David M. Cordani
Analyst · Citigroup.
Carl, it's David. So I guess the broad framing, I'm not going to speak about what others are experiencing, I'll clearly speak about what HealthSpring experiences. First and foremost, as I noted earlier, the HealthSpring team has had a long track record of being very disciplined in terms of how it establishes the benefit design in their targeted market. So we call it Go Deep, they'll call it targeted market. So very disciplined. And if you track them over time, good growth but not ebb and flow outpace growth. So that's data point one. I think when you cut to the core of your conclusion, which we agree with, in terms of the HealthSpring model actually being highly attractive to new members, largely, the reason is their physician partnership and clinical model engages an individual at a level that the industry, broadly speaking, doesn't do. And now you hear the buzz around accountable care organizations, et cetera. Well, they've been at it for over a decade. And what transpires is as a senior comes into the HealthSpring model, quite a comprehensive health assessment transpires and significant clinical coordination ensues with the individual or patient and their physician. And what HealthSpring does, HealthSpring enables that. They enable it with information, they enable that with financial incentives, and very importantly, they enable it with care coordination resources. So embedded nurses, embedded case managers, embedded health coaches. For some physician practices, actually taking real estate right next to the physician practice and having a healthy living center where the annual physicals are conducted and the health coaching sessions and the lifestyle coaching sessions take place. So Carl, when you take that picture together, you get out of the box with a well-positioned product design. And then as you get to your new customers on board, you're actively engaging them very importantly with their physicians and care coordinators, aligning the information, the financial incentives and the clinical programs, that's why the HealthSpring model has been able to deliver significant value for new customers. Part of that, it shoots back to the individual in terms of health, quality of life benefit coverage. Part of it goes back to the physician in terms of the financial incentives, only when the health status improves, and part of it has come back to HealthSpring and the shareholder. And that model is successful and we're seeking to grow it as fast as possible.