A colleague of mine once said, “When sleeping next to an elephant, you can’t help but notice when they roll over.” These days, for any organization in the health and human service field, that applies to health plans. The policies and practices of health plans are a driver of health and human service delivery systems…

For provider organization executives, the current market presents new opportunities to develop innovative services and then create new partnerships with health plans to bring those services to market. But competing for the revenue you need—with a great growth strategy—has long proven a tough challenge for many health and human service organizations. While there are always…

For specialty provider organizations, a larger and larger proportion of service reimbursement is now dependent on relationships with health plans. Payers—federal and state governments, the military, and employers—are increasingly adopting managed care models to finance and deliver their health care benefits using health plans. And, as part of creating and sustaining health plan relationships, it…

My colleague Monica Oss’ favorite business topic is marketing—market research, market intelligence, strategic marketing planning, you name it. But “marketing” has always been a discipline (and an investment) that has not been “top of mind” in health and human services. How provider organization executive teams perceive the role of marketing differs among non-profit organizations and…