Oscar Health GC Hank Greenberg on COVID Resources, Telemedicine, and Remote Workforces

Key Takeaways

This crisis has put the gas pedal on providers allowing telemedicine.Oscar has a personalized risk assessment survey. You can access this survey even if you are not a member. If you are a candidate for testing, it will refer you to a testing site.The danger of a fully remote workforce is not communicating enough. Communicate more than ever when working remotely.If you think it can be useful to someone, then communicate it out.In the long run, COVID-19 will drastically change the healthcare system. Our society is all in this together. 

Resources Mentioned

Hank’s LinkedInOscarOscar’s COVID-19 Resources

Hank Greenberg works as General Counsel at Oscar Health. 

Over the past five years, Oscar has built a health insurance company that people actually want to talk to – one that engages members and guides them to the right care. Today, Oscar drives the highest levels of engagement in health care, helping over 250,000 individuals and businesses – from startups in Brooklyn, New York to bookkeepers in Bouldin Creek, Austin – take charge of their health.

Working at Oscar during COVID-19

Oscar feels very lucky to have the opportunity to be helpful for their members. Oscar has the most engaged members in the industry, with the highest mobile engagement of any insurer. 43% of our members’ first visits to the doctor are routed through their technology and customer service teams.Oscar is partnered with more than half of the top 20 health systems in the U.S.

Responding to COVID-19

The company is lucky to already have resources set up. They accommodate work from home in a big way. Oscar has been able to maintain the continuity of their work.Oscar has been setting up goals and touchpoints for their team.

Resources from Oscar

Oscar has a personalized risk assessment survey. You can access this survey even if you are not a member. If you are a candidate for testing, it will refer you to a testing site. This survey is constantly being updated.For members, you can call the care team to find the right provider for you.If you have symptoms, you can call the care team to find the right place to go. 

How Telemedicine will move forward

COVID-19 accelerated telemedicine.More and more services are moving online.The availability for telemedicine is moving forward state by state. This crisis has put the gas pedal on providers allowing telemedicine.Everything that can be done remotely is being done remotely now. The state of preparedness for something like this will become a talking point for policy change from now on. Hopefully, there will be more attention to PPE for healthcare workers.This will affect the way that people get healthcare. 

GCs working remotely 

It has been difficult to move remotely. There are certain types of work that are more capable of working remotely. However, legal teams can work remotely fairly seamlessly. Communicate more than ever when working remotely. It can be hard to appreciate what you are hearing or what you aren’t hearing. Don’t hesitate to click send on an email or pick up the phone. If you think it can be useful to someone, then communicate it out. The danger of a fully remote workforce is not communicating enough. 

How the world will look moving forward

We have to continue the things that we are doing with social distancing. The world needs to make sure that everyone is doing their part. All of short term tradeoff's will be worth it if we can reduce the amount of loss of life. Hopefully, in a few months, we will all be back in our offices.