April 24, 2025 • 8 mins
In this episode, Dr. Romilla Batra, SVP and Chief Medical Officer at Premera Blue Cross, discusses how she’s rethinking clinical strategy to align with the quintuple aim, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance equity. She also shares insights on empowering providers, removing barriers to care, and partnering with communities for better health outcomes.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
Becker's Pay Your Issues podcast.
Thrilled today to be joined by doctor Rama
Labatra, who is senior vice president and chief
medical officer at Premera Blue Cross. Doctor Batra,
thank you so much for taking the time
to be with me on the podcast today.
Thanks for having me. So before we dive
into everything we wanna talk with you about,
(00:20):
can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself, your background in health care, and
what it is that you do today at
Premera?
Absolutely.
I am a primary care physician internist by
background. I would say I spent the first
ten years of my professional life working in
academic centers and federally qualified healthcare,
centers. And, for the past, over a decade,
(00:41):
I've been working on the health plan side,
mostly in not for profit health plans. I
joined Premera about a year back, in my
role as a chief medical officer. I'm responsible,
for,
developing, I would say, clinical strategies and programs
that improve the health care outcomes and experience
in our populations, and I would say all
our populations,
(01:03):
with a focus on, what I would consider
quintupil a.
Fantastic. Well, let's talk a little bit about
that.
Obviously, you're you're Premera's new chief medical officer.
So talk to us a little bit about
how you're rethinking the health plan's approach to
improving clinical outcomes,
while also addressing the patient experience and provider
satisfaction.
(01:23):
And can you share with us any innovative
strategies that you're implementing to align with that
quintuple aim?
You know, I would start off by saying
when we think about health care now in
this country, it's it's first and foremost on
everybody's mind just because the health care costs
are so up.
I'm also sure people already know when you
think about bankruptcies, medical reasons are the biggest
(01:44):
reasons for bankruptcies. So affordability and access becomes
that much bigger.
So when we think about at Premera, when
we think about how do we serve our
populations
best by and so especially focus on improving,
quintuple on on quintuple aims and outcomes,
We really focused on what matters to our
populations,
what are the drivers of poor health in
(02:04):
those populations,
how can we engage in our population alongside
a delivery system,
and really help them get to live their
best life.
And so that is also actually our our
purpose and our vision and our mission statement,
which is how do we really make health
care work better for our members.
And so that's the focus
of our programs, and it's all, I would
(02:25):
say it's driven by not only member needs,
but it's also driven by data. What is
our data telling us?
And, really quickly, you know, all of us
came on the other end of the pandemic.
A lot of care
was missed during the pandemic. And so as
more people are engaging with care, our role
at Premera is making sure people are reengaging
with preventive care and also making sure, you
(02:48):
know, access is available to our members at
the right place and the right cost at
the right time, and I say every time.
So those are our big,
areas of focus, at Premera.
Certainly. And I know we've talked with Premera
leaders in the past about how affordability
and equitable access to care is a key
challenge within today's health care landscape, and certainly
(03:10):
that that's something that your leaders are always
looking to tackle.
So can you talk to us about how
you're working to support providers in delivering that
high quality care while also ensuring financial sustainability
for the health plan?
Yeah. So I, I, always step in two
shoes. I think about members first, and I
would say providers second. I'm a primary care
physician myself, so I know how it is
(03:32):
to take care of, you know, patients in
the clinic,
day after day. So with that lens in
mind, we always think about how do we
make the right thing to do, easy thing
to do for our providers.
And for for us, what it means is
how do we get to data, data that's
real and actionable and timely to our providers
so they can really do the right thing.
So perhaps we have more care gaps that
(03:54):
providers may not know because members sometimes switch
providers, like who needs a mammogram and who
hasn't had a colon cancer screening. That's a
good example.
Similarly,
you know, we have programs and people get
discharged from the hospital to connect them back
to their primary care physician because sometimes primary
care physician are not even, you know, aware
that people are in the hospital. So how
do we get to do the right thing
(04:15):
for our members and right thing for our
providers? So how do we really support providers?
That's another example.
The third example I would say is,
at a systems level,
how do we make it easy and take
away the administrative
burden that a lot of primary care physicians
and physicians in general face? So constantly looking
at our systems and exchanging data, getting data
(04:35):
from them,
making sure that if we have, you know,
if we are assessing for medical necessity, that
that is timely, done real time. So no
care is delayed or hampered.
And last but not the least, rewarding for
good quality care. So we have a lot
of, value based care programs
where where we incentivize our providers for, doing
(04:56):
the right thing and more so so they
can set up systems in place to help
our members.
Certainly.
So let's switch gears here for a second
and talk a little bit about health equity,
which, of course, remains a critical priority for
health care organizations
nationally, including at Premera.
How would you say that you're aligning the
health plan strategy to advance health equity efforts
(05:18):
across the communities that you serve? And can
you share any partnerships or new initiatives,
that you think are really proven effective in
driving these efforts?
Absolutely. I think we absolutely believe in, what
I'm saying. Excellent health outcomes for all, but
that is,
Medicare. But that is a framework Medicare has
adopted, and we totally believe in it. And
(05:38):
for us, being a not for profit plan,
it's based not only on our membership, it's
also based on healthy communities as well. So
with that in mind, we spent the last
few years really partnering very closely with community
based organizations,
academic medical centers,
in providing grants, providing data,
creating and launching programs to address the needs
(06:00):
of local population in some areas.
It's around focus on hypertension in our black
population. Other areas, it's, focused on serving the
behavioral health needs of a population when we
don't have that many behavioral health specialists. So
giving grants around with University of Washington on
collaborative care. And in some communities, it's around
maternity care. So there are different areas that
(06:22):
we focus on based on the needs of
the population as, you know, many of our,
many in our audience know that, social drivers
of health are super important and, you know,
what your health outcomes depend on where you
live, work, and play. So that's where we
are aligning ourselves to in terms of supporting
the health. I I'm calling it excellent health
outcomes for all.
Absolutely. Well, it sounds like a lot of
(06:44):
really impactful work happening under your leadership.
But before we go, any other final thoughts
or final tidbits of advice you wanna offer,
while you have the ears of a lot
of other health plan leaders from around the
country?
I think all of us across the country
are struggling with the rising cost we see
in our personal lives, and, of course, it
spills over in the health care life as
(07:05):
well.
And, all of us are looking at affordability
strategies.
What I drive my teams to do and
I would ask other health care leaders to
do is, how do we make the right
thing to do also the business excellent thing
to do? And so looking at tactics that
may help our members first and also help
from driving the cost of care down and
making it more affordable.
Few things that jumped to my mind is,
(07:25):
you know, pharmacy drugs are big drivers. If
they're generics or biosimilars, could we do that?
Similarly, I always tell my teams, hey. Nobody
wants to show up in the ER or
in the hospital unless they have to. Can
we bring care to them? So just doing
the right thing but also making sure the
right thing also drives cost effectiveness and affordability.
Wonderful. Well, doctor Batra, thank you so much
(07:47):
for taking the time to sit down with
us and for sharing your insights with our
listeners. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much
for having me, Jacob. And if you'd like
to listen to more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare,
you can visit beckershospitalreview.com.
Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
Becker's Pay Your Issues podcast.
Thrilled today to be joined by doctor Rama
Labatra, who is senior vice president and chief
medical officer at Premera Blue Cross. Doctor Batra,
thank you so much for taking the time
to be with me on the podcast today.
Thanks for having me. So before we dive
into everything we wanna talk with you about,
(00:20):
can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself, your background in health care, and
what it is that you do today at
Premera?
Absolutely.
I am a primary care physician internist by
background. I would say I spent the first
ten years of my professional life working in
academic centers and federally qualified healthcare,
centers. And, for the past, over a decade,
(00:41):
I've been working on the health plan side,
mostly in not for profit health plans. I
joined Premera about a year back, in my
role as a chief medical officer. I'm responsible,
for,
developing, I would say, clinical strategies and programs
that improve the health care outcomes and experience
in our populations, and I would say all
our populations,
(01:03):
with a focus on, what I would consider
quintupil a.
Fantastic. Well, let's talk a little bit about
that.
Obviously, you're you're Premera's new chief medical officer.
So talk to us a little bit about
how you're rethinking the health plan's approach to
improving clinical outcomes,
while also addressing the patient experience and provider
satisfaction.
(01:23):
And can you share with us any innovative
strategies that you're implementing to align with that
quintuple aim?
You know, I would start off by saying
when we think about health care now in
this country, it's it's first and foremost on
everybody's mind just because the health care costs
are so up.
I'm also sure people already know when you
think about bankruptcies, medical reasons are the biggest
(01:44):
reasons for bankruptcies. So affordability and access becomes
that much bigger.
So when we think about at Premera, when
we think about how do we serve our
populations
best by and so especially focus on improving,
quintuple on on quintuple aims and outcomes,
We really focused on what matters to our
populations,
what are the drivers of poor health in
(02:04):
those populations,
how can we engage in our population alongside
a delivery system,
and really help them get to live their
best life.
And so that is also actually our our
purpose and our vision and our mission statement,
which is how do we really make health
care work better for our members.
And so that's the focus
of our programs, and it's all, I would
(02:25):
say it's driven by not only member needs,
but it's also driven by data. What is
our data telling us?
And, really quickly, you know, all of us
came on the other end of the pandemic.
A lot of care
was missed during the pandemic. And so as
more people are engaging with care, our role
at Premera is making sure people are reengaging
with preventive care and also making sure, you
(02:48):
know, access is available to our members at
the right place and the right cost at
the right time, and I say every time.
So those are our big,
areas of focus, at Premera.
Certainly. And I know we've talked with Premera
leaders in the past about how affordability
and equitable access to care is a key
challenge within today's health care landscape, and certainly
(03:10):
that that's something that your leaders are always
looking to tackle.
So can you talk to us about how
you're working to support providers in delivering that
high quality care while also ensuring financial sustainability
for the health plan?
Yeah. So I, I, always step in two
shoes. I think about members first, and I
would say providers second. I'm a primary care
physician myself, so I know how it is
(03:32):
to take care of, you know, patients in
the clinic,
day after day. So with that lens in
mind, we always think about how do we
make the right thing to do, easy thing
to do for our providers.
And for for us, what it means is
how do we get to data, data that's
real and actionable and timely to our providers
so they can really do the right thing.
So perhaps we have more care gaps that
(03:54):
providers may not know because members sometimes switch
providers, like who needs a mammogram and who
hasn't had a colon cancer screening. That's a
good example.
Similarly,
you know, we have programs and people get
discharged from the hospital to connect them back
to their primary care physician because sometimes primary
care physician are not even, you know, aware
that people are in the hospital. So how
do we get to do the right thing
(04:15):
for our members and right thing for our
providers? So how do we really support providers?
That's another example.
The third example I would say is,
at a systems level,
how do we make it easy and take
away the administrative
burden that a lot of primary care physicians
and physicians in general face? So constantly looking
at our systems and exchanging data, getting data
(04:35):
from them,
making sure that if we have, you know,
if we are assessing for medical necessity, that
that is timely, done real time. So no
care is delayed or hampered.
And last but not the least, rewarding for
good quality care. So we have a lot
of, value based care programs
where where we incentivize our providers for, doing
(04:56):
the right thing and more so so they
can set up systems in place to help
our members.
Certainly.
So let's switch gears here for a second
and talk a little bit about health equity,
which, of course, remains a critical priority for
health care organizations
nationally, including at Premera.
How would you say that you're aligning the
health plan strategy to advance health equity efforts
(05:18):
across the communities that you serve? And can
you share any partnerships or new initiatives,
that you think are really proven effective in
driving these efforts?
Absolutely. I think we absolutely believe in, what
I'm saying. Excellent health outcomes for all, but
that is,
Medicare. But that is a framework Medicare has
adopted, and we totally believe in it. And
(05:38):
for us, being a not for profit plan,
it's based not only on our membership, it's
also based on healthy communities as well. So
with that in mind, we spent the last
few years really partnering very closely with community
based organizations,
academic medical centers,
in providing grants, providing data,
creating and launching programs to address the needs
(06:00):
of local population in some areas.
It's around focus on hypertension in our black
population. Other areas, it's, focused on serving the
behavioral health needs of a population when we
don't have that many behavioral health specialists. So
giving grants around with University of Washington on
collaborative care. And in some communities, it's around
maternity care. So there are different areas that
(06:22):
we focus on based on the needs of
the population as, you know, many of our,
many in our audience know that, social drivers
of health are super important and, you know,
what your health outcomes depend on where you
live, work, and play. So that's where we
are aligning ourselves to in terms of supporting
the health. I I'm calling it excellent health
outcomes for all.
Absolutely. Well, it sounds like a lot of
(06:44):
really impactful work happening under your leadership.
But before we go, any other final thoughts
or final tidbits of advice you wanna offer,
while you have the ears of a lot
of other health plan leaders from around the
country?
I think all of us across the country
are struggling with the rising cost we see
in our personal lives, and, of course, it
spills over in the health care life as
(07:05):
well.
And, all of us are looking at affordability
strategies.
What I drive my teams to do and
I would ask other health care leaders to
do is, how do we make the right
thing to do also the business excellent thing
to do? And so looking at tactics that
may help our members first and also help
from driving the cost of care down and
making it more affordable.
Few things that jumped to my mind is,
(07:25):
you know, pharmacy drugs are big drivers. If
they're generics or biosimilars, could we do that?
Similarly, I always tell my teams, hey. Nobody
wants to show up in the ER or
in the hospital unless they have to. Can
we bring care to them? So just doing
the right thing but also making sure the
right thing also drives cost effectiveness and affordability.
Wonderful. Well, doctor Batra, thank you so much
(07:47):
for taking the time to sit down with
us and for sharing your insights with our
listeners. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much
for having me, Jacob. And if you'd like
to listen to more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare,
you can visit beckershospitalreview.com.
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