Martha Watson

Martha Watson Email and Phone Number

Health Insurance & Consulting Manager | Strategy Partner @ Highmark Health
Martha Watson's Location
Greater Pittsburgh Region, United States, United States
Martha Watson's Contact Details

Martha Watson personal email

n/a
About Martha Watson

I am a health care leader with nearly 30 years of experience in health insurance and consulting with a focus on medical economics, strategic analytics, initiative measurement and performance reporting, actuarial analysis, product pricing and benefit design. I am currently engaged with Highmark Health's Living Health Strategy, driving data-driven, fully integrated solutions that will reduce cost, improve quality & access, simplify customer clinical journeys and improve clinician experience. Recently, I managed the relationship and performance for two of Highmark's largest vendor contracts which saved $110M annually and two Value Based Reimbursement vendors that will drive $25-50M savings annually when optimized. Past roles included managing benefit cost savings initiative portfolios for Highmark ($1B) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan ($1.9B), which increased competitive position by keeping benefit cost trends several percentage points lower than industry averages. I love being part of the ever-changing landscape of healthcare and enjoy using creative problem solving, critical thinking and analytical techniques to find, implement and measure solutions to improve member experience and control health care costs while not sacrificing quality and access to care. I have extensive experience in collaborating to obtain data, developing tools to assess program performance, synthesizing and presenting results to a variety of audiences to inform strategic decisions.I am a motivated, customer-focused, results-oriented and engaged team player who enjoys building and leveraging relationships to tackle challenging business issues. I work strategically and tactically with teams at all levels and across functions to successfully achieve business goals.

Martha Watson's Current Company Details
Highmark Health

Highmark Health

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Health Insurance & Consulting Manager | Strategy Partner
Martha Watson Work Experience Details
  • Highmark Health
    Strategy Partner
    Highmark Health Apr 2022 - Present
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Us
    Partnering with others on the Population & Curated Health Models team to develop solutions to improve Highmark members' health, while simplifying the member and clinician journeys.
  • Highmark Inc.
    Lead Partnership Performance Manager
    Highmark Inc. Nov 2018 - Apr 2022
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Us
    Managing vendor performance for strategic partners Aspire (palliative care) and naviHealth (post-acute care), and Value Based Reimbursement vendors Nuna and StellarHealth including SLA/PG/KPI tracking, savings analysis, strategy, compliance oversight, operational issues, contract re-negotiations and amendments.
  • Highmark Health
    Medical Economics Consultant
    Highmark Health Jan 2017 - Nov 2018
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Us
    I was recruited to join Highmark Health's new Medical Economics Department where I developed, coordinated and managed medical economics analysis, models, health outcome studies and related forecasting and actual results analyses to improve operating margin, primarily focused on medical spend. Business partners include finance, actuarial, informatics, strategy and planning, as well as business segments (e.g. ACA, MA, Group Risk and Non-Risk) as well as functional areas (clinical, pharmacy, provider networks and reimbursement, etc.),
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan
    Health Care Manager, Health Care Value Performance Reporting
    Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Aug 2013 - Nov 2015
    Detroit, Michigan, Us
    Building on my interest in reducing costs while maintaining quality and access, I transitioned into an "internal consultant" role, conveying the results of Health Care Value initiatives to BCBSM's business segments, CEO, large customers, corporate strategy, actuarial, pharmacy and finance partners. My area managed a $1.9B portfolio of benefit cost savings initiatives which continued to reduce BCBSM's benefit cost trends and maintained or increased competitive position. I successfully streamlined the reports and dashboards illustrating strategic value and was frequently recognized for teamwork for my collaborative efforts. In this role, I enjoyed mentoring other divisional employees, and also facilitated corporate "town halls" designed to educate the entire workforce on corporate strategic direction.
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan
    Health Care Manager, Strategic Informatics & Program Evaluation
    Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Jun 2007 - Aug 2013
    Detroit, Michigan, Us
    As an integral part of BCBSM's Health Care Value division's team tasked with strategically identifying and implementing benefit cost savings initiatives, I helped significantly reduce BCBSM health care trends, bringing them below industry average. Using data analytics, benchmarking, business knowledge and research as well as creative problem solving and an aggressive business plan, we developed and launched a large portfolio of initiatives affecting reimbursement, use management, claim payment policy and quality of care. I also capitalized on strong professional relationships with initiative owners and actuarial to evaluate and certify financial impacts of these programs, developed a reporting system to track results and co-led a cross-functional team to prioritize initiatives based on strategic direction and funding availability. Efforts of this strategy were instrumental in meeting corporate financial goals during this period.
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan
    Senior Program Consultant, Office Of The General Counsel
    Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Feb 2002 - Jun 2007
    Detroit, Michigan, Us
    In this analytical position supporting legislated reporting requirements regarding provider relationships in BCBSM's Office of the General Counsel I was tasked with demonstrating BCBSM's performance against PA 350's cost, quality and access goals under 23 provider class plans. I developed thorough knowledge of corporate claims, membership and provider participation data as well as partnered with many different corporate areas including medical affairs, reimbursement administration, product development, IT, governmental affairs, utilization review and value partnership to implement new provider programs. I also wrote and updated Provider Class Plans to reflect current corporate policy, made presentations to BCBSM's board of directors and customer councils and supported litigation efforts regarding provider issues.
  • Metlife
    Senior Research Associate, General Motors Technical Services Unit
    Metlife Sep 1992 - Jul 1995
    New York, Ny, Us
    In the early 1990's, MetLife managed much of General Motors' non-Michigan health care coverage. I enjoyed the challenge of consulting for a single "client" - at the time, the largest company in the world. In this position, I managed MetLife's healthcare pricing department for GM, supervising four analysts. We were constantly challenged by the GM finance and benefits area to determine the impact of proposed changes to healthcare, particularly those brought forward by Hillary Clinton. The most challenging assignment was to price every management and union healthcare benefit on a cents per hour basis for the 1993 UAW negotiations and respond quickly to questions arising in negotiations as various combinations of benefits were explored.
  • Pwc
    Consultant, Actuarial, Benefits & Compensation Consulting
    Pwc Jul 1988 - Sep 1992
    Gb
    I was recruited to help launch the healthcare consulting practice in Coopers & Lybrand's Detroit office in 1988. We were challenged to conduct the first post-retirement health liability valuations for many large companies as required by FASB 106. Ford Motor Company and Libbey-Owens-Ford were some of our first successes and our work was documented and published in a study for the Financial Executives Institute. In setting trend assumptions for these valuations, we realized that health care costs could not continue to escalate at the rate they had been or healthcare would become too great a portion of the GDP. Yet so many years later, healthcare costs and their rate of increase continue to be a hot topic. My C&L experience set the stage for my continued interest in solving the conundrum of providing the right healthcare to the right people in the right place at the right price.
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan
    Actuarial Technician, Actuarial Student
    Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Jul 1985 - Jun 1988
    Detroit, Michigan, Us
    Here, my analytical skills were put to use in pricing new benefits, quantifying the effects of benefit plan design changes and preparing rate filings for individual and small group coverages. These assignments piqued my interest in the many facets of the dynamic world of healthcare.

Martha Watson Skills

Health Insurance Strategic Planning Actuarial Consulting Strategic Informatics Healthcare Industry Problem Solving Business Process Improvement Data Analysis Leadership Benchmarking Employee Benefits Benefit Cost Trend Management Pharmacy Benefit Management Benefit Design Program Evaluation Savings Validation Performance Reporting Cross Functional Team Building Team Leadership Management Project Management Performance Measurement Provider Reimbursement Actuarial Science Product Pricing Healthcare Healthcare Management Medicare Pricing Analysis Process Improvement Cross Functional Team Leadership Strategy Analytical Skills Fasb 106 Valuations Actuarial Rating Critical Thinking Statistical Data Analysis Professional Mentoring Creative Problem Solving Teamwork Relationship Building Underwriting Provider Relations Actuarial Exams Microsoft Office Insurance

Martha Watson Education Details

  • University Of Michigan
    University Of Michigan
    Actuarial Science
  • Wellesley College
    Wellesley College
    French
  • Grosse Pointe South High School
    Grosse Pointe South High School
  • University Liggett School
    University Liggett School

Frequently Asked Questions about Martha Watson

What company does Martha Watson work for?

Martha Watson works for Highmark Health

What is Martha Watson's role at the current company?

Martha Watson's current role is Health Insurance & Consulting Manager | Strategy Partner.

What is Martha Watson's email address?

Martha Watson's email address is ma****@****lth.org

What is Martha Watson's direct phone number?

Martha Watson's direct phone number is +198924*****

What schools did Martha Watson attend?

Martha Watson attended University Of Michigan, Wellesley College, Grosse Pointe South High School, University Liggett School.

What are some of Martha Watson's interests?

Martha Watson has interest in Social Services, Children, Figure Skating, Cooking, Yoga, Education, Reading, Arts And Culture, Health.

What skills is Martha Watson known for?

Martha Watson has skills like Health Insurance, Strategic Planning, Actuarial Consulting, Strategic Informatics, Healthcare Industry, Problem Solving, Business Process Improvement, Data Analysis, Leadership, Benchmarking, Employee Benefits, Benefit Cost Trend Management.

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