IAM836- Expert Uses Technology to Improve Healthcare Operations and Products

Shane is an expert in Business Development and Strategy, Sales Strategy, and Team Development. After over 20 years in the healthcare industry, Shane decided to use his passion for technology to improve healthcare operations and products. In 2018, he launched Hooray Health, an unconventional health insurance company that works hard to make healthcare coverage simple, accessible, and affordable.

• CEO Hack: I like to get in the office early and do my work earlier so I can be available during the day
• CEO Nugget: Love the problem and not your solutions because solutions change but the problem still remains
• CEO Defined: A lot of humility, a lot of pressure, bring your team together, be a good listener and a coach

Website: https://hoorayhealthcare.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanefoss/

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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00:02 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:30 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Shane Foss of Hooray Health. Shane, it's awesome to have you on the show.

00:38 – Shane Foss

Oh, thanks for having me, Gresh. Really looking forward to it.

00:41 – Gresham Harkless

Me too, super excited to have you on. Before we jump in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Shane so you can hear about all these awesome things that he's doing. Shane is an expert in business development and strategy, sales strategy, and team development. After over 20 years in the healthcare industry, Shane decided to use his passion for technology to improve healthcare operations and products. In 2018, he launched Hooray Health, an unconventional health insurance company that works hard to make healthcare coverage simple, accessible, and affordable. Shane, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:13 – Shane Foss

Yeah, absolutely.

01:14 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story? We'll let you get started with all those things you're doing.

01:22 – Shane Foss

Yeah, absolutely. So it was a long journey here. I think that, you know, really starting back to my, my childhood and my upbringing, and I had a lot of really good mentors growing up. And I found myself in the military and as a surgical technologist in the military, I got introduced to healthcare where I assisted surgeons during surgery and just fell in love with space. From there, after I got out of the military, I joined Johnson & Johnson, worked there for a while, and then ended up with Stryker Orthopedics, which was a great experience and, a wonderful organization. And that's really probably where most of my professional development really came from. And met a lot of great people, and learned a ton.

And what we did was we sold medical devices, so orthopedic implants, and so we were in surgery. And so really learning the clinical side of the business and then after that I bought my own business and and did very well there sold it and then and 1 of my buddies that was at Striker called me up and said hey I just got my first CEO position as a CEO of this health benefits startup. Would you come to work with me as my CEO? And I was, absolutely. So it was a great timing. And that was my first entry into the health benefits world. And so gave me a completely different view of what's going on in healthcare. But what was interesting is I could take what I had already learned in the past and kind of apply it here.

And it was so I'm kind of an outsider really coming in. And so we did well with the company. We basically sold access to surgical bundles to large self-funded employers. we were one of a few companies that had done that. We'd taken a different strategy. And we sold 11 months after I started, stayed on another 6 months and then really wanted to figure out what I wanted to do next. And so the path was a personal experience. I think anytime you talk to an entrepreneur They didn't just wake up one day and say, I think I'm going to do something, right? Something stimulated that thought. And so what had happened to me was I was consulting and my back went out and I'd never had anything like that happen. And so I went into an urgent care And I had health insurance at the time. It was a $75 copay.

I went in and I asked them, well, how much? I haven't hit my deductible. So how much is the total bill going to be? $150. OK, great. So I paid for it. I went in and they took an x-ray on my neck. They gave me 2 injections, a muscle relaxer and an anti-inflammatory when they saw what they thought was a bone spur and was irritating my nerve root and C4, C5, and just inflaming my back. Great, so I'm thinking I paid 150 bucks, I'm good to go. Well, 3 to 6 weeks later, I received an $800 balance bill. So I called them up and I said, hey, what's going on? Why am I getting a balance bill? And they're like, well you got carve-outs and they're and what other industry do you not know what you're gonna get charged, right?

Even when they tell you what you're gonna get charged, you still have no idea, and you're legally liable for it. So that was where I really came up with the idea of Hooray Health in the sense that we looked at what was going on in health care, and there's really this gap between full-time hourly and salaried hourly. And then even, you know, if you're making less than $100,000 right now, a lot of times you can't unless your employer is paying 100% of your bill, you can't afford it, your medical insurance bill. So we saw this gap and nobody was taking care of the hourly and the part-time especially. So I went out and I had the idea, I built this national network of retail clinics and urgent cares with fixed pricing.

And we were the only ones that have ever done it. And so for $25, our members go into any of our urgent care retail clinics for 25 bucks, no balance bill and they get the services that they need. And so that's kind of the story. It's the long story, but it's important because it's until everybody, I don't know why, but everybody accepts this fact that, well, you just don't know what it's gonna be and you just, you put up with it and then you pay the bill if you can't, or if you can, and if you can't, you get sent to collections. So it's a tough place to be.

05:50 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate you telling the story because I think a lot of people who are listening to this may have either experienced that or know somebody who experienced that, maybe been more on the lucky side of being able to pay it, but still, I think it creates that, that kind of hesitation to sometimes go to the doctor sometimes, you don't know what you're going to pay. And I think it's true entrepreneurial form, just like you said, everybody sometimes just accepts it. But I think that your entrepreneur sees a problem, and creates a solution for it. And I love that you're even able to do that. So I know you touched a little bit on the business what exactly you do and how you serve your clients. Could you drill a little bit more into that and what you feel kind of maybe sets you apart and is what I call the secret sauce that makes you unique?

06:32 – Shane Foss

Yeah, absolutely. So really, we only focus on the hourly, whether it's part-time or full-time employees. And so with that, every product that we put out is focused on being accessible, simple, and affordable, right? And so, affordability looks different in this population. And so what really sets us apart is that we have this provider network that's ours, that is connected to technology, and then we use additional services to where we can offer your basic and accident, sickness, and accident care for less than $100 a month. We're talking, sometimes we get it down to $60, $70. But what our goal is, is that we're trying to provide affordable accessibility to people getting into the health insurance space.

And what that does is you talk about you said it perfectly, which is, yeah, sometimes I really rethink going into the doctor. Well, we don't want that, right? We want to make sure that, especially with your kids, people are making bad medical decisions based on the financials, which is a reality. And so what sets us apart is we really, that's kind of what we live every day. That's what we focus on. Our experience is completely different than what a person an hourly person is normally going to experience because we have the mobile app we have from an eligibility standpoint. Our ID card is recognized in any provider's office.

Normally, people would go in if they had benefits similar to ours. They would go in and they would make them pay first, and then they'd have to get reimbursed. And that's a financial burden. And so with us, they go in, oh, hooray, they send the bill to us we pull the money out, pay them, and then you're good to go. So it's, yeah, our biggest competitive advantage is that this is the area that we focus on and we put all of our time and energy. So we look at it like we're not major medical, but we try to give that major medical experience. Yeah, that's absolutely amazing.

And I don't know if you feel, but I always feel like sometimes people that are not all the way interested in the industry sometimes have that opportunity to kind of see things and look at things in a different way. They don't take it as is, as you kind of said, but I don't know if that's been your experience with building the company and seeing that problem, but of course, solving it. Yeah, absolutely. it's funny because one of the biggest issues in our space is that we have lots of competitors that have been around a long time, but they've literally just, this is the way it is and we're not improving the product and we're not, it's just one of the products we offer.

Well, for us, we look at it completely differently. We're customers ourselves. We ask the question, well, wait a second, why are they not able to see that we have health insurance and that we're able to, we should get our $25 co-pay as opposed to having to pay for the whole bill first, and then get reimbursed and then fight for reimbursement from them because we paid too much. I mean, it's just a nightmare. And so we, by spending our whole time here, everything we focus on is how do we provide tools for the employee but the employer? How do you retain, recruit, and retain better talent? Even in the current climate we're in, where there are a lot of people laid off or furloughed, it's still always a dogfight for talent, always.

The number 1 issue is always getting the right people. And so if we're able to help the employer provide a valuable benefit that they actually appreciate, then guess what? We've done our job. We've helped them, and they're going to retain that person or be able to recruit a top talent.

10:26 – Gresham Harkless

So I wanted to switch it a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:37 – Shane Foss

I like to get in the office early. I think 1 of the things that helps me out is I get my busy work done when nobody else is in the office. I'm not because we have 25 employees, we're still relatively small, but the reality is there's still a lot of demands on my time and I need to make sure that I'm available to help where needed and guide. And so getting all of that stuff done early in the morning, it's getting up. And I mean, like this morning I was in the office at 6 a.m. And so I'm here, I'm getting things done, answering emails, knocking stuff out. And then the rest of the day is kind of the pressure off to be able to focus on really what matters when my team is in the office.

11:24 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Love that hack. And so now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. And it might be something if you jumped into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

11:35 – Shane Foss

Yeah, so I think the most important thing, especially from an entrepreneur standpoint, or you can use it if you're in a large corporation and you're trying to find new markets to enter. We talked about solving a problem. So there's a couple of things. So when you're solving a problem and you identify that problem, really love the problem and not your solution. Because The problem more than likely will remain the same, right? On some different levels, it may vary a little bit, but your solution is going to change most definitely. And when you look at companies that fail and succeed versus companies that succeed, it is a lot of it has to do is they're so bought into, they're in love with their product. And so somebody else comes up with they're looking at saying, man, we can do this so much better if we do XYZ. And if you're not constantly evolving your product to really address the problem, then you're going to get passed.

12:38 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So Shane, what does being a CEO mean to you?

12:50 – Shane Foss

It means a lot of humility and a lot of pressure. But really, I think that the CEO is really the CEO and coach. You need to bring your team together. You need to be able to challenge people. You need to be a good listener. I'm not trying to be cliche, but it really is. I've been in sports my whole life. And the good coaches, you always remember. And the good coaches, your team, they may not be the most athletic. They may not be the smartest. But when you work with them you give them that confidence and that guidance and let them fail, And then make sure that everybody learns from those failures. I think the most important thing is the coaching aspect of it. Because if you have a team that is not cohesive and not working together to solve the problems as a CEO, it's your fault. And it's, you're not maximizing your talent, and shame on you.

13:56 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I think I'm a big sports junkie myself. So always looking from that lens and that perspective, I love how there are so many synergies between running a successful, team or a franchise in the same way as running a business. And that coach is, to me, like a great definition or a symbol of a leader because a leader understands exactly what each member of the team is doing understands exactly what the goal is, and is able to kind of merge those 2 and communicate to a person where they're at about what they're interested in as well too and I think when you're able to kind of dial into that and take that coaching role that's really when things go to an entirely different level.

14:31 – Shane Foss

Yeah, absolutely. I agree.

14:33 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Shane, truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get an overview and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

14:48 – Shane Foss

Yeah, awesome. So you can get a hold of us at hooray, healthcare.com. We're constantly working on innovating our core products and expanding our product line to continue to stay focused on the hourly full-time and part-time population. I think a just a nugget to leave your listeners is, that a lot of people listening, If you're listening to podcasts, you're always about that self-improvement. And you're always looking for that 1 thing. Continue to keep pushing. And when the time is right, you'll know it. Don't go in prematurely. Make sure that you've done your due diligence and you make sure that you're ready for the opportunity because when it comes, it'll come and you'll know it. And it's an exciting time, it's a nervous time, but I tell you what, I wouldn't trade it for anything, so.

15:46 – Gresham Harkless

Nice, Well, I absolutely appreciate that, Shane. We will have the links and information that Sean knows as well, too. But I appreciate you kind of leaving us with that word of wisdom and the reminder to continue to innovate. I appreciate you for obviously doing that to help out so many people in this world. But I think it's a great reminder for us to really tap into that and then not get, you know, lethargic or used to like where we're at, but continue to kind of strive forward because that's really where all the magic things happen.

16:11 – Shane Foss

Absolutely. Complacency is death.

16:14 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Either You're growing or you're dying.

16:16 – Shane Foss

All right. Exactly.

16:17 – Gresham Harkless

Well, Shane, truly appreciate you again. I hope you have a great rest of the day.

16:22 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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