so that's something that I'm really excited about, uh, as I look forward and, and really, frankly think, uh, we'll have a transformative impact and secondary to that to be selfish. Uh, I'll give you a second one. And it's the fact that so many employers and unions and health systems are getting serious about the direct contracting, direct to employer, direct to union healthcare space, you know. Um, you think about the fact that over fifty percent of this country has access to health insurance by virtue of participating in an employer or union sponsored plan. You think about the fact that as you described, the employers and the unions win, the employees win, the health systems win. You look at that, and to me that says, uh, we have the potential here to have an impact that can be transformative to how healthcare in this country is organized, delivered, and paid for. And that to me is incredibly exciting. And so those are two things, uh, that as I look at the future that I'm really excited about.
00:39:36 Megan Antonellli: Yeah. No. And they go hand in hand. I mean, I think that pace of innovation that's kind of driving an appetite for change and the need to, to kind of look at different payment models and models within the system to kind of support it, to provide people the care they're looking for. So it's, it's just exciting to see where, where it's all headed. Um, let our audience know where they can, where they can find you and where they can learn more about Northwell Direct. Uh, you know, both for the health systems looking to maybe do it, do it themselves, but also those who might be interested in partnering.
00:40:08 Nick Stefanizzi: Yeah. Um, we are always willing to talk to other health systems that are looking to learn and share and collaborate. Um, we are always willing to talk to brokers, consultants, employers and share more about the value that we've been creating and the impact that we've seen through these relationships. We have a sales team, uh, that is out there all day, every day, uh, having these conversations, my entire leadership team, anybody on the north wall, direct staff are always willing to engage. You can find us all on LinkedIn. Uh, you can find us, uh, online, uh, through Northwell's Uh, website. Um, and please do not hesitate to reach out. Uh, because we are always happy to engage and share more and be really transparent, uh, about the work that we're doing and the impact that we're having.
00:40:58 Megan Antonellli: Perfect. Well, transparency is, is what it's all about. Well, thank you so much, Nick. It's really a pleasure talking to you. And for those listening and joining us at Health Impact in October, uh, Nick will be there speaking to. So a great way to, to meet him is to sign up and register. Um, but thanks again to our listeners. If this conversation got you thinking, that is why we're here, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Digital Health Talks. Follow us on YouTube at Health Impact Live. And this is Megan Antonelli, CEO of Health Impact Live. And this is digital health Talks. Let's keep fixing health care one conversation at a time.
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