Understanding the Lifelong Benefits of Vision Health with Kate Renwick-Espinosa, President of VSP Vision Care

[00:00:07] Hey everybody, Saul Marquez with the Health Matters Podcast.

[00:00:11] I want to welcome you to another episode of our series recorded here in Las Vegas from

[00:00:17] the Health 2023 event.

[00:00:20] Today I have the privilege of hosting Kate Renwick-Espinosa.

[00:00:24] She is the president of VSP Vision Care, the nation's largest not-for-profit vision benefits

[00:00:30] and services company.

[00:00:32] She leads efforts to provide access to high-quality eye care and eyewear services to 85 million

[00:00:38] members through the network of more than 41,000 doctors worldwide.

[00:00:43] Kate, thanks for being with me today.

[00:00:45] Kate Renwick-Espinosa Thank you for having me.

[00:00:46] Steve McLaughlin It's a true pleasure.

[00:00:48] We're going to talk a bit today about the critical role vision care plays in contributing

[00:00:53] to the overall healthcare ecosystem.

[00:00:55] Before we dive into that, I'd love to hear more from you, Kate.

[00:00:58] What got you started in healthcare innovation?

[00:01:00] Kate Renwick-Espinosa I've actually been with VSP and in healthcare

[00:01:04] innovation for about three decades.

[00:01:07] And one of the things I just love about healthcare is the fact that you get to cut across care,

[00:01:14] clinical care, technology, and other aspects of innovation and the fact that you're impacting

[00:01:20] people's lives.

[00:01:21] And just from a personal why standpoint, my father is a physician, but he didn't go to

[00:01:27] medical school until I was in fourth grade.

[00:01:30] He didn't start practicing until I was graduating high school.

[00:01:34] Prior to that, he was a public health educator.

[00:01:37] So I grew up in a household where we were constantly talking about the importance of

[00:01:42] healthcare, the importance of people having access to healthcare.

[00:01:45] And eventually once he was practicing, he ran a clinic at a Miwok Indian reservation.

[00:01:52] So that was something that just made a connection with me of how important access to care is.

[00:01:57] That's amazing.

[00:01:58] Thanks for sharing that story and how interesting the path that your father took and the influence

[00:02:04] that it had on you is obvious with the work that you're doing now with VSP.

[00:02:08] What is the most unique way your organization adds value to health systems and patients?

[00:02:15] Healthy eyesight can be life changing.

[00:02:17] Just think about every stage of your life as a child, you have to see well to do well

[00:02:22] in school.

[00:02:24] As a young person just getting started in your career, you may think that you see just

[00:02:30] fine but not realize that you have underlying health issues.

[00:02:34] And so going in and getting an eye exam can help you get on an early path to managing

[00:02:39] pre-diabetes or other healthcare issues.

[00:02:43] And then as you get older, taking care of your sight is so critical, whether you're managing

[00:02:48] cataracts or detecting other eye disease.

[00:02:52] Just think about whether you want to enjoy life from a personal standpoint or a professional

[00:02:56] standpoint, seeing well is so important.

[00:02:59] Thank you for that.

[00:03:00] And there could be oftentimes things we don't realize we have.

[00:03:03] And so layering in and making sure access is a key part of what we're doing here, I

[00:03:08] think is a key focus for you guys.

[00:03:11] Can you explain what you mean by vision care serving as healthcare's secret weapon?

[00:03:17] Yes.

[00:03:18] And that might have been surprising to you because people don't naturally think of eyes

[00:03:24] as a secret weapon to staying healthy, but they absolutely are.

[00:03:28] Your eyes are one of the few places you can see directly into your body.

[00:03:32] You can see your blood vessels.

[00:03:35] And so it's a way to detect over 270 different health conditions.

[00:03:41] And people may not go in for their annual physical, but go in for an eye exam.

[00:03:47] So it's an access point to care that's really important.

[00:03:51] There was just a study done by the UC San Diego Health, which showed that seeing damage

[00:03:59] from a retina standpoint can actually be a marker of other underlying health conditions

[00:04:05] and early detection to heart attacks or strokes.

[00:04:09] So to be able to prevent something like that before it happens through an eye exam is really

[00:04:15] powerful.

[00:04:16] Thank you for that.

[00:04:17] And it's really taking a look at the entire body, but the eyes as sort of a gateway to

[00:04:23] understanding overall health.

[00:04:24] Exactly.

[00:04:25] Thank you for that.

[00:04:26] And there's a great opportunity, it sounds like here.

[00:04:28] How can eye care lower healthcare costs for employers and patients?

[00:04:32] Part of it is that early detection.

[00:04:34] We know that, as an example, in 2020, poor health costs impacted employers by more than

[00:04:42] $575 billion just in them having to pay for serious health conditions.

[00:04:49] And then on top of that, another 1.5 billion days of lost productivity.

[00:04:56] So if you want your employees to not only be healthy, but be productive, it's making

[00:05:02] sure that they have the right benefits to do that.

[00:05:05] The more we can detect some of those chronic conditions earlier, not only does that help

[00:05:11] employers save on healthcare costs, make sure that they have productive employees.

[00:05:15] But today, a lot of employees are bearing part of that cost themselves.

[00:05:19] They might have a high deductible health plan, they might have coinsurance.

[00:05:23] The more we help them manage costs or manage healthcare earlier, it can save them too and

[00:05:30] protect their pocketbooks.

[00:05:31] And so the employers can do a lot here.

[00:05:36] What specifically can they do to support whole body health for their employee?

[00:05:40] One of the things they can do is make certain that they're not thinking of their benefits

[00:05:44] as being siloed.

[00:05:46] I mean, our body is everything together.

[00:05:49] It's not you don't think about one ear separate from a foot separate from that your whole body

[00:05:55] goes together and we need to think about benefits that way.

[00:05:58] And make certain that we're helping our employees use their benefits all together and that they

[00:06:04] work in harmony.

[00:06:05] So that's where we believe, for example, with vision care, having a strong vision plan is

[00:06:12] important, a high value one that encourages people to go in, get that annual eye exam.

[00:06:19] And then if something like pre-diabetes gets detected, to have that optometrist talking

[00:06:23] to the employee's primary care physician and that collaboration is so important across the

[00:06:30] benefits and across the healthcare providers.

[00:06:33] And that healthcare team is important and optometrists play a really important role

[00:06:37] in that.

[00:06:38] Thank you, Kate.

[00:06:39] Yeah, it sounds like it's a it's really a whole body thing.

[00:06:42] And I think probably, I don't know, I always thought about this.

[00:06:46] It's sort of the reimbursement models that segment how we take care of this.

[00:06:51] There's reimbursement for eyes, reimbursement for oral, reimbursement for mental.

[00:06:55] I love your point of making it aggregated care.

[00:06:59] Let's look at it that way.

[00:07:00] Exactly.

[00:07:01] And then think about the whole person and make sure that they're taking care of themselves

[00:07:05] that way, too.

[00:07:06] Outstanding.

[00:07:07] And we're here at the end, Kate, of our discussion.

[00:07:10] But I'd love for you to propose a closing thought for the people listening to this podcast

[00:07:16] today.

[00:07:17] What would you leave them with?

[00:07:18] And what's the best place they could get in touch with you?

[00:07:20] I would say one of the things I want to leave everyone with is that annual eye exams are

[00:07:25] so important for themselves and their loved ones.

[00:07:27] And so to make sure whether you have a niece or a nephew who hasn't gone in for an eye

[00:07:32] exam since they've started school, or you have an aging parent who hasn't made it to

[00:07:37] the eye doctor to make certain that you're encouraging those visits.

[00:07:41] And as far as getting a hold of me, I am available through VSP.com to find out more about our

[00:07:50] vision care that we provide to employers, but also to individuals.

[00:07:54] It's a way to sign up and get your VSP if you don't have access to it through your

[00:07:59] employer.

[00:08:00] Amazing, Kate.

[00:08:01] Thank you for that.

[00:08:02] Folks, take advantage of the invitation to connect with Kate and the team at VSP.

[00:08:08] All the ways to get in touch with them will be in the show notes.

[00:08:11] And make sure you go and get your eye exam.

[00:08:13] Thank you.

[00:08:14] Kate, thanks for your time.

[00:08:16] Thank you.