KORY JEFFREY: Welcome everybody.
We're on site at Founder World in San Francisco.
I'm joined in the studio today by Kris Gale, co-founder
of Clover Health.
Kris, thank you for joining me.
KRIS GALE: Hi, yeah.
Thanks for having me.
KORY JEFFREY: So we were talking just before camera started
rolling about the really cool stuff
that you're doing in the health care space.
Can you kind of elaborate what Clover Health is and some
of the innovations that you're bringing to the market.
KRIS GALE: Yeah, absolutely.
So Clover Health is a health insurance startup.
But what we're doing is using data
about our members to figure out the specific moments in time
where we have an opportunity to intervene in their care,
and actually prevent them from having adverse health
consequences down the road.
So for things like, if we have a member who's
managing a chronic disease-- say,
congestive heart failure-- we're looking for opportunities
for specific care follow ups, or tests,
or interventions with the member that we know
will reduce their probability of having all the adverse health
consequences that are associated with that disease.
KORY JEFFREY: So for the developers
who are watching, how does that work?
How do you do that?
KRIS GALE: Yeah, so we take all these raw data points--
we're an insurance company.
So we can see historical claims.
Claims have diagnoses associated with them, treatments
and procedures.
And they're all encoded as numbers.
So then we have to match those up through concept ontologies
to be able to say, this person took this drug.
We know this to be an oral diabetes medication.
Or they had this test.
And we know that it's an indication
of how well they've controlled their blood sugar up
to this point.
And then we can say, OK, well now
we can assemble a clinical profile of the person who
has all those raw data points associated with them.
So we know this is, for example, a high risk type 2 diabetic.
And we know the appropriate clinical standards
for managing that disease.
And we can see the care they're actually
receiving from their doctors, hospitals, specialists.
And we can identify the missing pieces,
and then go out with our own staff of nurse practitioners.
And while they're in that encounter with that member,
they're using applications that we've written to say,
while you're interacting with this member,
make sure you do this one thing.
Because we know the quantitative effect on their health
probabilities for you filling this care gap
at this moment in time.
KORY JEFFREY: So that obviously has
a lot of upside for the individual,
but also seems to have a lot of upside for the insurance
company as well.
KRIS GALE: Yeah, exactly.
And that's why we chose to do this as a health insurance
company, because we're on the hook for paying
for really expensive hospitalizations
if they happen.
So our financial incentives are aligned with the health
incentives of our members.
And as we're improving their quality of life,
we're actually saving costs for ourselves.
So we think it's a really well aligned way of managing health.
KORY JEFFREY: How new is this in the space?
Do you guys see that you guys are the only people doing this?
Are there people now following along?
What's the space like?
KRIS GALE: The space is largely people
who are trying to do pieces of this.
I think we're sort of best positioned
to do this comprehensively, because we are an insurance
company who also has this data science and software
development function.
I think a lot of people are building similar tools
to the ones we've built, and they're
trying to sell them into insurance companies.
But it sits alongside six or seven
other IT tools they're using.
It's not sharing data among those things.
And they're missing these opportunities, then,
to actually drive operational behavior changes, because all
they can do is sell software.
We think we're doing it all together in one room.
And we think that's the novel part.
KORY JEFFREY: And so an insurance company with a very
cool, holistic tech bend to it.
What draws you to a place like Founder World?
KRIS GALE: I think what's interesting about events
like this is seeing all of the other things that are starting
to happen in the space, and potentially find other health
tech startups that are doing things that will produce
improved disease outcomes, and then looking at Clover
as potentially a platform to go out and be
a customer for those things.
Because we'll invest in any technology that we can show
improves the clinical quality outcomes of our members.
So we think we're the ideal customer
for a lot of the people who might be exhibiting
at an event like this.
KORY JEFFREY: And so you were a speaker today.
What was it you were talking about?
What was the message you were trying
to get across to everybody?
KRIS GALE: Yeah, largely it was this.
It was about the state of the health care vertical,
and what entrepreneurs and people looking
to get into this space should know about who buys what.
What are their incentives?
What are the changing regulatory dynamics of health care?
KORY JEFFREY: So as you look at-- obviously
we talked about you investing in anything that
makes sense for the incentives.
Is there any one space from a health care
point of view that looks particularly promising?
Is it VR?
Is it big data?
Is it anything like that?
KRIS GALE: Yeah, for me, I think it's
a lot of stuff related to behavioral health.
So we're ensuring a population of seniors, 65 and older,
who might be on a lot of medication simultaneously.
And it's very difficult if you're also
managing maybe depression, or other behavioral health issues,
to stay adherent to your medication schedule.
So a lot of people are coming up with different tools
where maybe it's a smartphone app, or a smart pill bottle,
or things that help people to take their medication on a more
regular schedule.
We know that improves health outcomes.
So we're looking at potentially being
a customer for those sorts of things,
because we can measure whether it's actually
working for our members, and continue
to deploy the technology that actually helps.
KORY JEFFREY: OK.
That's really cool too, because you could actually prove out
the model for the startups as well, because you
have the holistic system.
Awesome.
So speaking of technology, do you
have a favorite Google technology?
KRIS GALE: Yes, I've been using Inbox lately.
Yes, I'm a huge fan of Inbox.
Just within the last couple months rolled out
for our enterprise account.
So I love it.
KORY JEFFREY: So do you find the paradigm
shift hard to get used to, or are you just easy to pick up?
KRIS GALE: I think it took a couple weeks for me
to get to Inbox Zero and start to use that.
But being able to defer something and say I'll
get to this tomorrow morning and clear it out of my inbox,
and just always be managing the things that come through.
One of the things I find is that my job
as a co-founder in this business is
to really be up on top of things and make
sure I'm not blocking anyone in the organization that's
waiting on me for an answer.
So being able to have that sort of optimization for cycle time,
that I think Inbox does a really good job of for me.
KORY JEFFREY: Yeah, I know.
I'm kind of cheating right now.
I have both Inbox and Gmail.
And so I've got kind of one foot in both camps.
And that doesn't work well all the way around.
KRIS GALE: I went completely over to Inbox.
The second I used it, I was 100% in.
KORY JEFFREY: You have inspired me.
I'm going to have to do it.
Well, thank you very much for joining.
KRIS GALE: Yeah, thanks for having me.
KORY JEFFREY: Awesome.
And thank you guys for joining.
This is site at Founder World in San Francisco.
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