Jessica Cromer was appointed the
President and CEO of the McLaren Integrated HMO Group in early December, following the retirement of Kathy Kendall.
Having spent her entire career in the health insurance industry, hear from Jessica and learn more about her and her motivations as an industry leader.
What is your view on health insurance as creating access for members?
Having access to health care is fundamental. I see health insurance as a critical component for access, as those with health insurance are more likely to get preventative services and/or timely care. Insurers will offer incentives to promote that important preventive care is completed as well as those with chronic conditions are having positive health outcomes. With Medicaid, we also work with our members to get access to things such as healthy food, stable housing, transportation, and other non-medical factors that influence health care, called social determinates of health (SDOH). These can have a significant impact on peoples’ health outcomes.
How did you initially get into the insurance industry?
It was really by happenstance. Coming up to graduation from grad school, I was contemplating two paths. One was to continue teaching at West Virginia University’s Health Science and Technology Academy program, a wonderful mentorship program that prepares West Virginia high school students to be successful in what we refer to today as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) classes. I taught math classes while I was completing my Master’s, and it was such a rewarding experience for me. The other area I looked at was actuary. I was very interested in data analytics and a career that would require problem solving.
I made a very last-minute life decision to move down to the Virginia Beach area after I graduated to be near my now-husband, Jeremy, who was in the Navy. A managed care company called Amerigroup caught my eye. At that point, it was a small start-up focused on government health care programs. I started with Amerigroup as a temporary data analyst and very quickly was hired on as the company’s 257th employee as a premium reconciliation analyst. That was my start into health care.
What do you see as the role of the McLaren Integrated HMO Group (MIG) for the system?
This group supports both the Indiana and Michigan health plans from an operational and strategic perspective, and by having a shared services team, the health plans gain consistency in process, efficiency in work, and the added benefit of learning best practices from each other. The MIG Vice Presidents have a tough job because they must look at what is best for the health plans overall. Sometimes this means give and take between the plans.
What vision to do you have for this new position?
Foremost, I have some big shoes to fill after Kathy, who built the Health Plan from the ground up.
The focus is going to be on how to position the health plans to be successful in the future not only in our current markets but potential growth areas whether that be new products or new geography. On the Medicaid side, the health plans have a delicate balance to strike where on one hand we need to ensure our members have some of the top-quality outcomes in our respective states, but we also need to be fiscally responsible with the taxpayer dollar where we provide a value for the state by lowering the overall cost in the program. In Michigan, where McLaren has both the provider subsidiaries and a Health Plan, we need to make sure that we are collaborating in the community from a clinical, marketing and value proposition standpoint.
How do you foster a culture that creates inclusion among team members?
This may sound basic, but communication is key and by that, I mean transparent communication. It is so important for organizations to create the space for their teams to openly discuss work and keep people informed. Whether it be “we did a great job” or, “wait…we didn’t do so hot over here,” we need to be talking about it early and often with each other. I strongly feel we need different opinions at the table speaking up in order to put our collective best foot forward. Each employee has their set of strengths they bring to the table and it’s important that we hear from them.