Meet Brenda Schmidt of Solera Health in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brenda Schmidt.

Brenda, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My education was science focused – I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Microbiology and a Master’s Degree in Immunology. I have been in healthcare services and technology for over 25 years. I worked for Baxter Healthcare for 15 years in a variety of business development, product management, product development and global marketing roles. I left in 2005 to start a company focused on employee health management for organizations that had diverse employee populations. These employers required a creative approach to improving the health and productivity of their employees, primarily through program delivery by local community resources delivering cultural competent programs. We then won a large CDC demonstration project in population health that leveraged community resources, and finally, we worked with a national retail pharmacy chain to manage patients with multiple chronic conditions referred from a local Accountable Care Organizations to keep them compliant with their care plan between doctor visits.

Based on these 3 experiences it was clear that there was the need and opportunity for technology platform and business model that could connect patients, payers and physicians with non- medical prevention, coping and support services – either digital or in the community – that could impact cost and quality. Based on these experiences I purpose built Solera’s business model that identified the need for a marketplace or integrator in healthcare for non-medical services delivered by community organizations or digital solutions.

Has it been a smooth road?
Breaking through the noise in healthcare is really hard. There are literally thousands of healthcare startups pitching to the same buyer. When we introduced our disruptive business model, we focused on the problem and the industry looked to us to solve it. It is important to be very focused on solving a particular problem while staying agile in product design. This is a constant struggle, as it is easy to go too broad, lose focus and have difficulty executing. I also wish I had known that it always takes longer costs more money than you think. We have been fortunate that Solera had great timing and product – market fit which has allowed us to gain clients and grow very quickly.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Solera Health story. Tell us more about the business.
Solera Health is a preventive care benefits manager that connects patients, payers, and physicians with community organizations and digital therapeutics providers, simply and securely. Solera helps consolidate highly fragmented programs and services into one integrated network, allowing health plans and medical providers to increase consumer participation while lowering associated costs. Solera proactively identifies the “best fit” program provider based on each individual’s unique needs and preferences, which has proven to have a significant impact on improved patient outcomes at a fraction of the cost of traditional medical care.

I remember the day we outreached to health plan members to inform them of this new health plan benefit, and we could see the statistics of people matching and enrolling in the Diabetes Prevention Program. Solera has enrolled more people in the Diabetes Prevention Program this year than the entire industry combines over the past 4 years. The is tens of thousands of people who may not get diabetes, and it is thrilling to see it our model and technology work.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently made the Diabetes Prevention Program a covered preventive benefit for all Medicare beneficiaries. We see a general trend for increasing focus on preventing chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease as a strategy to lower costs through healthy lifestyle changes. We also see the acceptance of non-medical providers such as health coaches being accepted by healthcare providers as a high-access, lower cost resource to help their patients prevent and better manage chronic health conditions.

I also see an increased realization and focus that social services like food, housing, and transportation are directly linked to healthcare outcomes, and there is a lot of focus and energy from the health plan and providers for how to efficiently integrate community and non-medical services into healthcare. These trends are driving Solera’s success, as we contract with health plans to serve as the administrator for a network of non-medical prevention, coping and support services delivered by community organizations and digital solution providers.

Contact Info:

• Website:www.soleranetwork.com www.solera4me.com
• Phone:800-858-1714
• Email:hello@soleranetwork.com
• Twitter:@solerahealth
• Other:https://www.linkedin.com/company/6640471/

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