Former Apple CEO John Sculley Bets on eternalHealth, a Medicare Health Plan in Boston, and Joins as the Chairman of the Board
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–eternalHealth, the first Medicare Advantage Health Plan to get licensed in Massachusetts in nearly a decade, is looking to disrupt the health insurance industry by providing high quality, affordable care to Beneficiaries in Massachusetts and eventually beyond. The company also announced that former Apple CEO John Sculley has joined the firm as Chairman of its Board of Directors.
Led by eternalHealth Founder and CEO Pooja Ika, a 25-year-old Babson graduate, the company has a simple mission of leverage technology to reduce health plan operating costs, allowing more dollars to be allocated towards patient care and benefits while embracing value-based care, letting for healthcare to be more accountable, accessible, and comprehensive, said Mr. Sculley, who as of December 1st, joined as Chairman of the eternalHealth board.
“I reinvented myself in healthcare after my time at Apple two decades ago, by investing and mentoring dozens of entrepreneurs within the healthcare industry; working with software, biotech, analytics, and services companies,” said Mr. Sculley. “When Pooja shared the vision behind eternalHealth and articulated that her beliefs were similar to mine, I knew that this was a company I was excited to be a part of. I look forward to working with Pooja, management, and a knowledgeable board to help grow the company.”
Mr. Sculley said that Americans spend $4 trillion on healthcare and a trillion of those dollars are wasted every year.
“All Payers (Commercial payers, State MEDICAID, and MEDICARE) pretty much manage the $4 trillion healthcare spend by deciding how care is delivered, measured, and paid for,” said Mr. Sculley. “I believe if payers deploy digital workplace automation for most of the transactions across their organization, they can substantially reduce administrative costs and leave more dollars for the total cost of care, allocating more towards providing quality care through a high-touch model to assist patients and physician partners. Secondly, there is so much potential to take value-based care to the next level through platform driven intelligence into physicians’ and hospitals’ existing workflows and empowering every care touch point with 360-degree view of the patients care history, creating opportunities to improve quality and reduce costs.”
eternalHealth strives to provide Medicare Beneficiaries with high-quality, affordable benefits that are comprehensive. By leveraging nirvanaHealth’s cloud-based technology platform, one that embraces artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, the organization can eliminate the cost and need to work with multiple different vendors and is able to automate close to 2,000-3,000 different transactional functions to operate as a compliant payer. These efficiencies allow eternalHealth to focus on the things that truly matter, such as working on providing enriched benefits at a lower cost to its members and removing the mistrust that exists between providers and payers by allocating more dollars towards the total cost of care and provider incentives. Additionally, the company will place a large emphasis on the member experience by rolling our various member focused initiatives to increase member satisfaction, retention, and help build a sense of community and belonging.
Ika states, “I could not be more honored to have someone like John chair our Board. He is a great addition to an already incredibly knowledgeable and strong board we have been fortunate to build. I am so excited to be able to tap into John’s decades of experience in consumerism. Medicare Marketing is extremely consumer focused and I look forward to bringing a fresh, new perspective to health insurance, one that is focused on John and I’s shared vision of bringing luxury to healthcare, without the luxury costs.”
About eternalHealth: Headquartered in Boston, eternalHealth provides high-quality care with low out-of-pocket costs to the residents of Massachusetts. eternalHealth is committed to placing the member at the forefront of every decision they make as an organization. Women-run, built, and owned, eternalHealth is a Medicare Advantage health plan that offers HMO and PPO products in three Massachusetts counties: Worcester, Middlesex, and Suffolk. For more information about eternalHealth’s plans and services, please visit www.eternalHealth.com.
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