This episode features an interview with Ashok Chennuru, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Anthem. In this episode, Ashok gives us a peek into the world of AI and healthcare. He shares how shifting to the cloud impacts patients, how the pandemic has affected digital adoption, and much more.
This episode features an interview with Ashok Chennuru, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Anthem.
In this episode, Ashok gives us a peek into the world of AI and healthcare. He shares how shifting to the cloud impacts patients, how the pandemic has affected digital adoption, and much more.
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Steve Hamm: [00:00:00] So it it's great to have you on today. I think the timing is really incredible because here we are in the, in the biggest public health crisis in more than a hundred years. And we have you on. You know, from a company that's kind of at the center of dealing with , uh, with health in the United States.
And you're really at kind of a pivot point, and it'll be great to get your insights. I wanted to start by asking you to describe Anthem's business and also the role that sees for itself in transforming healthcare.
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah. Uh, good morning. Um, you know, Steve, thank you for having me , uh, daily , uh, appreciate , uh, you know, uh, to participate in the podcast. Um, so Anthem is an innovation leader, you know, dedicated to improving health and making healthcare simpler. Now through its affiliated companies. Now we serve more than 107 million people , uh, including 43 million within our family of health plans.
And we aim [00:01:00] to be the most innovative, affordable, valuable, and inclusive partner. So, and we are also radically committed to simplifying healthcare for our, you know, stakeholders, whatever consumers, the employers we serve, and more importantly, the community and enhancing their experience in the healthcare journey. So our digital first approach provides consumers the opportunity to engage in healthcare services, through a spectrum of care with digital first. And then to a virtual care and then to a physical in-person consumers can engage in technology like chat bots, or even this AI driven, conversational, you know, tools to get information about their, you know, situation or any health condition they have no, and then engage in a virtual care if needed.
Like, like a video visit or texting a doctor and then select [00:02:00] the, in our in-person physical care when appropriate. So through this holistic approach to meet, to meet the needs of the whole person, we are creating and delivering an innovative data driven solutions that are personalized, proactive, and predictive.
Steve Hamm: I think that's a very nice description of the companies. Strategy and, and its various dimensions. I know that the company sees a role for itself in transforming healthcare. So what is the, the transformation that the company thinks has to happen? And what is the role of Anthem in it?
Ashok Chennuru: Um, so the, the role of. And , um, in transformation is really, you know, being able to make the healthcare, you know, simpler, you know, like for our customers and really leveraging, you know, digital first data driven insights to able to serve the members, you know, at the time of need.
And I would, like you said, you know, we had an, a pandemic where, you [00:03:00] know , like, uh, digital acceleration as helped. And now like with watch will care visits, but more importantly, you know, making health care personalized. Right. You know, so we see Anthem in the middle of, you know, like, uh, through the number of people we serve, you know, like, uh, being a big key player in the transformation.
Steve Hamm: Yeah. Yeah. So you have the, the lifetime patient record idea, which gives a holistic view of the person. It seems like that's an essential piece of what you're bringing to this
Ashok Chennuru: yeah, absolutely.
Steve Hamm: Could you talk a little bit about how that works? I think, you know, the label, kite people probably get a sense of what it is, but explore that a little further.
Ashok Chennuru: No, absolutely. You know, that question. So, um, one of the, you know, like, uh, Anthem, you know, like I said, you know, like, uh, we serve, I know 107 million people with 43, no, like million of them in our health plan. Um, now , uh, our, one of our foundational asset is the data we have, you know, like, um, so, you know, uh, we have, you know, fairly rich data for almost 80 million lives , um, 80 million [00:04:00] members , um, you know, and the data is a combination of the claims data that we get, the EMR medical records, data, you know, like, uh, that we get from our, you know, like the hospitals, you know, like physician practices.
You know, and that also includes, you know, behavioral health , uh, data and also social determinants or social drivers of health , like, you know, like, uh, housing, transportation, you know, food insecurities, you know, like, and , uh, some of the external data , like, you know, biometrics, you know, like, uh, and, and , uh, even sensor data , like, so we've combined all of that into what we call.
A lifetime in a patient tracker , like, so it can give us the longer dude not deal. Right. You know, so, you know, guest , you, you know, give you an example, you know, like, um, you know, using this data, you know, we would know, you know, like, uh, when, you know, like all the hospital visits that the patient had, what conditions.
You know, they are on, you know, like, um, and, and , uh, you know, we could use that to build predictive models, to see what, you know, uh, what would that health situation look like are, you know, are, are they, you know, uh, could they become, you know, diabetic, you know, if they have certain, you know, early indicators, [00:05:00] if you will.
So we can use that data and really, you know, serve over men members, you know, around the core Anthem. No theme of simplifying and servicing our members. Right.
Steve Hamm: So you might, you might see a pattern that the, the, the primary care doctor hasn't noticed yet even, and bring it to their attention. That's, that's a fantastic advance. I really, I like that. Yeah. You know, I, as I've mentioned to you before, when we spoke, I'm a customer of Anthem, so I'm very pleased to see all these kinds of, you know, forward-looking things that you guys are doing because it benefits me personally. So what is your role in the company?
Ashok Chennuru: Um, so my role is I'm the chief data and insights officer, you know, so now, and what that means is , uh, you know, I'm accountable for the enterprise, you know, uh, data management platforms and all the analytic application and like, um, uh, development and platform delivery. So, um, like I mentioned earlier , um, like, uh, we have a [00:06:00] tremendous data assets.
So the key is how do we take that data and translate it into actionable insights, you know? And then that would lead to outcomes and then kind of repeat the whole process. So with the whole team of moving towards an insights driven organization, all the insights that we gather, how do we, you know, give it to our primary care provider, you know?
So they can use that to serve our members, you know, uh, provide the right care to our members are our, how do we, you know, caliber and pliers, you know, that we serve. That he had all the programs that. You know, they can focus on around the wellness team. we are definitely evolving.
Into the, you know, the ecosystem of making healthcare affordable, you know, servicing our members, you know, et cetera, you know? So, um, and as far as my career path, you know, like, uh, uh, so I'm an , um, like a computer science major and I like started my career , uh, working at , um, [00:07:00] Now, like the, the, then the software giants, you know, Oracle and SAP, you know, but data and , uh, you know, BI business intelligence slash analytics have always been my passion, you know, right from day one, I always have been a data driven, you know, like found data to be the differentiator and like that.
But now with the cloud and the compute. You know, being a lot more and even the richness of data that's available in our data doubles, you know, every day, you know, like, uh, you know, it's become more relevant or it's kind of become a centerpiece of everything we do. Right. So, so really fortunate to be , um, you know, having that experience, you know, throughout my career.
Steve Hamm: Yeah, yeah. Kind of from both sides, both the software supplier side, and now, you know, working with a large , uh, Organizations is the customer of technologies. So w you know, data is extremely important. There are new ways of managing it, storing it, analyzing it. What are the most important [00:08:00] kind of leadership or management lessons that you've learned along the way, or that you're practicing now , uh, to really get the full benefit for data for your organization.
Ashok Chennuru: you know, from a leadership standpoint, you know, I would say it's definitely not about me. It's about the team. It's about inspiring people and, and, and also like barely pushing that now while we need to execute and not worry about failing fast. Um, but also have that strategic mindset more than like a zoom in and zoom out mindset.
You should have a big picture view, but also be able to zoom in and out and into the specifics. I've always been fortunate to have, you know, different types of mentors throughout my career. But one thing that I definitely. And I was advised very early is, you know, do take time to self-reflect and just, you know, because now I think everybody, you know, is busy , like, uh, but it's a matter of how do you spend your time [00:09:00] most effectively and, and then, you know, give time to reflect and, and see where you can improve.
So you're constantly, you know, figuring out a way to make yourself better or use the time more valuably. Like, and, and , uh, one, one key thing. I remember, you know, that a mentor told me, you know, like almost 15 years back is it's not about the size of the team you manage. It's about the impact. Like, you know, so, uh, and, and from an Anthem standpoint , I, I think the biggest opportunity for me is really being able to create an impact to the millions of members we serve.
And now in terms of whether it is like helping them at the time of need or providing them the right access to care are really making healthcare simpler and affordable.
Steve Hamm: Yeah. Yeah. That makes total sense. Now I understand that Anthem has undertaken a transformation, really eternally intrusive it's it. To really [00:10:00] embrace the data cloud , um, you know, over the more traditional. On premises computing. So could you talk a little bit about that? Why did you go on that journey and what's your strategy for taking advantage of the data cloud
Ashok Chennuru: Great. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so, um, one of the biggest, you know, Anthem a few years back, you know, we started the whole cloud journey, you know, for some, for number of reasons, you know, like I think one of the key reasons being the traditional on-prem. Computing does not have the elastic aspect, you know, where, you know, uh, you know, for a company of our size, as, you know, the, the, the , uh, you know, the, the petabytes of data we manage , um, you know, elasticity is really important and , uh, on-trend computing could not provide that, you know, in a cost-effective manner.
So, so that's. Number one , um, number two is, you know, it helps us to be more agile, you know, and fail fast without making huge investments. And now you pay on demand, you know, like, uh, and , uh, then there's lot of innovation that's [00:11:00] happening in the cloud as well, you know? So, um, and, and that flexibility, you know, the last city.
And, and, and even disaster recovery is more economical in outcome , uh, compared to the traditional on-prem, you know, uh, disaster recovery. And, and more importantly, it helps us to collaborate better in the ecosystem, you know, because , uh, in, in healthcare right now , uh, while we can process the data and create insights, it's about the collaboration D.
Example you mentioned earlier, you know, sending our data to a primary care provider are, you know, sending data to a community and out like in a food bank, you know, for example, who we are collaborating with to seamlessly exchange data. So cloud enables that, you know, like much more easily, you know, like, uh, uh, compared to the on-prem models and, and , uh, you know, uh, for us, the big thing is.
Now staying true to our core principles of how do we serve our members are, you know, simplifying healthcare. [00:12:00] And we believe, you know, like, uh, with, with cloud being in the center of, you know, enabling us to be a child , uh, really helps us to innovate, you know, like, uh, which in terms really helps our consumers.
Steve Hamm: yeah, the whole idea that it's a system. I mean, people kind of use that as a, as a word to describe it, but it's a system because there's all these different players that if they collaborate. Everybody does better. And especially the individual who needs care or needs wellbeing. So I think that's the, the idea of sharing the data that way.
And having a as a, as a good, almost a, a shared resource is really powerful. Now at some point you started to work with snowflake. So I wanted to get into a little bit of that history. Uh, when did that happen and why, and what do you, you know, what are you using snowflakes data cloud technology for today?
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah. Um, so we started working with snowflake about , um, you know, two years back, you know, and again, as part of our , um, [00:13:00] in know, migration to the cloud, you know, like, uh, you know, snowflake was , uh, considered as one of the partners in the, you know, in our ecosystem. Uh, like, uh, uh, and, and , uh, now the focus for us was now how do we first get our, you know, the code foundational data, you know, to the cloud and , uh, you know, and snowflake being, you know, one of the leaders , um, in , uh, was , um, uh, the reason that we selected them as.
Uh, uh, a partner like , uh, you know,because see part of, you know, having so much data.
Uh, you know, like, uh, and our , uh, company moving towards an insights driven organization, the demand for, you know, like new , uh, new types of, you know, like analytics now are new types of AI models, you know, like, uh, grew at a tremendous phase. And cloud was really our only option, you know? So, so any of the net new workloads too, we started to, you know, move them to the cloud.
So, so that way, you know, uh, uh, you know, we didn't have to, you know, do it first [00:14:00] on-prem and then migrate. And also, so now we are in a situation where , um, We are only doing, you know, on-prem if, if there is a real, you know, a lack of that capability on the cloud, you know, so kind of, uh, now having this mindset of, you know, let's do it on the cloud first versus in the past, you know, we were a little bit more, you know, on-prem mindset, you know, so, so that's, that's really the, you know, the transformation that's happening with , uh, you know, migrating a lot of analytics to the topic.
Steve Hamm: Right, right. That makes total sense. He looks drill down a little bit. Now, can you think of a couple of examples of how you're using the snowflake data cloud? You know, either, you know, in, in any aspects of your business leadership or, or analytics for, for dealing with point of care for physicians, talk about a couple of
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah, no. Yeah. Yeah. Good question. Uh, to one , uh, example. Is , uh, you know, going back to the , um, you know, we have a lot of data, you know, like, uh, and the lifetime patient record. Um, so, uh, one [00:15:00] of the key aspects is, okay, we have all of this data, you know, like, uh, you know, the claims data, the medical records, you know, we also know when a patient has been admitted or discharged from the hospitals.
Um, like, uh, so, um, and, and the social drivers of health, yyou know, last year in 2020, almost 54 million people had now , like, uh, some , uh, food, some sense of food insecurity. So that, which means it's access to, you know, healthy.
Um, like, uh, you know, food, you know, in that 18 million children. Right? So from a statistics standpoint, that's almost now about 35% higher than 2018. Right? So, um, you know, like, uh, when we started to look at the social drivers, the food insecurity, the data that we get from in a lot of third-party aggregators, can end the pandemic, obviously accelerated a lot of this now. so giving that holistic view and, and, you know, helping, you know, like the members who are in real need, you know, versus [00:16:00] just focusing on members.
Who are just looking at them in the clinical drivers, but not now like the social drivers. So, you know, like, so, so we kind of pivoted more to a holistic view. And, and , uh, you know, and the, and the analytic platform really helped us, you know, to target, okay, here are the communities we need to target, get out the members, you know, and , uh, you know, and if they're COVID positive, you know, how do we help them with transitions of care once they get discharged from a hospital so they don't get readmitted.
So, um, so number of different ways around, you know, again, the whole Anthem score principle of. No servicing our members and really, you know, like, uh, simplifying healthcare.
Steve Hamm: those are wonderful examples. Yeah. I D I, the thought of food insecure people at a time of COVID. And sorting through all those social issues and the, and the care issues. I think that's a really wonderful thing that the company is doing. So congratulations on that. You know, um, it's interesting to think about the culture of your company,
And I, one of the things that caught my eye. [00:17:00] Was the hackathons that you've been where you've been having around the world. You, you anonymize the data, of course, because, you know, we don't want to violate HIPAA rules and other kinds of rules and things like that, but then you invite kind of brilliant people and groups from outside the company, too.
To be, use it and see what they can do with it and see what they can do to improve health and healthcare. So if you could talk about that program , uh, what you've done without , uh, any of the insights you've gotten out of it, that'd be great.
Ashok Chennuru: No, absolutely. Um, uh, very , uh, very proud of the , uh, the , uh, we call it our digital, you know, data sandbox, you know, right now we have , uh, close to 70 , um, not anonymized data. So like you said, no Phi PII, you know, like, uh, inflammation compromise there. Um, Uh, and , uh, thing we have done close to, you know, 14 or 15 hackathons.
And , um, it really opens up the, the , uh, you know, the opportunity for us and also to note the smart people across the world, you know, uh, to help , um, build, you know, any of these AI [00:18:00] algorithms, et cetera. So it's not just limited to, you know, uh, you know, uh, the engineers we have , uh, within Anthem. But also , um, now like, uh, when, when there are some models, you know, so recently, you know, there was a hackathon that was focused on behavioral health, you know, like, um, how can we leverage the data to see if there is any, you know, linkage between, you know, behavioral health to, you know, clinical conditions are, you know, like, uh, et cetera, because of COVID, you know, a lot of great insights.
uh, so it really increased our capacity to accelerate a lot of this innovation and, and, and, and even, you know, like really help leverage the power of data , like, you know, because , um, Now, there are so many priorities within Anthem and we feel that by opening up, you know, like, uh, uh, our data sandbox it's also, you know, uh, has helped create lot of, you know, opportunities for us to partner in the ecosystem.
And, and , uh, you know, like, because women not hive all the data, they could be a partnership with another. You know, like, uh, in a , uh, in a company in the healthcare ecosystem to combine forces and [00:19:00] that can help, you know, kind of under the term of, you know, data for good in a where we can help, you know, like, uh, even in some of the new, you know, drug discoveries are the next big thing in healthcare and cloud computing has really helped us.
You know, uh, in terms of partnership, you know, data, you know, data sharing, you know, et cetera, you know, like, uh, again, under the team of, you know, data for
Steve Hamm: Yeah. So the cloud computing makes it much easier to, to give access. Well, number one, gather a wide variety of different kinds of data sets and then give access to a wide variety of , uh, partners who might want to either contribute or analyze that data. But let me , um, you, you mentioned behavioral health and I'm not quite clear on that.
What, what insights did you get about behavioral health that were useful to you?
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah. You know, so, uh, when , um, so I'll give you an example. If we have , um, you know, a, one of our members who's living, you know, alone are no does not have. The needed [00:20:00] support, you know, like, uh, once they get discharged from the hospital or even now with COVID the, in the end, the isolation now there's been, you know, with our telehealth now, like one area that has consistently, you know, uh, has gone up from a usage perspective is , um, you know, anything related to, you know, mental health , um, you know, like a slash behavioral health.
uh, when we start to look at, you know, the data. And now we have to factor in the factor in, you know, like, um, you know, if they have had, you know, we have seen a data correlation, if somebody has mental health issues are even, you know, like, uh, you know, drug related, you know, like, uh, you know, issues, you know, tying them to their clinical conditions, you know, playing them to, you know, whether they live alone, you know, like, and I mentioned about loneliness , uh, getting that holistic view.
And I'm like, that is going to be very critical because if you have diabetes, you know, and you, if you just try to focus on, you know, treating that disease without factoring in that mental health condition, and now are, you know, they're [00:21:00] living condition or where they live again, the social drivers, then , uh, we, the data has consistently shown that we are not able to really help , uh, the member, you know, which is why, but the holistic view.
Barely helps us to, you know, like target that member, you know,
Steve Hamm: Oh, I see. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, when I think about elderly people and vaccines, they often have difficulty signing up. They have difficulty getting to it. So if you could identify someone who might have those problems and reach out to them proactively, you can possibly save their life. I mean, it's really, it really is.
We are in a life, death, life and death situation now. So that is
Ashok Chennuru: Yep. And, and home health too is an important piece, you know, right now, if you read some of the future of. No care, you know, um, it's not guests in the hospital, you know, it could be, you know, in their homes and a bit, a lot of the new technologies. So.
Steve Hamm: Yeah. Now we've talked about the fact that [00:22:00] Anthem is on this migration to the data cloud. What challenges have you encountered and you and the organization encountered along the way on that migration and how have you overcome them?
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah, no, absolutely. Um, so, uh, one of the key core values of Anthem is , uh, you know, uh, information security, you know, no Anthem gate security of its data and the personal, you know, like, uh, you know, whether it's the , uh, at the Phi, which is the protected health information or PII, which is the personally identifiable information.
Now we take that very seriously in terms of safeguarding that for our members. And so, uh, when we started the migration to the cloud , um, you know, on-prem, you know, because we had, you know, everything within our four walls , uh, you know, we incorporated a lot of, you know, um, you know, security principles that access data traceability.
You know, uh, data, you know, like on my grade, you know, like a data security or encryption address, you know, at, at , uh, during transit, et cetera. So, you know, data protection, which is tokenization and deep tokenization was [00:23:00] one of the hardest things for us to overcome. Not because of all the type of security, you know, policy and principles.
Uh, we had to establish.
Ashok Chennuru: Yep.
Steve Hamm: which is pretty good. Yeah. So, um, now we've been through a crazy year. Crazy.
You know, I guess it's been exactly a year since this COVID thing started and we're not out of the woods yet. And you look forward over the coming year when you, when you look yeah. The technology trends kind of combined with what's going on in the world of healthcare, what are the most important trends in cloud computing and data analytics that you see the, you know, coming or needing to come in the, in the next year?
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah. Uh, yeah. Great question. Um, so I, I feel , um, that , um, The pandemic has really accelerated, you know, digital adoption. Um, you know, not just, you know, it's not an Anthem thing. I think it's across now all industries and, and I think even more so, uh, within our healthcare and our w which means that, you know, there's a [00:24:00] lot more data and available.
And , uh, now I mentioned about Anthem's approach of, you know, digital first tools to watch WellCare. Not too physical, you know, which means we are really radically transforming the whole paradigm of, you know, where care, where, and how care can be delivered. Um, you know, so, um, and, and, and the data is in the center of everything.
When you look at data and health are kind of. And like, um, you know, key that interestingly linked with each other, you know, like, uh, and, and from our perspective, you know, the data being in the center of everything and turning those, you know, data into actionable insights and making sure those insights are integrated into the right workflow, you know, whether it is.
You know, the provider or the care provider who caring for a member are now, we have built a lot of , um, uh, Sydney, which is our flagship consumer application. Now, you know, integrating that data into our , uh, our , uh, uh, the mobile app. [00:25:00] Or even, you know, helping, you know, sharing this information, you know, to our care provider, you know, care managers, you know, who in turn work with our members to help them navigate to care.
I see a big acceleration in terms of timely, actionable insights, you know, like, uh, you know, uh, accelerated because of , uh, you know, some of the innovations that are happening , like, you know, and. Now from a community standpoint now I feel, you know, social drivers of health. Now, like one of our core pillars for this year is community now.
So how do we leverage all the data? You know, some of it is at the, like a member level and some of it is at the zip code level and like, uh, so how do we parse all of this information and leverage that to serve. Uh, the people who are really in need and like, uh, we talked about the food insecurity are people who need transportation at the most vulnerable population.
How do we [00:26:00] help them? You know, how do we tackle, you know, like, uh, um, you know, uh, you know, care for those providers are, I know are how do we really, you know, like, uh, help them at the time of need, you know, so we can , um, really help. Uh, reduce that burden , like, you know, so those are, you know, like, uh, digital technologies, you know, accelerating the, you know, the innovation and really servicing the people that are in most need of healthcare.
So that's really where I would see some of this.
Steve Hamm: Yeah, it's interesting. When you think about some of the things that happened in the midst of COVID in regard to healthcare, it's not like we're going to go back to the way things were before, because in fact, we discovered that some of these new techniques, new approaches are superior.
They're superior in terms of improving healthcare and improving connectivity , uh, all these kinds of things. So it seems like, um, the ability to deliver insights, wherever care, and however care is offered is really going to be a very [00:27:00] important this year and going forward. Yeah, that's cool. Now I want to ask you to put on your visionary cap now for a minute and look out not one year, but five years or more, several years out.
How do you see the data cloud impacting business and society?
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah, I think collaboration with the eco system would kind of become a standard affair. You know, when they talk about, you know, data insights. Um, and , uh, it won't be Tesla bet as you know, uh, this is what is needed , uh, you know, uh, within , uh, Anthem, you know, this is how we need to look at it from an ecosystem standpoint.
And , uh, and that would also include, you know, like, uh, the communities as well by , um, you know, like, uh, because , uh, I think with the digitization and technology evolution , Uh, it's not, you know, uh, guests in a few companies who are driving , uh, the , uh, innovation field innovation would be [00:28:00] driven across at all levels now , uh, which means , uh, greater access to, you know, like, um, you know, actionable insights, you know, et cetera.
So, um, uh, but I , the, the one that I am most excited about is now around the team of. No, how do we leverage this to , uh, really, you know, focus on, you know, uh, uh, again, the term, the most vulnerable are, you know, like facade, the , uh, the social divide right now and, and , uh, leveraging the power of , uh, you know, the data we have , like, you know, so, um, uh, like technology wise, I feel that , um, Um, you know, compute on demand and like will really, really help us, you know, like accelerate or even, you know, uh, from the time data is available to making it actionable, you know, from, it will be in minutes in a, because of the compute.
Know, and then even the , uh, the varieties of data, you know, like, um, you know, right now the data has to be structured in a certain way to become actionable, but all the data that's sitting in documents, you know, are, you know, like, um, uh, in, in a lot of , uh, you know, PDFs, et cetera, you know, uh, we'll have the same , um, uh, [00:29:00] approach that we currently do and how to turn that into , uh, you know, to sparse through that and turn that into a.
Um, and like a valuable insights, so it can be leveraged across. So I see , um, and, and, and , uh, you know, paper and fax, or, you know, uh, some of the current ways of communication , uh, would , uh, would definitely disappear, you know, like, uh, so, uh, digital becomes the main line of communication.
Steve Hamm: Right, right. That makes total sense. Yeah, we , um, you know, it's interesting , you, you've talked several times in our conversation today about kind of like data for good and, and some of the things, you know, reaching underserved people and things like that. And you know, that was in the context of Anthem, but I know that just on a personal level that you and your wife and your son have done quite a bit of volunteer work.
so volunteer work is very valuable, especially at a time like this. I'm wondering when you go and do that kind of work, do you also get insights that help you kind of, you can bring back to Anthem and the way you think about delivering healthcare and expanding the delivery of [00:30:00] healthcare.
Ashok Chennuru: Yeah, no. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Thank you for asking the question. I , my, my, my wife , um, yeah, she's a medical oncologist and , uh, Well, my son is an 18 year old high school, senior, you know, as a family , um, volunteering is something that , uh, you know, we have done now for a long time. And I think , uh, during the COVID crisis , uh, Uh, we have, you know, put in a lot more hours because, you know, we feel , uh, uh, you know, there was a big need for it,, what, where it really helped me, you know, is when you, when you see something in action , like, um, you know, you kind of can, you know, take that and put things in perspective and then come back at least and leverage, okay, how do we scale this right now? Because we can, you know, um, you know, as volunteers, you can only touch so many , uh, you know, so many people, you know, but if we can really.
Leverage the, you know, the power of data we have and see, okay, how do we leverage it to scale and share those insights to the communities across the country? You know, like, uh, so those are some of the key [00:31:00] insights I was able to glean and , uh, you know, even in the discussions with our leadership, you know, like, uh, share some stories, you know, and, and even, you know, uh, caliber team to see, okay, this is the data we can use to make it actionable. Right. And, and, and even, you know, from a care perspective, you know, my wife , um, you know, being , uh, an oncologist and , uh, most of our patients are immunocompromised, you know, like, um, you know, there were a lot of discussion about, you know, like, uh, should they come in person or, you know, putting off care, you know, I know you mentioned earlier about now COVID pandemic.
Now. People are even. Now putting a lot of, you know, like much needed care, you know, in a postpone and yet, you know, which could lead to a bigger impact on their health. And they have data that shows that. And also how do we leverage technology , uh, uh, uh, you know, to help them, you know, feel comfortable, you know, so they can do that tele visit because.
You know, it may be easier for certain segment of population, you know, but for, you know, like the senior [00:32:00] population, you know, they may not be used or they may not even be comfortable , like, you know, so, so those are some of the, you know, the community things that we feel that even though we might have touched a few , um, you know, uh, you know, like, uh, consumers are much needed, you know, help, but , uh, You know, translating that into where we can use our data to scale.
It is something that , uh, really , uh, proud of.
Steve Hamm: yeah. You, no, I think it's very important. You know, when I look around these days, I think that this COVID crisis may actually have a positive impact in the recognition of very widespread recognition of the need of, of kind of how we depend on each other. And on the need to serve the underserved. And I think, you know, also we have a new administration in United States that wants to expand healthcare coverage.
So I think there's a lot of wind blowing in the direction of providing better care for more [00:33:00] people. And I think, you know, I think everybody in the healthcare system wants that. And if we can, if we can use data. As one of the elements of making it possible to deliver a very effective and also efficient health care in the, in the way it should be done.
I think that'll be at least one good outcome of this very sad period in world history. But anyway, I'm so encouraged. Um, To talk to you today to hear the kinds of things you're thinking about personally, and also the kinds of things that Anthony is doing with data along those lines. So to me, it's actually been a very inspiring conversation.
I want to thank you very much for your time today and for your insights and stories.
Ashok Chennuru: No. Thank you, Steve. Um, appreciate the opportunity to , uh, you know, talk about, you know, Anthem and how , uh, now we are helping simplify healthcare for our members. You know, thank you for the opportunity.