Mike Gallina - Aultman and AultCare In Your Community

Mike Gallina, VP of organizational development and community engagement for the AultCare Health Plans, joins Mark and Lorraine to talk healthcare and health insurance marketing. Mike's insights on the trends and evolution of healthcare are, all at once informing and inspirational. Learn some of the macro trends of healthcare, how the big players in the industry think, and why community healthcare is growing.

Spend 45-ish with Mark and Lorraine -- and Mike -- as they discuss all things marketing, advertising ... and positioning!

Transcript

Mark Vandegrift
Welcome to the latest episode of the Brand Shorthand Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Vandegrift, and with me is the prodigious positionist, Lorraine Kessler. We're also joined today by a very special guest, Mike Gallina. Welcome, Mike.

Mike Gallina
Hey, so glad to be with you both and, a prodigious positionist. I'm loving that right out of the gate. Easy for me to say, but I know you both glow, but now that word combination is forever embedded. That's awesome.

Mark Vandegrift
That's great. Well, she gets a new title every week. Lorraine looks forward to the podcast just so she knows what her current title is for the week.

Mike Gallina
I got it. That's the best.

Lorraine Kessler
No end of creativity on Mark's side of the equation here.

Mike Gallina
Well, you two are some of the best, so know that comes as no surprise. You bet.

Mark Vandegrift
Well, thanks. Well, for our guests, Mike is currently the vice president of organizational development and community engagement for the AultCare Health Plans. And for those who are listening outside of Northeast Ohio, AultCare is the premier health plan in our area and is connected to our county's leading hospital network, Aultman.

Prior to joining AultCare, Mike's career spanned 30 years in the field of education, 24 as a school administrator and the final 19 in the role of superintendent in two of our finest local school districts in the area, including the one where I live. Right, Mike?

Mike Gallina
That's what makes it one of the finest.

Mark Vandegrift
He’s been elected into both academic and athletic halls of fame in both Minerva High School and into the North Canton Hoover High School Hall of Distinction. He graduated from the University of Mount Union, which for those outside the area is about prodigious athletic capabilities. That's Mount Union, and he was honored by the M-Club Athletic Hall of Fame with their Award of Excellence. And he's also been inducted into both the Stark County and Tuscarawas County Amateur Baseball Halls of Fame. 

Mike, you're a motivational and keynote speaker, so you make the perfect podcast guest. And you've provided talks, presentations, and retreats all across Ohio, many of which I've been in.

You also serve on a ton of boards, civic organizations, all around Northeast Ohio. And you live in North Canton still with your wife, Lynette. We have a personal connection going way back to Minerva. Our families grew up together. So, share a little bit about your athletic background because we'll get into the healthcare side of things. Tell us about Minerva and that special group you grew up with and how our families are connected.

Mike Gallina
Mark, it's so neat to get a chance to do this with you both so right away here the honor, the joy and the privilege. So for folks listening know that this was something when asked I was going to jump right on because of who I'm doing this with, and it's a joy to be with you guys. It's interesting too that you take us back to Minerva where Mark and I's families cross over in a couple different ways, you know through his father and my father. They can go back to the Minerva roots as well. Pat Miller, you know, we connect there as well. So, the families cross over through the school district and just growing up. So, I quickly catch up that, Mark and I could be in a sense considered cousins through a village, if you will, because of how Minerva oriented to folks. So right out of the gate, you know, I connect to the Millers and to the Vandegrifts in a very quick way with the Gallinas.

Mark Vandegrift
Very good. The reason we wanted to have you on today is because we wanted to get your thoughts on quite a few things. And we might go a little longer than our normal 30 minutes, but that's fine, everyone's listening here. And you're one incredible young man. So, we hope you'll be able to tolerate us that long as we pick your brain.

Mike Gallina
Oh, I'm going to teasingly say I'm with you wherever you're taking me.

Mark Vandegrift
All right, great. Well, Lorraine, I'm going to let you start. You had the distinct privilege of leading Aultman and AultCare as an account lead here at the agency. So, I'll let you take it away with our first question.

Lorraine Kessler
Yeah, I will say this. It's really funny because I think that God, you know, there's a saying what men or humans make plans and God directs your steps. So when I was interviewing with Dick Maggiore, I told him I'd do anything he needed me to do. New business strategy was my thing. And I love positioning. We had a great conversation over that. And he says, well, the people here work on accounts and I said, “okay, the only account I don't want to work on is healthcare.” A hospital account. I said, because my experience back where I was in my prior agency was that it was such a political environment and, that being a little from New Jersey and still having that, some of that directness, not having kind of the diplomacy that you have, Mike. I was like, don't give me that. Next thing I know, the account person who handled Aultman resigned. I got Aultman and it was wonderful. It was a great experience. I was very privileged to serve in part because of the culture, right? The culture of the organization was always, I think, patient-focused first. And I joined just at the end of Dick Pryce's era.

And he gave me the book, “Good to Great,” which I have valued ever since. I was appreciative that he gave it to me, that he thought I could read it and understand it, number one. And I did, and I really appreciate it. So a lot there. 

So my question really is: a lot has changed in healthcare. I mean, there's been so many shifts back and forth since that time, and that was around 2000. So now we are 20+ years in. What excites you at this moment about developments or what perhaps. What doesn't excite you, but also challenges you.

Mike Gallina
Lorraine, I love the question and I'm going to come back to a part of your intro that I think will help frame this. You talked about not necessarily wanting to deal in that healthcare space because it could be highly political. And so you had to wrestle with the dynamics of a political culture. What we have found here at Aultman and AultCare and Aultman College is that it's a community culture. So as quickly as you can shift that emphasis from -- what we used to say, politics follows the money -- into this organization follows community needs. And it was designed so that it was like a triangle, so that it could take on the headwinds or the thrust of all the change. 

So picture the health delivery system, like most folks see it. That's the hospital, your doctor's offices, and in our case now, Alliance Community, Aultman Orrville, Aultman Massillon, and even our affiliation with Pomerene, that's the delivery system. So that's what most folks see at the head of the triangle or the thrust. But when you have your health plans connected on one wing and then your college connected on the other wing, you can now control cost and do the R&D on best care available. So now connect those three as if it's the wing and the plane pushing forward.

That's what excites us because we can take on the strange headwinds, even some of the troublesome stormy nature, but we can guide ourselves through it because we have the triangular nature of a good delivery system that has communities connected to it. The health plan that stays integrated with cost and delivery, and then a college that keeps us up with the latest and greatest on patient care.

So I like to paint that visual, folks to say it excites me because it lets us take the next flight, if you will. And even when we set the course, we're going to run into stuff, mergers and acquisitions, bad years, things that change with government regulation. That's how we work our way through the craziness so we can get to our destination. And then we refuel and we do it again. So thanks for running that metaphor with me as if it's a plane.

And so I really appreciate the question. And you know, Mark, all the way back to our Minerva days where you're a valued community, where you grew up, where families help families like Vandegrifts and Gallinas and Millers, I'll tie this all together, to say that's the idea of, if you have a spirit about you like that and you understand its value, you'll lead from a spot of purpose, rather than just activity. So it's a great way of Mark leading to, you know my journey from a little small town. I was a David and Goliath kind of guy. The good Lord used me back to that Lorraine to say just keep thinking that you can be smart train well and regardless of your size you can compete and achieve. And so I use my world as a metaphor to our regional health system. 

It's how we win. We're a David and Goliath story certainly, but well trained, certainly agile, we're willing to compete, and we understand community that will lift us up. So that's my way of bringing a little bit of both questions into play to say, we like it because it challenges us, but also we like it because we like our plane.

Mark Vandegrift
You spend so much time investing in the community. It doesn't matter where you look and AultCare and Aultman are everywhere. They're on sports high school scoreboards and stadiums and in our little theater at the North Canton Playhouse, we have support from Aultman and AultCare. And we know though that comes not just from your job title and position at AultCare, your community outreach, your community engagement, but we know from your time in education, you genuinely care about the communities in our area. What are some developments, not in healthcare now, but what are some developments in community activism that are particularly exciting to you right now?

Mike Gallina
You know, Mark, great, I love the question, because when you get to community engagement, that can take off 360 degrees. You could just go boom, around a circle. So what we try to do is focus on the mission of our organization is leading our community to improved health. So we define health as not just healthcare delivery. What lifts up the health of a community? What mental and emotional health? Right out of the gate.

Family… let's use Wishes Can Happen. Let's get behind family. That's a tough time for them. Family is valuable to us. Child and adolescent behavioral health. We get in behind that. CommQuest, because it's mental health. Then you get into community and economic health. How can we help a city like a Canton or a North Canton or a Canal Fulton organize in such a way is that we take the assets of all and come up strategically.

We can move a community's energy forward by making it appealing or enticing, or if you will, just value it in such a way that will help one another. So we like to weave our way through that to say where we can make that needle move or where we can fuel it, that's important to us. So we look for those ways where there might be synergies and then become helpful to that. And we use that funny phrase -- time, talent, and treasure. You hear people talk about it all the time. Most folks want your treasure. And I mean that in the best way because they need that thing, they need it sponsored. But if we can help with manpower, you know, that way, or the talent of maybe leading strategy or being helpful to it, we look for our way of weaving around it. And then you have that phrase, doers, donors, and door-openers. So you like that little combination.

We find our way to fuel those. So my role is to take a look at the communities that we serve, stay mission driven, and then talk about where are those assets that lift the community up to multiply it rather than just sliding off on a need that may not have thrust behind it. So we try to measure them that way. So in my role, it's to serve on many levels, whether it's board service, leading strategy, the great joy that had to speak to your group as Dick and Kathi were transitioning into new leadership with you, Mark, to come out and be with your team. 

Those are things that we like to do because the idea of lifting up. We can just lift up. We know that folks will use that energy toward their greater good. Lorraine back to, you know, good Lord uses us in unique ways. We just follow the nudge. We follow the nudge.

Lorraine Kessler
He sure does. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because when I first came to the community, I was working in a church and the pastor made a lot of calls, obviously, to the two then hospitals that dominated, right? It was a two horse race between Aultman and Mercy. And his perception of Aultman was “the empire” -- in not a good way, right?

And so when I joined Innis, I was like, how do we reshape leadership in terms of humanity, in terms of caring and compassion? And it actually, I think, I’d like your comment on this, took Cleveland Clinic coming down to push Aultman even further, it was already there, but further to this idea of leader in community intimacy and really being the intimate partner who isn't just giving the money, right, the treasure, but is investing in the uniqueness of each of these communities that you serve. So anyway, I'd like you to maybe speak a little, because to me that's a transition and leadership that's more… it has greater depth.

Mike Gallina
Lorraine. I love it, and I'll use a phrase to start my answer then you guys can poke further questions with it. Oftentimes there's this in leadership. They'll jump to the process and not think about the people. So, I'm going to flip it a little bit to say now in leadership if you can work on the people part first. What are their assets? So let's get rid of that empire idea. That's the process and say, “What's our people skill set?” And then how can we use that skill set to engage a process that lifts up rather than just competes and wins in a pocket? 

So I use my Italian hands a little bit for those that see it, is to say many times in strategy, people will get the plan going and they'll just take off because harumph, there's the bottom line, or harumph, this is what we think we need. And we forget about the people that will execute it and or benefit from it or not. 

So you're, Lorraine, right on it. The phrase is: people ahead of process always. And I think there was a shift to think about that to say, let's not just chase that competitive sharp point, because certainly you can do that, but let's move off to the side and say, how do we impact the quality of care and the quality of relationship? And I think it did turn, Lorraine. You've had a chance. I've been here 12 years with my 30-year school run ahead of that, I saw it from an outsider looking in. But now that I've been here a bit, I think it has turned to your point. I think it's just more engaged with a community vibe as opposed to we're going to win regardless.

Lorraine Kessler
Right. And I love the idea that this position is driven by mission first, right? Because it's what you believe and what you can be best at in the world. Those are the two essences of what we call the DNA. And I think in nonprofits, the DNA, what motivates you, your purpose, mission, whatever word you want to use, is absolutely critical to the position, right?

Not just the competitive, if it's available and we can take advantage here or there, but it's really something you have to commit to and believe in and when I look at the Cleveland Clinic in this market. And a lot of people will know the Cleveland Clinic where I one of the world's great hospitals. They are not deep. They're touching of the community is very superficial. It's dollars and money and maybe some exposure of the name, but it's not, I guess actual right and I believe in actual, and you use the word activism. It's not that way. So it comes off a little bit disingenuous. So the repositioning that comes from your mission for Aultman really does, I think, put Cleveland Clinic kind of in a corner of their own making. You can't be that big and be intimate everywhere.

Mike Gallina
Yeah, Lorraine and you, Mark and your team did a great job with us, helping us always be mindful of our position. Because you can take that Cleveland Clinic energy and think you should push in a direction because of it. When, you all do a great job to say, no, hold that at bay and think about what is your position and then fuel it. Because there's your perseverance, not your win in a tiny space. And then you get out there and you think, who are we after doing all that?

You all do a wonderful job of keeping us mindful of that. And the clinic, this is not disparaging. Their model is different. They're macro worldwide. So, they'll do just enough to keep the rootedness, but it's not going to go as deep. And it's a model. It's just how they're designed. They can take a loss in certain areas and keep some things going in another because they can benefit from the whole system that they have. And it's just so big and massive.

Mark Vandegrift
Yeah, and you're wearing your way to express your position right behind you with “You Matter.” And I see the gold star, so that harkens back to your education days.

Mike Gallina
Oh, Mark, you're so good with your visual. That gold star, it's the best, because that is my education days. Whenever I'd write a note to the kids on a letter or a postcard, there's always a gold star and a smiley face. And so that always became part of the signature. So I just keep that there, because it's the idea of what's true north. And it lets you glow to say, get there. And then, yeah, You Matter. You guys know about that. You've helped us with it. It's not just chatter. We try to live that out in what is whole concept of mattering. And there's a whole study on what mattering is. So, we're invested in that type of fuel as we keep doing our work.

Mark Vandegrift
How does that flesh out? So, we talked about community and we talked about the organization as a whole and healthcare, but for being part of an organization like that, and I've seen witness to this with.. like your volunteers that come to Wishes Can Happen. And when you say you really do get involved with time, talent, and treasure. I've seen the time come out quite a bit in the many years, we're going to have our 17th Wish-a-thon this year, and you have tons of AultCare volunteers come out and help us out. But how do you think from a patient side that when you take that slogan to heart and live it, how does that manifest in our area?

Mike Gallina
That's great, Mark, and I'm going to tie that idea of wishes to our formal program that we call AultCaring in the Community. That's our AultCare vibe, and very quickly, what that means is that every colleague of AultCare is allowed four hours of work time to contribute to a community effort. And so we choose certain agencies, Wishes, First Tee, EN-RICH-MENT.

And I can keep going on and on as examples, where folks actually click in, get a team, and we might have eight, we might have 10, but we have over 22% of our colleagues actually do that. So one in five will take advantage of that. The reason I like to share that in the background is to say, how does that help patient care? How does that transfer? Folks will know that, hey, they're involved in our community. In fact, it might even be a group that I'm with and I'm in here having this procedure and I might know you or I know I can ask you to go get me some help on a certain level. I can connect to you so it's not just calling and hitting a number and trying to get to that. There's this sense of, no, they're caring for me in my home, as opposed to I'm being cared for in a facility.

So it's just a soft enough vibe to say, you're going to see us more than just on 6 North in room 6370. It's going to come up differently, or I might just know you, or I know your daughter, or I know your cousin. So we like that because it connects us to an energy of caring, and since we called it AultCaring in the Community. So it's a quality thing, as folks are being cared for, whether it's a doctor's office or here at one of our facilities. There's that sense of no, this is community care around me, not just a deliverable.

Mark Vandegrift
“You Matter” could come across as trite if it's not backed up with involvement, time - treasure - talent. And certainly, you guys are not making it trite. I believe if you ask anybody in our community, they would say, oh yeah, I've been touched by Aultman/AultCare outside of the hospital way more than I have ever been involved with healthcare in the hospital. So we can say that, that you have manifested it. The kids like to use the word manifest today. You have manifested “You Matter” literally within our community. So it feels good to be able to be on your side and on your team.

Lorraine Kessler
Is that your kids who like to use the word manifested? I would say they're exceptional.

Mike Gallina
Hey Lorraine, it's going to turn into a manifesto at some point when we're all done with this too.

Lorraine Kessler
Yeah, well that's because of our Italian heritage, Mike. Don't let the Kessler surname throw you. 

Mark Vandegrift
She's a Procacci through and through.

Lorraine Kessler
I'm a Procacci. I'm a 100%er from the East Coast, which I always say is like that's super saturated.


Mike Gallina
No, I'm watching, I watched your hand. That means your hand goes like this instead of like this. That's it. When it goes like this, that's pure.

Mark Vandegrift
And then you throw a Dutch guy in the middle of you. 

Mike Gallina
You provide the groundedness, Mark, to what otherwise is lots of energy and directions, not always guided.

Mark Vandegrift
Yeah, no hands here.

Lorraine Kessler
So I have a question about, you know, over the time that the last 20 years, right, Aultman, the provider side, and AultCare, the insurance side, has made some pretty drastic changes, right? I'm going to point to one. Aultman, at the time I started working on the account, had no doctors, physicians who were employees. Now it's employee, I believe, driven or majority.

Mike Gallina
Yeah, there's what we call our employed physician. So there is a group called the Employed Physicians Group.

Lorraine Kessler
And then AultCare was exclusive insurance. You had to have the AultCare card to go to Aultman Hospital or healthcare providers. So that became Open Doors. So can you talk a little bit about how those decisions perhaps fit within the mission and what we've been talking about?

Mike Gallina
We absolutely, Lorraine, and so astute of you to have seen the evolution of that over time so that exclusively vertically integrated was yes. The only way you could get to Aultman Hospital was to have AultCare or you just paid more I mean you could come for the service and they try to Yes You Can program for a little while to help folks get there to say you can still be cared for here But your best bet is to have all care to pass through.

Well, when Aultman started to expand, where it acquired Aultman Alliance Community, or Orrville, what was called Dunlop Hospital, that created a dynamic of, well, they were not exclusive. They used other payers, and they had great relationships with other physicians. So at that point, there was a strategic decision that had to be made, is if you're going to expand into other communities and pay spend time with them being part of the family, our model has to look different. So at that point, as soon as Aultman signed up with other payers, that was the trigger to AultCare to say, in order for us to perform well, we have to sign up with other providers. 

And so there came the dynamic. It went from exclusively vertically integrated to just vertically integrated, which means still the best deal is AultCare to Aultman because of how the rates can be managed between the two. That's the advantage of being integrated. Where others like the Clinic working with Medical Mutual, they have to negotiate that. We stay in step every year and manage our plan together so that it does not move about and have ebb and flow. So Lorraine, you're right on. When we made the decision to go to these other communities, it changed the game.

Now we're coming back to a spot in the strategy where we're calling it One Aultman, where we're going to wrap the services of, gosh, the health plan, certainly the insurance, the quality and value, and the physicians. We're going to get this so integrated so that we can watch one another's metrics and helpfulness to give the best care experience at the most reasonable cost.

So, you nailed it, the whole evolution from what it once was to where we had to split and go our own way. Now we're coming back to what's the best of both to use while we still keep those other provider contracts in place.

Lorraine Kessler
Would you say that the benefit delivering a better community value is expanded access and combined with affordability that's always been kind of the backbone of what Aultman has tried to promise to the community?

Mike Gallina
Yeah, Lorraine, great listening there. I always tell it this way. The user experience: “Who's my doctor? Where do I get my physicians? And where can I get a procedure done?” And I want that to be so locked tight and synced up that I can trust it. So yes, we're beginning with that whole idea of what's a premier experience? Well, it's through what they experience. And so we need to make sure we help that. So our planning is really tidying that all up so that it gets even tighter.

Lorraine Kessler
I'm thinking that Aultman, the one Aultman, has a unique opportunity because one of the things I've seen in the macro healthcare market with these hospital consolidations which have gone on, is this loss of intimacy with communities and control because as they get too big, they can't be everywhere, control everything. Right? It seems to me that Aultman in conversation with other providers who might -- non-competitive -- who might have the opportunity to become a community, regional community strong leader in their market. Is that something that you guys, I just want to know if the community hospital idea is growing.

Mike Gallina
Yep, the idea of a community hospital really feathers its way into what are good partnerships. So I'll share an example. Our Deuble Heart here at Aultman Hospital is amazing. Certainly the Timken Family Cancer Center, amazing. So when mergers and acquisitions come about, a lot of folks will say, “well, let's just take that or let's gather that up.” 

What we've chosen to do is who can we partner with who can help enhance what we do in those services and that we can enhance their work as well. So, we do some work with University Hospitals on the heart side of things and even our Cleveland Clinic relationship in cancer. There are some relationships there around what's best of care and if they can't we will and if we can't we know who to send to. So rather than saying to acquire it and then move on, the community style is to say, “who can we partner with to help us do it well while still keeping our identity?”

Lorraine Kessler
A collegial for the betterment versus competitive, which is a whole different mindset, really.

Mike Gallina
Oh, 100% because in a sense, all boats in the harbor can rise in a regional way if you think that way. Now, merger and acquisition usually is a lot broader than region. And we can go quickly to the Summa sale to Hatco, which is a venture capital for-profit international company. They go boom, boom, boom. All three things counterintuitive to community.

And we're watching that go on to say, we're not for sale in that way. We're a community. And so, we're going to watch what that does because there's something to be learned from everything, but that is not where we're headed. We are in a different, I'll say, capitalized spot. We don't have the debt they have. We've made some choices not to create indebtedness. So, we're able to move along and be in a good financial position, even with the challenges.

So, Lorraine, I love where you're going as you think about how do you manage the ebb and flow in that competitive market. We're not for sale. It's more collegial and we're going to really enhance those that have quality that helps us and then we can in turn help them with something as well.

Mark Vandegrift
That's great. I'm going to redirect a little bit to look extremely internally. And that is we worked with Aultman management on an employee satisfaction survey long while ago. And we learned that there's a direct correlation between employee satisfaction within the hospital and the quality of the patient care it delivers. And we know the employee market has shifted pretty significantly… what employees expect, quality of life, work-life balance, all of that. How do you manage, if you're involved with this at all, how do you manage employee satisfaction in today's, let's call it the post-COVID environment?

Mike Gallina
Yeah, Mark, and that “workforce,” you can almost put that word out there and everybody, they suck their breath in just for a second. You go, just for a second. And then some need more oxygen than others to come back. 

But it's so true, it's like, what's going on with that? Well, the employee engagement survey, first of all, Mark and Lorraine, thank you, because you have to be intentional about that. We on the AultCare side have for the last nine years done something called a Pulse Survey and it's all employee engagement through metrics. And the idea is that feedback from your point of service, colleague, teammates, and then the feedback they get from those that they're serving is the most rich. That tells the best story. 

So we use that data and create focus groups to get further feedback, or if there are some hotspots, for example, myself and Nicole Russ in HR, we did a little focus group tour around the different facilities. We did about a dozen of them. And we just hit some spots like urology, radiology. I'll just say the idea of blood draws and just talk to folks in those pockets because there was some feedback from those areas that turnover was a little high, maybe the environment wasn't what it needed to be. 

So to your point, that feedback helps you get back out and reengage and then help with some quality of service at their point. Then who benefits, obviously, is the recipient that's coming and going from there. So we love that you did that, and we use that data in a great way to reshape culture first, then into the plan or the process thereafter. Back to that, people, ahead of process always.

Mark Vandegrift
Yeah, very good. Well, it might be a bit obscure to even take us off track further. I don't know how many other communities have this sort of plan, but you innovated with a local partner, our Chamber of Commerce, in developing a MEWA plan. Can you share a little bit about the impact that has had on the community, as well as AultCare itself?

Mike Gallina
Yeah, Mark, first of all, you have a MEWA, that multiple employer welfare arrangement. It's a message for it. That's the regulatory name for it. So very quickly, it takes, I'll say companies, mom and pop companies, typically smaller businesses of 0-49 employees. They typically had to go get healthcare on their own. And shopping that individually as a company was so hard because you were rated on experience. 

So, if in your 50, you had a bad situation or two, to get health care to your folks was almost cost prohibitive. So many times they just gave a stipend or a supplement to their employee and they would go on what was called the Affordable Care Act or the exchange. The MIWA was a great idea because it allowed a health care/insurance company, AultCare to form a consortium to take all of those that say, yes, we want in to form a large pool. 

So, there are over 7,000 lives in that MIWA pool, which means that's protection to all those smaller companies because if you have a premature birth or you have a cancer or you have a transplant, now you've got the power of the 7,000 that are premium into that pocket to take that on. And there are 17 different plans that they can choose from. So the MEWA is basically a mini health plan under the regulatory guidance of AultCare. And it's growing so much now that we're going to be taking it to Alliance. So, it has proven its worth over and over again. And to your point, Mark and Lorraine, it gives that small business, that 0-50 employee group. It's a premium piece that's really manageable. It's all, I call it a member benefit. You pay a membership to your chamber and you're getting that back and then some because of what you're saving with your health plan because it's the law of large numbers that takes that on. 

So, I thank you for indulging a little bit of a, I'll say a drifting answer to wrap it around to say, each small business gets into this, now it's grown to 7,000 lives. Now you can protect one another and they still have plan option inside it.

Mark Vandegrift
Has that impacted AultCare culturally or, other than just the business side of it, have you noticed any changes since that's been added to either the way your employees feel about their jobs or the product they offer?

Mike Gallina
That's an awesome question, Mark, and here's how that hits directly. Because of those small mom and pop companies, they typically know the neighborhood families. They work there. Their son just got a job there. My mom worked there. Thank goodness you have a health plan for her because she's wanted one for how long. That's what we hear. 

So, the impact to community is that quick in that they have a health plan now that they don't have to spend personal money on or worry about being exposed to what you would call that such a high deductible that you're basically self-insuring. So, to your point, yes, and that's how it works. It's usually that I work for that company who is now part of this and thank goodness we have healthcare. And that story chatter just keeps on going. So, there's the impact to community. Pretty quick.

Lorraine Kessler
When you consider that 90%, it might even be higher, of businesses or small business, 50 and under, it's like, you know, you almost have to say, “why didn't this happen sooner? But thank God it's here now, right?” It's kind of a no-brainer. And those small businesses are key to every community, as we know, because so many of them are privately owned.

Mike Gallina
For sure, another parallel one that's cool because it's such an impact in our area, the school districts. My former world, there are 22 school districts that pay into what's called the Consortium of Governments. And it's similar. And what they do, because we have school employees that are everywhere, inside the Stark County Consortium of Governments, you can choose AultCare or Medical Mutual of Ohio.

So, it allows them to have the benefit of where do I live and what hospitals and doctors do I use, they can sign up either way. And there are 17,000 lives in that pool. Joe Chaddock, the Educational Service Center Superintendent, has a board of directors that oversees that. So you take the MEWA and then grab the Consortium of Governments. You're approaching 30,000 covered lives really in our community.

Thank goodness for a local health plan that is integrated with contracting for health delivery systems.

Mark Vandegrift
Well, if you look at the population of Canton, that's almost 50%. That's fantastic. Yep.

Mike Gallina
Think of that, the impact of that. And the coolest thing is, if they don't choose AultCare, it's still OK, because we've been able to have a competitive rate beside the other one that helps the price ultimately land in the business favor. That's the glory of this, because absent that, we'd be paying rates that were typically to the north.

So, and that was what AultCare was built on at its inception was Dick Pryce saw that those insurance companies were using, they're taking advantage of a good hospital rate and still charging those Northern premiums. And he saw the gap and he said, no, we don't have to do that. Let's get it down to what AultCare operates on as a 1.5% margin. Boom. That right away, the industry is about seven or seven and a half. 

Lorraine Kessler
Oh my gosh. You know, that's the first time I've ever heard that. That is absolutely impressive.

Mike Gallina
Yep. It's amazing, Lorraine, and here was the goal of that. What then they're not paying because they would take an AultCare, the idea was back into the community so you could enhance the wage of your employee, give them a better benefit plan, and even use money for their local community organizations. So that 1.5 to 7 difference allowed the local businessman or businesswoman to have more disposable capital to make local decisions with. That's the glory of the model.

Lorraine Kessler
And it's not… the extra 5.5% isn't going out of the county or the community where it does no good. It's staying here. So that's a tangible financial benefit that edifies everybody. That's fantastic.

Mike Gallina
It's crazy because they did a little study on it just since its inception and it's approaching $850 million that little thing is. So we're approaching a billion dollars of impact that just kept money here to be used however they wanted to. They being those folks that would say yes to and I'll care. And that's where Dick Pryce had a, he was just ahead of it enough to say, we're not going to make money, we just want to keep the money here. And so it turned out and that was 39 years ago on May 30th.

I love you asked that question, Lorraine, because it's when you hear the story you think, oh thank goodness for it, because we always now have a comparative plan and the money has stayed here. It's proven. You can go back and look at it.

Lorraine Kessler
Yeah, I think that is absolutely, it's so tangible, right? It's really an impressive fact, so that's great. 

You know, you remind me of a quote, I'm trying to remember, I don't know if you said this, but they were talking about the prime minister, William Gladstone, and they said, when you were in a room with him and you left, you felt he's the smartest person in the world. But when you were in the room with Benjamin Disraeli and you left, you thought you were the smartest person in the room. Well, that's why Disraeli was so successful. You may, you know, I just, I'm listening to you and I feel like that's a great talent that and genuine expression of yourself that you have. You make everybody feel really smart.

Mike Gallina
Well, Lorraine, thank you and know that it's sincere and purposeful. The teacher comes out, but also the hope and meaning side of it, if we can get you and others to conceptualize it and put it into your living world, now you get to use your God-given skills and talents towards something. What a gift we can give. So, let's just keep doing that and letting others rise to whatever they're chasing as important.

Lorraine Kessler
Right. Well, I think that's so important, what you do for the community and what you do within AultCare and the culture is so important because it goes back to what we started this conversation with people first, process second, right? And you can't just give lip service to that. You have to, you as a person have to embody that care and be able to live that.

Mike Gallina
Thank you for that summary, Lorraine because truly we talk when folks say Mike would you come out and look at our workplace culture? Sometimes I'll do that, and I'll say sure I just need a couple days because all I'm going to watch for are words, actions and behaviors done over and over and over again. Then I'll tell you about your culture. It's not a definition, it's what you're living and if you notice two out of those three aren't coming out of your mouth.

67% is showing up without you saying anything. So that's what I'm looking for. So the WAB, we call it's not a radio station, but it's something you still need to tune into.

Mark Vandegrift
That's awesome. Well, thank you for all who have joined us today, especially all of the new followers who track Mike wherever he goes. 

And of course, a huge thanks to Mike Gallina. Thank you, Mike, for your willingness to take time out of your very busy schedule to come on the brand shorthand podcast. So big thank you. Appreciate that.

Mike Gallina
So thankful to have done it. So here it is a joy and a privilege, but you're most welcome.

Mark Vandegrift
Thank you. Well, a big shoutout today. April 29th is Dick Maggiore’s birthday. So a big happy birthday to Dick. 

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