Beth Bierbower: Retired Senior Executive at Humana (Raise the Line)

Hi, I'm Shiva. Lanni.

Thanks for checking out our raise the line interview series in which me and my cohost osmosis chief Medical Officer, Dr Rishi Desai explore how to strengthen our healthcare system with some amazing leaders in medicine, technology, education and government and they have some great advice for people starting careers in healthcare as well.

I hope you'll watch these highlights and then go listen to the full podcast interview wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Sugar Glan in today and raise the line.

I'm happy to be joined by Beth Bierbauer, who's been a long time senior executive at Humana who focused on innovation in various parts of the business.

She was also known uh at Humana and beyond as a champion for women, serving as a mentor sponsor and advocate in the workplace.

Beth has also established herself as a thought leader on emerging consumer healthcare trends and has her own podcast called B Time, which solidifies that role.

So can you first tell us a bit more about your background? What I wrote um or what I said there, how you pursued your career within healthcare?

And then most recently, uh the launch of your podcast. We'd love to hear about it.

So I've been in healthcare over for 30 years, sort of fell into it by accident. It was uh a summer job while I was going to college.

I started with a medical assistance HMO. And two years after I graduated, I ended up with a, an HMO again that became a part of Coventry.

So I was one of the 1st 20 employees with Coventry healthcare that has since been acquired by Aetna. And then I worked for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.

And then I spent 19 years with Humana, which I retired from at the end of last year because I've been in the industry so long.

I've really been very fortunate that I've held a variety of positions. So I've done everything from provider contracting to operations, to innovation.

And it's really given me a nice broad view of the healthcare ecosystem. As I mentioned, I retired at the end of last year.

And when I was a man, I spent a lot of time helping our associates focus on career and professional development. And I thought, how am I gonna continue to interact with folks once I'm, once I'm gone.

So I thought that maybe a podcast would be um a good way for me to continue to bring learning to those people that I really, really care about, which are people in the industry that I've met over the years.

So I tap into my network and people have been extremely gracious and have come on the show and I interview seasons executives and founders of startups.

And we talk about business trends and insights and leadership journey. And it's just a platform for people who really want to invest in themselves and their careers and take a little time out and, and learn.

What advice would you give to our audience, mostly um current and future healthcare professionals or, or really anyone considering a career in healthcare, what type of advice would you like to give them?

Uh Sure a couple of things. First thing is I would say, step in and step up and um by that, what I mean is become a go to person early on in my career, I was known as go to person and people would say, well, let's give it to be, she'll figure it out and it didn't mean that they were dumping on me, but it meant that if there was a unique project or something like that, but they didn't know what to do with.

They knew that I would take great care. I would investigate, I would learn and I would bring a good solution to the table.

And why that was important is it gave me the opportunity to get exposure to senior leaders in the organization. Number one and number two, it allowed them to see my capabilities.

And then the last thing I would say is please, please have a growth mindset. Think like a rookie.

And the minute you think you're the smartest person in the room, you stop learning and that's a problem. Thanks for watching this preview of Raised Line to hear the full interview, check out all of our podcasts and subscribe to the series.

Please go to osmosis.org/raised Line podcast or listen wherever you get your podcasts.