This Monday, November 19 the ChangeNow4Health campaign was officially launched at a news conference in New York City. Recently I have written a quick overview about the effort and its significance as the first case of a major health insurer inviting open input from online community.

I had an opportunity to sit down with Mike McCallister, the CEO of Humana and ask him a few questions about this effort, his vision for Humana's future and the topics of prevention and wellness that I care about.

Here is my summary of our Q&A -

This is not exact transcript, but a compilation of my notes reflecting the answers to my questions. They are based both on a 15 minute sit-down interview and hallway conversations at the launch event.

Q1: I find CN4H very impressive as a first case of a major insurer embracing open community feedback. Openness is the staple of competitive advantage in technology industry but is a novel idea in healthcare. Where will it lead and are you really prepared to go there?

[Mike McCallister] We at Humana have believed in the idea of "positive disruption" for a long time. Our view is that healthcare industry cannot pretend to be "different" and instead must learn to operate at the same standards as the rest of the economy. This requires folks to get out of their comfort zone and we believe this is a good thing. Our goal is to jumpstart the idea flow which in the end will benefit the health of everyone in America. Of course we are still learning the ways of online communities but we are excited about the potential they can bring as a component of our strategy.

Q2: CN4H is a very ambitious effort and to reach full potential will need to build a broad coalition. How do you expect to engage other health plans, your competitors? What would move them to join you?

[Mike McCallister] Competition is not always a zero-sum game and we are no strangers to teaming with other health plans. A great example of such partnership is Availity, our joint venture with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and Health Care Services Corporation (HCSC). Developing this transactional network required putting some differences aside to net effect of achieving significant administrative savings. Building coalitions takes leadership. With Availity we started small and have grown step-by-step. With CN4H our goal is raise the standards for the whole industry and get them listening.

Q3: Healthcare consumers and business stakeholders have very different needs and desires. Do you see CN4H primarily being a B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer) forum? How do you plan to balance industry vs. individual involvement going forward?

[Mike McCallister] Engaging businesses and consumers is equally important, if for different reasons. Companies like Humana, represent the "glue" of the healthcare financing system as it exists today. Therefore it is our responsibility to engage our business partners (as well as competitors) to look for efficiencies in the internals of the system, like administrative simplification. But it is equally important to engage real people who have to deal with the system to get their ideas. I will be speaking about CN4H to a variety of business groups and we may do an outreach to Humana plan members in the normal course of our communication with them.

Q4: Of particular interest to me is the bridging of health, wellness and lifestyle. A big challenge to creating real engagement is that not everyone pays attention to health issues till they get really sick. What are your thoughts on promoting prevention and wellness?

Yes, this is certainly a challenge. Oftentimes healthy people ignore their health. I believe the way to get them thinking and paying attention is by helping people understand the economic implications of their decisions or inaction. Preaching will not work and has never been effective. What we need is mix of professional help, peer support, economic incentives and education. I am a big believer in the role of support groups here. In any case, design of the incentives is a continuous process and everyone has a lot to learn.

In my view Humana is taking a very important step in setting example to the industry for how to listen. This is a skill in which many healthcare organizations have a lot of room for improvement, to put it politely. Of course ChangeNow4Health is still in the nascent stage but I believe Mike McCallister and his team have the right mindset and are committed to doing the right thing.

I look forward to seeing CN4H evolve and grow.