Dr. Shaden Marzouk
Oscar has added a chief medical officer recruited from Cardinal Health, according to a blog post on the New York-based health insurance startup’s website. The move could be an indication that Oscar will make investments or acquisitions to bolster its health tech product offerings, as other payers have done, with the goal of reducing the overall cost of healthcare.
The hire comes at a time when Oscar is finding out just how challenging it can be to shake up the health insurance market when healthcare reform and market forces are proving just as disruptive.
Dr. Shaden Marzouk has a combined background in clinical practice and the business of healthcare. At Cardinal Health, she was senior vice president of clinical operations. She led the acquisition and integration of new businesses in devices, services, and analytics. She has also served as chief of neurosurgery at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, and worked in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs’ Healthcare Group. She races cars on the racetrack for kicks.
In the blog post, Oscar makes it clear that the insurer views Marzouk as a believer in its strategy:
“In our interviews, when we demoed the Oscar technology to generate the best action for navigating through a lower back pain episode, she immediately jumped in with quantifiable suggestions to improve our algorithm. She is an incredible fit for Oscar not only because of her impressive medical background, but also because she is a creative and yet deeply scientific thinker, and most importantly, passionate about solving for the member.
Several payers have invested in digital health startups. The idea is to add to the tools at their disposal to intervene earlier in members’ care to avoid costly hospitalization or readmission, reduce the need for members to use out-of-network physicians or help members better manage their health.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Source: Oscar
