
Essence Healthcare and Humana: Moving from Episodic Care to Longitudinal Outcomes
From Bright Spots in Healthcare by Eric Glazer
March 31, 2026 · 1h 2m
About this episode
The episode discusses the shift from episodic care to longitudinal outcomes in specialty care, emphasizing the role of AI and connected care models.
In this Bright Spots in Healthcare episode, host Eric Glazer brought together payer and provider leaders to examine a major shift underway in specialty care. Historically, specialty models have been built around episodic intervention, stepping in after a condition has progressed. But as organizations take on greater accountability for outcomes and cost, that model is becoming harder to sustain. The conversation explored how AI, earlier signal detection, and more connected care models can help organizations identify risk sooner, guide members more effectively, and support better outcomes over time. Our guests include: Saria Saccocio, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Essence Healthcare Ross Lagerblade, Vice President, Value Based Strategies, Humana Mary O'Connor, MD, Chief Medical Officer & Co-Founder, Vori Health Together, they explored: How specialty care is evolving from reactive, episode-based intervention to models built around continuous visibility and earlier action How organizations are identifying risk that never shows up in traditional data, and what it takes to surface and act on those blind spots How leading plans are redesigning the member experience to create clearer, more…
People in this episode
Host: Eric Glazer
Guests: Ross Lagerblade, Mary O'Connor Md, Saria Saccocio Md
Topics covered
- specialty care
- longitudinal outcomes
- AI in healthcare
- risk identification
- connected care models
Keywords
- healthcare transformation
- value-based care
- member experience
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Bright Spots in Healthcare
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