Commitment vs. Compliance

Health plans and health care, this system still uses fax machines.

Oh, my goodness.

No, I mean, I think we’re single-handedly keeping fax machines in business. So, one of the things that we’ve insisted on is creating a comprehensive, real time, digital health record that you can access on your phone and share with anyone you feel is appropriate, whether it’s a caregiver or another physician. You’re in control of it. That world hasn’t existed up until this point. We are now doing it with a really small number of our members.
There was recently a law passed in California that mandates the sharing of information that will allow the creation of these records. And so we are on the precipice of having all of our members and literally, all Californians, have that kind of digital access to their health records. It’s long overdue, but I think when it does come to everybody, it’s going to be as big a transformation as we’ve seen in a while.

And leading something like that is enormously complex, right? I mean, not only do you have the hospitals and health care providers on one end, but you have to get the customers, the users on the other end to actually buy into this idea, too. So how would you advise other leaders on how to successfully lead a change in this example, as big as digital transformation?

Well, we often talk about the need for commitment versus compliance, and it starts within Blue Shield of California. I tell people all the time, “Yes, I am the CEO of the company, but if employees are doing things because the CEO said so, we’re in trouble.” This type of change takes years. There’s going to be challenges, inertia, resistance, we’re trying new things, sometimes they’ll work, sometimes they won’t. And in order to navigate through that path, I often use the metaphor, we’re not driving on Interstate Highway, we’re kind of hacking our way through the forest and trying to find the path. People have to be signed up. They have to believe that what we’re doing is the right thing.
And if they’re not bought-in, if they’re not committed to the answer, then the moment there’s some kind of problem, it’s going to be easy to just fold your arms and say, “I told you so.” And I think similarly, when you’re trying to work with physicians, we can’t just force it on them, they have to feel bought-in, they have to feel like this is good. This is good for them. It’s good for their patients. I think the people that are making this journey with you, they’ve got to be committed, they’ve got to believe in it. You’ve got to help them get to that point, because if it’s compliance, we’re not going to get very far.