Spotlight On: Tony Jenkins, Central FL Market President, Florida Blue
September 2024 — Tony Jenkins, the Central FL Market President of Florida Blue, spoke with Invest: about the ways in which Florida Blue is helping to transform the healthcare industry and how their business model emphasizes community outreach.
Could you describe a highlight or two for the Greater Orlando region over the last year?
It’s been an exciting and turbulent year. We’ve seen a significant amount of change over the last year, which has been manifesting on two fronts. Firstly, the Orlando region’s market has grown tremendously. Orlando is the second fastest-growing out of the nation’s 30 most populous regions. Tourism is driving a lot of this, with the expansion of multiple theme parks. Disney, in particular, will bring investments and expansions worth $17 billion over the next 15 years, and new hotels have also been announced. This is all driving growth in our region, which contributes to an increasing population. The University of Florida has suggested that the Orlando region could welcome close to another one million residents by 2045. Alongside that insurmountable change come challenges from a community services standpoint, like affordable housing and transportation. We as a community need to determine how to prepare for these changes.
Would you provide an overview of the healthcare sector in Orlando?
The great news is we have incredible care facilities here, including three leading hospital units — Advent Health, Orlando Health, HCA and the addition of Nemours Children’s Hospital. The trends we are seeing driving change involve value-based care, where the trend is moving from traditional fee for services towards more value-based care models. It focuses on care and patient outcomes based on the quality of care the patient receives. We want to base the payment models not on volume but rather on value. It’s a model that centers the patient rather than the volume of services. Digital transformation is another trend we saw develop during COVID, like telemedicine. With population health management, we still want to serve each individual patient, but this focus helps us focus on trends within specific communities to meet their care needs.
What is Florida Blue’s role in defining the future of healthcare?
One challenge we see taking place is that healthcare is becoming unaffordable to many people. We have to be able to help individuals seek care. We don’t want a family to make a choice between putting food on the table or foregoing treatment for a serious health condition. We have to ensure we’re making healthcare affordable, which is a region-wide issue.
Access to healthcare is the other focus. As our communities become more expensive to live in, more people are being pushed farther away from core areas which may cause some individuals and families to not be able to reach adequate care facilities.
What active measures is Florida Blue implementing to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for patients and clients?
We have the opportunity to leverage healthcare innovations. Technological innovations have become refined, and we want to increase telemedicine. We need patients to have more confidence in these models. Wearable devices like watches that can provide basic health information can help keep track of diagnoses, and we want to continue using these as they evolve. We are also beginning to build AI into our predictive analytics processes to better serve our members, like for accessing referrals.
What is your vision for how the healthcare system can support healthcare professionals?
One of our most urgent challenges is staff shortages. As our population ages and chronic conditions increase, there is a demand for workers and services. The healthcare industry has to do a better job of reaching out to individuals in the job market to talk about the need for and satisfaction from serving individuals who require care. If the shortages continue for nurses and other healthcare individuals, care outcomes will be affected, with early detections being missed, for example. Many industries are vying for the same talent pool, but Orlando’s healthcare industry is competitive in being able to provide both phenomenal and sustainable careers.
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In what ways have patient experiences changed in the last three years?
When we talk to potential prospects or those who already have health insurance, they tell us they want quality care. Patients want to ensure their healthcare providers are experienced and knowledgeable. They have to have faith in the quality and service of care. They want to trust that the physician and facility have their best interest in mind. Patients want to be treated as respected and valued human beings.
What are Florida Blue’s main priorities for the next few years?
We recognize that Orange County and Osceola County are experiencing growth of their Hispanic populations, including an influx of Puerto Rican residents. Those two counties are now designated as majority-minority, where more than 50% of the population is made up of multicultural communities. As a company we need to understand the preferences and needs of these diverse communities.
We also understand that based on consumerism, today’s consumer is much more knowledgeable than before, which means we want to partner with consumers on their health journey instead of proceeding based on our company’s knowledge alone. Our mission is to help people and communities achieve better health. We understand our communities face challenges related to housing and low income, and we want to be able to help those communities transform themselves. This mission is both a business vision as well as a community-based vision.
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