Podcasts about premera

In the Medicare Advantage Minute we learn that Premera, one of the 54 members of the BC/BS Association, is ending the sale of MA plans. Deep in the pages of "Your Medicare Benefits 2024" we find that Medicare will pay for needed canes as they do for DME (Durable Medical Equipment). White paint is extra. A newcomer named Vince needs advice about how to help his recently arrived father. A Vietnam era Marine, Vince Sr. seemed to be having trouble with the VA and with his dental health. Stay tuned for an update! Finally, a newly discovered New York program offers affordability help with expensive meds: EPIC: Elderly Pharmacy Insurance Coverage Program (only in New York) Contact me at: DBJ@MLMMailbag.com (Most severe critic: A+)                   Visit us on: BabyBoomer.ORG Inspired by: "MEDICARE FOR THE LAZY MAN 2024; Simplest & Easiest Guide Ever!" on Amazon.com. Return to leave a short customer review & help future readers. Official website: https://www.MedicareForTheLazyMan.com.

Value-based care leaders from Kaiser Permanente, Premera, UnitedHealthcare and TailorCare discuss the evolving landscape of specialty value-based care. They explain how their plans drive success with innovative approaches designed to optimize care and improve outcomes—even with their most complex, high-cost members.   Our expert panelists share practical strategies for navigating the most effective treatment pathways, from leveraging predictive data and the latest evidence-based guidelines to assessing members' symptoms and goals.   Topics covered include: Strategie Planning Technology Enablement Solutions in Action Featured Guests Romilla Batra, MD, Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer – Clinical Strategy & Solutions, Premera Blue Cross Hemant Keny, MD, Lead for Senior Surgical Care Program, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Donna Laliberte O'Shea, MD, MBA, CPE, National Vice President, Operations and Chief Medical Officer, UCS Population Health and VBC, UnitedHealthcare Rachel Winokur, Chief Executive Officer, TailorCare   Guest Bios: https://www.brightspotsinhealthcare.com/events/unlocking-success-through-specialty-value-based-models/   This episode is sponsored by TailorCare TailorCare is a risk-based care navigation program that provides deeply personal support to patients living with joint, back, and muscle pain. By combining a careful assessment of patients' symptoms, health history, preferences and goals with predictive data and the latest evidence-based guidelines, TailorCare helps patients choose—and navigate—the most effective treatment pathway for them, every step of the way. Website: www.tailorcare.com  

對喜歡車子的大大們而言，在小時候開始有記憶時車子在腦海中應該會占據一部分記憶體，到了國中時期大多數的品牌、Logo、甚至車款應該都能清楚辨別，不知大大們是否曾趴在窗枱上看著車來車往、細數著每款車，甚至看到心儀的車心中還會小悸動一下！這集我們要透過Celsior國中時期對車子的點滴，一起回憶當年那個青澀的年代。 CELSIORS Youtube頻道：https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo3IxZ-cdzucOFOOY3CBe1w

Hosts Fred Goldstein and Gregg Masters welcome John Watkins, PharmD, MPH, BCPS who managed the formulary process at Premera Blue Cross from 2000-2019. His responsibilities included health technology assessment, formulary process development, formulary reviews, and medical policy review and providing drug information support to medical and case management staff. He is currently Director of Premera's PGY1 Managed Care Pharmacy Residency program and Student Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Coordinator. Along with these responsibilities, he manages the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. John is Affiliate Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Washington. His areas of interest include health policy, health technology assessment and application of evidence-based medicine, personalized medicine, economics and bioethics to formulary and coverage decision making processes. We discuss trends in pharmacy benefit management (PBM) and the role of academic training in crafting pharmacists more actively engaged in the patient care team. To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play Healthcare NOW Radio”. Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen

Cash wins in King County, Premera sued over gender-affirming care, and SoDo gets a makeover

Episode 296 - Dr. Gilbert @ the BSE Conference, Vancouver, WA - August 2022 Presentation @ the  "Biblical Sexual Ethics & Integrity Conference for Parents"  Vancouver, WA August 2022   Episode 296's video link: https://youtu.be/LtE7gsZ0UAU       Welcome to HealingLives with Corey Gilbert, a podcast sponsored by the healing live center, discover how to love and lead your family well and biblically God created sex marriage and the family for our stewardship growth and benefit my heart and passion is to teach, train, educate and disciple christians that want strong marriages and families. The HealingLives Center has been serving Christians since the year 2000. Its mission is to be a center for sex, trauma and marriage education and transformation, where we offer counseling, coaching courses and speaking services to you, your church or ministry check us out at HealingLives.com. I had the honor of this past year to present at a conference entitled the Biblical sexual Ethics and integrity Conference for parents. The subtitle was inspiring and equipping parents to wrestle with and live out a biblical sexual ethic model, sexual integrity and grow the parent child connection by a host of the conference was Julia Garrison. Um you'll see here in her in the beginning um and her links to her work is might make level paths dot org, there'll be links in the description. Um so here is my presentation, so some of you, um most of you wouldn't know this actually not some, most of you would not know this uh that this conference was actually gonna be last spring. Um I was gearing up for it uh and the name of that conference again, I love long titles, I don't just the name of that conference was going to be going beyond the sex talk, how to disciple your child sexuality. Okay, A mouthful, right? But that was the whole thing, right? It was like, it was catchy, I had sex in it. Okay. Yeah, so that was gonna be the title. I had all graphics done, I was about to launch it and um, a week before launching and promoting uh, schedules changed and it was put on pause now, like any of you, you might think does God not want me to do this? That was one of the things that went through my mind, right, was like, okay, does this mean I shouldn't do it? Like, you know, you're kind of wrestling with that and in the middle of wrestling with that. Um, I decided I need to re look at this and one of the things that I was re looking at is I want a psychologist. I want, I want someone who's familiar with human and child development with human sexuality, who has, who has a different view or a different look on this, not just biblical, but also with the human development piece. Um I, I know there's a lot of stuff out there about the psychology field and it's been used in negative ways, but did you know the root word is soul care, right? Like it was something that was ours before it got changed. Okay, so it, it's a good thing. Um it can be a good thing, I should say it that way. I wanted someone who had strong biblical ethic and who had life experience. So not only the psychology background in the human development, but also the biblical ethic and the life experience. I wanted a professional who was well seasoned and working in the trenches of human suffering. That was really important to me and with parents, fears also really important to me, someone who got the context while knowing hope was alive. So I started asking around how many of you know that God's a provider. Soon after I caught wind of the name. Dr Cory Gilbert, a psychology professor at Corbin University. So I googled it and of course I'm scrolling his page and I see PhD in family psychology. I see over 22 years devoted to counseling individuals, couples and families struggling with past abuse, especially in the areas of trauma, adultery, struggles with sex, sexuality and gender identity. If my mouth wasn't open at this point, I was like, oh I see published books, workbooks uh specifically on teaching parents went right to amazon ordered it. It's out there um about biblical sexual ethics and being uh spiritual authorities in their home. He's even the founder of the healing live center, which is focused on sex trauma and marriage education and training. Then this is a big dramatic pause. Then I see his newest book and take a guess of what it's called, going beyond the talk, a teen and preteen guide. So I'm all fired up at this point. Um and so after I dug a bit deeper, listened to some things, I was like, this is this is the guy. So I reached out and eagerly waited his response. Uh, he wrote back in capital letters. Absolutely. So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome an answer to my prayer and a devoted and godly expert in the area of biblical sexual ethics. Dr Cory Gilbert set the bar high right there. Okay, I am so honored to be here. Um, this is, this is what I love to do, which is also sounds weird. Um some of my favorite counseling is actually with abuse and trauma and adultery. Why? Because God's the Redeemer and it's all about that. Why would I teach classes at Corbin about trauma and human sexuality? When I know when I get to certain topics, I'm gonna lose half the class because it hits them in their heart because God's there restore, there's a reason for it. Without it. I would, I would go be a truck driver or something. It's always been my backup job. It's not, it's not logical actually to even talk about this stuff yet. As I, as I left college and actually rewind there, I went to college to be in music, but I found out you have to have talent. That was a hard one. My junior year. They sat me down and said, you're not graduating, you're not good enough. I cried, they cried, it was a moment. Um and I had to switch my major and I was like, I'm not gonna major in spanish. I grew up in south America, not gonna major in my dojo mech. Actually, that was my, I might do that one, so art, I love art, love and stuff like that. And so then I just decided to try this christian counseling class, one class changed my whole life, my heart and desire is ministry, my heart's desire is to serve. And I never realized that I would be doing that um that I'll be switching from this passion of music into counseling into these in the areas that were to come. I'm glad, doesn't, God doesn't give us a preview, God glad that God kind of goes, you know what, I'm gonna give you this little piece because you're not gonna unnecessary like what's around the corner and we'll get to that in a little bit. But um today, as we kind of go through this definitely as Julia said, pay attention to yourself because some of this is, can be difficult, but today, what I really want to focus on is scripture, the foundation. Why are in the world are we talking about this? What do we stand on? Um the QR code here, it's here and it's also throughout the slides, just so you can grab it if you need it, but it will have the handouts and the videos and all this stuff on that page after in a few weeks in a few days. Um just so you can grab it later. But um this is what we talked about. We get to talk about sex, it's supposed to be redemptive and I bet you half or more of us, it's not necessarily how it feels inside your hearts, especially in your experiences, young people, glad you're here. We need to be able to talk about this in a way that's redemptive. There's a lot of um stuff inside of us that's actually messed up and twisted that we need to actually reexamine think through um really, really important. This is a quote that I heard from Preston Sprinkle and just really hit me said people of faith who are navigating gender identity issues. Are our people not careful, we're talking about them. No, you and I are struggling. Every single one of us is actually wrestling with something. It just may not be that piece. We're all questioning things about who God is and why he did this or why he did that. And especially after the last few years we went through, there's so many questions we have but I love that statement. They are our people. So hold on to that as we kinda walk through some stuff that's not gonna necessarily feel good. Always. This is where I'm from Temuco Chile Chile. No um I grew up in Chile grew up in the Chilean school system, the private schools missionary family missionary kid. Um so I came to America at 17 years old. I'm not liking this country because my grandmother had died right before he came to visit not knowing the culture. I mean your culture in chile was all I knew even though when I looked in the mirror I realized oh wait I'm not like them. Um but until I looked in the mirror I didn't, I wasn't treated different white redhead with a very different culture is beautiful actually, that's what I knew and I actually being someone who kind of stood out when I moved to the United States, I didn't realize that I was actually trying to stand out And didn't know why I was doing that. This is what I looked like in 92 and 93. Um mullets are awesome and I was on a mission trip to Dominican republic and a missionary there, she said cory you're doing everything you can to stand out because you grew up your whole life standing out and now you're nobody and I was like oh shoot called it and I had to kind of re examine myself but everything I liked with pink and purple and girly and I mean I crochet and I cross stitch and I do art and I um music major not realizing that in all of that. There's also certain assumptions that I just was clueless about because of cultural things, not realizing what friends were saying about me when I was actually after seminary, even I was getting new glasses and I put a purple tint to the, to the lens. It was kinda cool not realizing what I was saying, what people were interpreting from that were for a couple years later, some friends were like, yeah, we thought you were gay but really didn't say anything. I never really had girlfriends and um, so what does that mean? Well what's sad is we're constantly sending messages. Everything. We do everything, we say how we dress, everything sends a message. Even if we aren't quite clued into what that means. Um, this was me. This is me now. It's funny cause I actually, I motorcycles became a piece for me to leave where I was before. Um, I grabbed onto a pride for the wrong reason. Even I didn't want to be known as that person. And so I grabbed onto this identity. I, well the first part was I moved to America and all of a sudden there's no public transportation so I need my freedom. Got a job at Mcdonald's. So I'm making 4 25 an hour and I'm rolling in the dough. So I need freedom. And so I bought a motorcycle and that became me. Well that's just the beginning of that where it's like, that's not necessarily who I am, There's so many layers, but the world then was so different and as laura talked about last night if I were born today and being a teenager today, I worry where I would be today because of the pressures from our culture and the questions being asked by our teams that should not be being asked, which we'll talk about today. Um I had better pipes on that one. So yeah, I laugh when I'm next to a Tesla because I make them rattle a little as I go by. But um, so there's parts of me that came out that I didn't know exist and here's the coolest thing. I'm this kind of more girly girl inside and I meet this amazing woman And I have the best day of my life when I married my, my bride Kelly 19 years ago and she is such a guy inside Legal field, like analytical, her version of counseling is a two x four across the head get over it, I'm like, that's why you do your thing and I'll do my thing. Like, um and I meet this woman who I still can't believe I've been online by the way, equally yoked dot com. 10 months later we were married, I was walking with a cane at the time and doctors said I would never have a job and I would never work, I have Crohn's and I was just dying inside my body was um decaying. I was on high doses of predniSONE and other stuff and I was a mess. What's interesting is when we got married um in those 10 months, I've been in the hospital three times and my wife and her mom had talked about in marrying him. You will probably take care of him the rest of your life. Are you willing to do that? She's been a stay at home mom in the last 14 years to our kids and home schools, our kids. Well I work 2-4 jobs because God is awesome. That story didn't play out. We actually through lots of stress and struggle as a couple found other answers and got help outside of medicine and I've learned to take care of myself and I ride a Harley and I go backpacking and I go snowboarding and I do stuff I never thought I could do because God is incredible. And every time I even get on my bike, it's just from reminder of I'm not in a wheelchair. We spent our first year of marriage with a handicapped sticker and shopping for one of those motorized carts because that's what we thought we were kind of into. And um God is a redeemer. Does he always, does he fix everything? No, I actually, my own stuff started flaring up two weeks ago, Why? We started back meetings at Corbin and getting ready for school year as the stress goes up. Things go downhill every time about november, it gets worse and then depression sets in when my college students leave me in december and it hits me again in May. Um I'm human, but I'm gonna actually fight what happens with these three guys. I also couldn't have kids is what we thought too. And I married someone who was like, I don't know if I really want kids, but it's okay if we have kids. And so when she found out she was pregnant the first time, she was kind of mad because she had already given her heart kind of gone, no, we're not gonna open that door. And um so it's just kind of neat to have, I call my experiments. They would normally be here with me right now. But um my my wife's grandfather just passed away. So they're dealing with all that. But um these guys make me who I am, I only wanted daughters by the way. And so then we found out we were having a son and I cried and I was depressed for two weeks. I don't know what to do with a boy. And then we found out we're having a second sun, God, what are you doing to me? And then I had my little girl who's just my doll. I love her to death. If she had been born first, I would be a horrible dad because she would have me wrapped around her finger and she does not have me wrapped on her finger and I look at that and realized that even some of those things of who I was and who God gave me his two sons. it forced me into things that I never would have actually honestly tried and to see how Moldable and shape a ball we are that um all my shirts say Harley on them mainly because my wife was like stop complaining about the prices on at the store because they're crazy and they're all from Ebay, but it was a change from my previous clothing, if you will. Why? Because I loved her and realize that it's so funny how easy some of these decisions are to change, but why don't we? Because we dig our heels in and we actually kind of claim some identity if you will and if we're not careful, it's one that's actually us at the center which we're gonna talk about. So the topic or the more pictures you, my kids, yes, loved doing adventures with them. Um what I want to do today is this, I'm gonna walk through this. Um these are the old slides actually, Oops, okay, we'll do this anyway, create order disorder. This is the model of kind of how I'm thinking about this and we're gonna look at a lot of scripture. I'm a college professor. So, good luck keeping up again. The slides will be online. But um, we're gonna look at this kind of 33 pieces, so create order disorder and then who you are, how does this fit in with you um which is really, really, really important. So the first passage of scripture and we're looking at a created order. We're gonna go back to genesis Genesis 1 27. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them male and female. He created them. This is the foundation. We start with that God created us male and female. And there is no other alternatives to that. That's how we're made. And we're gonna look again further at that. But there's another cool thing about the order of this. He created man. But there's something that some of us do. It's called work. But if we're not careful, we put it in the wrong order. Work did not come after the fall, work came before the fall. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Remember that that actually you are meant to work. I look at this word retirement and I laugh. It's one thing to retire from a job to start something new or to go invest in something different. But how many quit living? They lose themselves or they watch jeopardy reruns I guess. I don't know. Um They lose themselves, you were called to something greater than just punching a clock in death and taxes to work. Work. Work beautiful thing. So put it in the right order. But then God even did something more incredible than creating man. He actually created this incredible person called woman. The Lord um Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. The model of even marriage that we're gonna get to later starts right here and society right now basically has been saying and emphasizing even marriage is just a societal contract, it's a societal construct. It's like look at the bible, go look at the bible, no, it's not, it's from design prior to even the fall, we haven't gotten gotten to that yet. So the man gave names to all the livestock. Can you imagine that? I think about what God did to Adam, He goes, I'm gonna have you try to figure out if any of these are like you in my mind, I picture this taking days and maybe weeks if not years of Adam every day going, nope, not like me, nope, not like me, God, I'm in perfect communion with you and I still have a void, this is pre fall, remember that? How incredible I feel like it was God kind of emphasizing I'm gonna make someone that's gonna be so incredible, that's gonna be a helpmate and fit with you in a way that is gonna blow your mind. Adam found no suitable helper helper. Um and then he created marriage. The man said this has been a bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and she shall be called, wow man, she was taken out of man, This is the design, this is the start, this is the foundation, this is why a man will leave his father and mother and he has united to his wife and they become one flesh still in the pre fall. The design is beautiful what the created order is beautiful and we have to say it two sexually different people. A marriage between two men and a marriage between two women is not a marriage, I don't care what you do. Society wise you can have contracts but nothing is sealed in heaven and nothing is sealed on earth. A wedding, a same sex wedding by the way is an expensive party. Think of it that way changes kind of how you feel about it because nothing is sealed in heaven, nothing is hell on earth and someone who comes to christ and there they find themselves in that space, do I leave my husband or leave my wife, they're not your husband or wife. We have to honor God and are now now the messy part gets kids that's another and it's sad to say I hear it all the time and counseling how many all my kids are resilient. Yeah, they actually kinda are but they're still gonna be harmed by your decisions actually. Even your decisions to move across town to switch schools to leave that church and go somewhere else. Our decisions actually do cause damage and or character maybe but it's life and it's part of us teaching our Children how to handle that. And so sometimes the delusion of our kids are resilient. They'll be fine. No, they're gonna be hurt, they're gonna be harmed. So lean into that and love them and expect that all of our decisions do. Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. Do you know what that's like? I would like to say that we actually don't know what that's like. We feel shame even now we feel shame. We don't, we can't even comprehend prior to the fall what that feels like to have actually have no shame. And then God didn't stop there. He brought them together. They felt no shame. And then now enters the picture of Children procreation Proverbs 17 6 children's Children are a crowned the aged and parents are the pride of their Children. It's sad to me to think of how we even think about Children nowadays. They're a nuisance. They're, they're a problem. They're, they're a little messy and dirty and loud and actually, no, you were called to be parents in the sense of how we're designed, it doesn't mean we all get to be, there's trends right now and some couples who they come together and they want kids and then they found out one of them can't. And so they divorce because, well you deserve to have Children? No, you do not. I deserve hell actually. And so what do I do with that? How do I lean into my spouse now that we've discovered that we can't have Children And yes, there might be other ways we can try if you can afford some of that. But we lean into that new us just like you can't, you can't, there's no guarantee when you get married that that person is gonna be healthier a year later or two years later, Laura laura story that beautiful song blessings her husband ends up in a brain is a brain tumor injury and wakes up. I don't even remember her accident. It's amazing to think about. We don't have any guarantee. I know part of what shaped me as a young boy was watching my mom have cancer and how my dad loved my mom. That was a young boy. We were living in Costa rica at the time. But then at 8 18, so 10 years later at 18 I watched my parents navigate through it again and watch. My dad loved my mom and shapes us. But also think about how many of us don't have that shaping from our family. We didn't get good examples of how to love how to surrender how to sacrifice. And so we really do learn how to be about ourselves. So what do we do here? We have this created order? Well, there's the disorder. Where does disorder come in? Well, it comes in with one word and it's sin senators the picture and it all goes downhill. We're in trouble. That's where we're at now. If you think of the things getting in the way that sin the places where we get stuck at Sin Genesis 3 6-7, then the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some and ate it and noticed he was hanging out right next to her. She also gave some to her husband who by the way, was given the command and was given the instruction and he was silent. Um, and he ate it in the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked and they went to Kmart sending her the picture and everything changed. There's an awareness they got what they wanted they see and they actually also now have to grieve, have to hurt that to face. But here's the word that I think comes into the picture at this point when Senators the picture, this next word is where you and I actually tend to struggle. It's actually blame 3 12. The man said the woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it dude punk right there And what are we doing now all the time. We want to find blame for everything. It's always someone else's fault that this that or the other happened. And it's actually no, I I own my reactions and I own who I am and I own how I handle all this, even the insanity of the last two years. But we want to blame. And what's so hard is there some stuff that has happened that we have very clear blame? Some of the processes that I walk young people through that when I worked at college and stuff, that age 20s is hard step where I actually looked through. So sexual abuse, I looked through what has happened to them when they were younger and I go, who was supposed to be your protector? Mom and dad. And I go, did they? No. So where should the shame be? This is scary. This is actually kind of scary shame on them for not protecting you. And I go, well hold on, don't stay there. You even land. If you stay there for even a few more minutes, you're gonna actually just spiral Why do I say that? Why? Because you're carrying a shame that you can't bear, that's actually not yours. And when I put it in the right place, I can enter the most beautiful place. And it's called forgiveness. But if I don't tell the truth, I can't forgive. And a lot of places I find people stuck is they haven't told the truth. They're still carrying a lie. And then fighting with a lie over and over and over and over for years. And when they tell the truth, they can go and I forgive and they feel very different towards even their their parent shame on the person that harmed me. Why not to get angry and get mad And and actually now seek vengeance is to then be free. I'm so tired of that controlling me and I can be free when I put truth capital t truth in place. But a lot of us are living and playing with and dancing around in our unconscious lots and lots of lies. We're trying to make sense of things we can't make sense of and trying to believe things that are not true. Now here's what happened with blame here in the garden at this point in time. Help the helper fail. Eve, here's how she failed to the woman. He said, I will make your your pains and childbearing very severe with painful labor. You will give birth to Children and your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you the consequences of who she was supposed to be with her with her husband at the time. But this is a scary one. Leadership failed for Adam. He was meant to be someone who actually was leading his wife and he did not, he failed here to Adam he said because you listen to your wife and ate fruit from the tree which I commanded. You must not eat from it, cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil. You will eat food from it, holidays, your life. And if you think of the picture of this, it's one of your work is going to turn into something that can actually be somewhat of a burden. It's gonna be hard to be difficult. You're gonna be stressing, it's gonna be something that's different than the way I designed it to be which all of us can probably attest to what were we supposed to be? Adam was supposed to be that that partner with his wife and she was supposed to be a partner with her husband in design. Where do we find the working of this out Now for all of us in our marriage relationship, there's this back and forth and kind of pull of helper and leadership and what does this mean? Um questions I asked Premera couples all the time. I'm like, so what does it mean to be head of the house? And then I watched the husband or the boy, the guy who's getting married dig a grave. I'm supposed to make all the decisions. I was like, okay, I'm not sure where you got that one. Well from the church sometimes, but what does it mean to be the head of the house husbands? What does the require the the burden placed on you? It is you're gonna partner with this person who is so different than you has such a different way to see the world and you are responsible for her and your kids at judgment day. That's what it means. That should make you shake in your boots. It's not telling her what to do. It's not her obeying and you spouting off stuff. Absolutely not. You're partnering and what an incredible relationship when you actually really are linking arms and making decisions together and wrestling together and seeing things different but actually coming to agreements. That is not easy. That's what a lot of us counselors are spending a lot of time helping people do and it is so beautiful from this, these leadership and and helpmate fails. What comes what comes is this man will struggle with and return to the earth but The one We have pain and childbirth and struggle with man. Now again pause and look at society and look at marriages and look at families. This is exactly what's happening. There's a constant wrestling and struggling between who's gonna be in charge. Like what do we do some for some families as if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy and we actually almost think that's a good term, a good phrase or a good thing and it's like no, this is unhealthy actually I would say it's downward unbiblical as a partner, their husbands that walk in the house and they don't even know what to do anymore because it's like this isn't their territory, it's hers and the kids and their they feel like an absolute outsider because of a lack of this, What was designed in marriage was broken through sin. And so we have a lot of working this out. So how do we apply this to us? What do you look about you? And I'm gonna I'm looking at this through the lens if you got the created order disorder and then then you there's a certain word I'm gonna get to in a little bit as to what it means for you and me when it comes to all of this mess was what it seems like. But also the beauty in the book I wrote. Um I can't say that for parents. There's this chapter I put in there that my wife was like you need to delete that chapter. That's just but it was the one on the neuroscience side. So all of the way that God made our chemistry and our neurobiology and hormones. And it's fascinating because it shows a perfect design of husband and wife male and female coming together and how we're meant to be by design. Yet for so many of us we just don't understand how that how they can think this way or how they can act this way or why are they so emotional or why are they so heartless or why are they so this or that and we gets lost. But yet again God's design is perfect and sin enters the picture, we lose each other. I had a client recently. He just said you know what When I'm gone to work, we should just expect when I come home that we're gonna have to get back on the same page because when I'm gone out during these, you know, 8 to 10 hours a day, of course we're not on the same page yet. The assumption was before were always supposed to be on the same page. It's like, so what needs to happen is you come home and there's a committee meeting, we get back on the same page every day. Yeah. What is the average that couples talk per week, anybody know? Yeah. It's just actually a handful of minutes per week. Sometimes I've seen some studies that say maybe an hour total a week kind of terrifying. Think of all the little exchanges. And it adds up to just a little bit of time and you're supposed to know me with that. No, you're not gonna know me. It's it takes intentionality. It takes investment. Yet we're so busy. So I want to kind of switch gears with this and look at it through the lens of gender and sexuality. Then so psalms 1 39 30 13 for you created my innermost being you knit me together in my mother's womb. There's a design from the beginning from the beginning of when you were conceived, we know that a baby in utero experiences the world, you adopt a child from this the day they're born and they have trauma based off what happened inside that mom in her life chemically and then also around her we know that that's not even a question. Yeah we still have questions about where life begins which I think is such an interesting, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, how many of us don't believe that through our actions, every one of us can actually probably list some things we don't like about ourselves and God's up there going, I made you, you're dissing me. I haven't talked to a woman in my office ever who hasn't had a list of what they don't like about themselves breaks my heart. That's not what it's about having the perfect body or having the perfect mind or having degrees or having status or having the perfect person on your arm isn't gonna make it. Remember this lady that I was a single lady that lived next to in Kansas, she was so excited she brought me down to the garage because she had the first ford um escape the only one in the state just so proud of this thing and I just laughed was like there'll be like 1000 of them in like two weeks but we do that plus it was a ford escape anyway. Like we get all excited about. I have, I've had Hondas and Yamaha's and Kawasaki's and different bikes and Finally finally finally sold sold the one I had and I got a Harley that one you saw and I remember after a few weeks I was kind of depressed because you realize it's just a stupid bike and I missed my Honda because it started this year and it was very humbling. It is, it doesn't matter what you get of stuff. It's amazing how many of us have vacations and then we have to have a vacation from the vacation after the vacation because it was so exhausting. American version of vacations is just whack to me. Just, you're so exhausted and you have to go back to work and you're worse off than you were before and in debt. Um, do I believe that I am fearfully wonderfully made my life and my actions will show that this is still that foundation of even who we are that were either living from or we are making my own path Colossians 3, 5 put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry and think about any of these lists here in in other passages, a list of these things and sometimes we look at it and we can, we just go right into one and we obsess, we don't see the other two or three that are pointing right at us and we need to deal with. Um, but they're also not exhaustive trying to call out something and say, hey, these are some of the things they need to think about to consider. We don't think this way put to death, we're in a place in our culture where it's, don't you tell me what to do first of all? But also, if I claim this is who I am, well, it's that word identity. This is who I am. This is not how God designed us to be. And we actually have losses there. Well, here's two of those areas, the actually idea of attraction and desires. I think we put these in the wrong place Galatians 519 when you follow the desires of your simple nature, the results are very clear. There's a list against sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling jealousy, Alberts finger, selfish ambitions, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. This is what comes from this. Well, right now we have in our culture, attraction has become such a big deal. When I met my wife, I was not attracted to her at all. Why? Because in my mind, she didn't fit what I actually saw as attractive. What's really funny about that is I grew up in a different culture, even though I may look this way again, I was attracted to me was not a white redhead. Just to put it bluntly there. And what's funny is our kids are, there was actually bets when we had our first kids that's gonna be a redhead and he's a little blonde, but um, like that's not what was attracted to me. And I remember the day when I actually, it was like something came over me of, oh my gosh, this woman is amazing and it was so much bigger than just physical beauty. It's who she was, it was her character. It's what she stood for, what she believed in, her christ her God, all of who she was and how big of a deal that is attraction to me is that I'm gonna put it this way, it's bad data. Just to put it kind of in a weird way, but to stand out, it's bad data who you're attracted to great and it changes and it morphs and it it turns into all sorts of stuff. It actually has actually a short shelf life because then I get bored with you and I want something different. Same for your desires. Your desires are fickle, you're fickle. I'm fickle. Kind of scares me a little. How in the world do you last beyond a few years of marriage then? It's that's another whole question. I'm at 19 years of marriage and it's like we're just getting started. It's such a cool thing to see that now and go, wow, it's like we're just just getting going We're at that stage where Miley is 12, so we're like six years in six years, they're all gone and we'll move and like not even give them our address. Just kidding. Like what are they gonna do? Where are they gonna be? I don't know and just how excited us because the executive team, we get to actually decide where we go what we do even though that doesn't always work out that way. I have a sister who's in and out of living on the streets and doing stuff in texas and she's a mess because of choices doesn't always work out that we wanted to work out. It's scary. I remember my kids when they were eight or nine, I would tell them I hate that you have free will. You don't have free will. I hate that you actually have free will. You don't have free will. As in you can walk around the corner and do something that totally is against what we've taught you and that's on you. I will feel it and I will feel responsible for it. But that is on you. You go to a friend's house what you do all these things. The way that we handle our attraction and desires are critical because we want to fit in and we want to be cared, love, we want to be a part of something. It's actually scary what this looks like at times Galatians 5 22 with the Holy spirit produces this kind of this kind of fruit. This is the other side of that coin. Who are we supposed to be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self control. There is no law against these things. This is who we're meant to be. Don't go look on facebook because everyone else is, everyone's yelling at someone or mad at something and it's probably a space that none of us should actually hang out by the way. Really, really careful with that. What am I attracted to? What are my desires? How much are those shaped by what I've done that I would that sin? How many marriages are impacted by pornography? Yet a lot of sex therapists, most sex therapists would encourage you to look at porn to spice up your sex life. No, no, no, no, no. When I went to my post doc work was in sex therapy, I went back to the Institute for Sexual Wholeness in Atlanta. The only place you can get this training from a biblical worldview, from a godly Godly men and women that that went and did some of the other gross training and we're protecting us from having to do that. I'm so thankful for them. Um, that one of the founders doug Rose and I just passed away a few months ago. I just love him, wrote the book celebration of sex, kind of one of the pioneer books in this area. Um kind of giving a biblical view of sexuality, Who you are is not your desires and who you are not your attractions. That's a really important thing for us to remember because if you're not careful even as a married man, it's easy to look around and be attracted? And the word I like to think about there is, and it's laughable. So what do we do instead? We play mind games and we're like, oh, they're not really attractive and we tell ourselves lies, thinking that's gonna protect us. When really what that actually does is I put it into the darkness and into secrecy. I started and we'll talk about this more this afternoon. But I started with my sons, even when I would see see someone see a girl that I know they noticed, I would point her out so that it moves moves out of their unconscious to the conscious and go, we'll talk about her later. And so then later when their car in the car, I'm like, okay, what's your story? You start talking through who she is and why she's a value and why when he, when my son looked and glanced, what did you do with it? Did you file it away for later or were you a man of integrity? These are conversations I was having with them when they were 5678, not teenagers. Now they're teenagers. Now to be blunt. I ask them every few weeks, So what are your masturbation practices? They don't, they're not honest with me anymore. They were before. Um, but we have the little dialogues that are incredible. Just them going, knowing I'm gonna ask this. They've got to kind of have a reckoning there, what does it do? It moves it out of their unconscious to the conscious and they have to take their thoughts captive. What kind of man are you gonna be? What kind of man are you gonna be? This is a constant. We talk about pornography in our house, almost every meal comes up somehow. I remember the day my daughter realized penis vagina, Like we're all sitting at the table, she's she's 11 at the time and her eyes just like got big and it's just like we all bust out laughing And she kind of put that together, why are we even talking about it since she was one and they'll catch on when they as they get older and as they put pieces together. No pun intended. Um and they they wrestle it out and they're either doing it internally or we are creating the environment for them to do it externally Galatians 5 24, those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their simple nature to his cross and crucify them. There. I need to start there sometimes for some of us where do I need to actually what I need to die to what needs work versus what we tend to do, which is distract distract distract, go, go, go, go, go, go, go why we have a self centered bent. I believe that we are incapable of having relationships, Why you think you're right about everything you believe, just to put it simple, you wouldn't believe what you believe if you didn't think it was right? So the only way to be in a relationship is to find an absolute cookie cutter of yourself and then you get canceled out because when there's two of the same, they fade into oblivion. So what did God do? He designed marriage to be between a man and a woman and two very different people who have very different upbringings and different world views and different, which also means the more different you are in other areas, the more struggles you're gonna have and the more similarities, like I used to, I used to jokingly say I'm only gonna marry a southern baptist girl because I grew up southern baptist. Um and then it was funny when I met my wife through this dating service thing, it had under her name, methodist, and I'm like, I'm gonna marry a methodist, methodist, like jolly, she has challenged me and grown me in ways that God is so incredible why she sees the world different, her dad's a pastor and and being able to come into that with her and where was actually a lot of her own trauma was from southern baptist kids in school, telling her she's going to hell because she wasn't southern, like so then she married one, like, okay, so we've got some growing to do God is incredible and even those pieces of how he opens that door for us to come together. We have a self centered bent, which means we can't do relationships. So how do we do him? It's dying to self, it's learning to withhold being right to be in a relationship, which is really, really difficult, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit rather in humility, value others above yourselves. We know these passages, but it's like we get lost in the day to day facebook fights and other craziness and we lose each other, we get really stressed out over money, we get stressed out over, you know, life and drama. When I work with couples, uh work with a lot of couples where kids are either transitioning or something's happening with their teens. The first thing I do is I look at the mom and dad and I'm like, how's your marriage? Because one of the first things that I see is on the chopping block is they're about to divorce because they don't handle it the same. How do you be a unified, even though you're not handling the same and I don't want you to expect the other person to be like you, that's not the goal, but how does your perspective add value to me? And how does mine add it to you and how do we work together? And yes, at times we have to come down to a decision that is gonna be difficult. I'm on the deacon board at our church, one of the most beautiful things that has been, I'm one of the young guys to the most beautiful things about the last 2.5 years. I don't speak almost ever in there. I listen and I learn, but to watch this group of men never leave a meeting without being unified. Has taught me so much, especially as we were wrestling, do we stay open and defy the governor's orders And us going to coming to 100% agreement. We are to be incarnation, we have to be in the body as a body of christ, I think of so many friends of mine and even family who have been lost because of a shutting down and because of other support groups shutting down and it was like if I go here I might die, what if I go here, I might die. And so which one do I do? And many are back in their addiction because they had the lack of support, we have to be incarnation all this is so beautiful to even now be um, be together now. One of the things that feeds into this bent nous is, we actually have language is a really important thing, how we talk about things how we understand. And I actually kind of like this the first time I saw this is the gingerbread person. Um, if you haven't seen it, it's quite fascinating how complicated we are honestly for me from years before, I'm like, I didn't see it as complicated. But as I kind of saw these parts parsed out, I'm like, actually I can see that that we have the identity and attraction and sex and expression. And there's even what I was actually sexually attracted to and also romantically attracted to these different parts actually helped me kind of wrestle with more layers, I guess you could say of myself. I like that at first at first gender identity. This one starts has started to worry me more than ever in the last few years. Actually, I heard a person finally say what I've been thinking for a while and afraid to say sometimes is what we've, what's happened with gender identity is basically, it's given permission for narcissism. It's back to that self centered thing. It's all about me versus God has a design that is perfect. And what do I do with that? How do I wrestle with that? Because it doesn't get rid of the actual wrestling. But if I don't have a foundation to stand on, I'm up to my own devices where I end up and I actually end up somewhere based off culture or based off friends or based off online chat forums are based off anything. But the biblical is why it is important gender expression. When I met my wife, I show up to our, it was our second date, second or third date and I'm wearing my purple suede coat. Love that coat and she's so embarrassed to be in public with me. I didn't know this at one point. She was like, are you hot? I'm like, I am, She's like, I'll be glad to carry your coat for you. I'm like, what a nice girl. And I never saw the coat again. She stuffed it in the bag and hit it. And I remember actually previous relationships where I was like this coat, I'm gonna die in this coat. I love this coat because that identity pieces like this is who I am not realizing. Kind of I was standing on something I didn't really want to stand on but also realizing, you know what? It's actually quite easy to change in our, in our history. What's happened is up until when gay marriage was voted in as legal. Everything. And all the conversations was born this way born this way born this way. Thanks lady gaga. That's what it was. Until two weeks after the vote. It was all about fluidity as we heard last night. It's only validity in one direction. But it's it's scary what we're giving to everyone to wrestle with. I wrestled with who I was. I wrestled with understanding why I wasn't like all the other guys and all that. I did wrestle with that. But I'm not asking questions like are being asked today. That's what this is actually opened up, which is scary, really, really scary, what's doing what it's doing. But it's also this piece here that sexually attracted to versus romantically attracted to? What does that mean? If I if I boil things down to the kind of base level, we have this sexual attraction and that we would eliminate all sorts of people because we're not sexually attracted them. We would have this pool of the kinds of things we're attracted to. And I say things on purpose because they're not people, we turn it into something very animalistic, even versus even romantically attracted to. There's a desire to get to know you their desire to have relationship. There's a desire to even nurture that there's something different there. What's funny for me is I am like this hopeless romantic and I married the most unromantic human being on the planet, man. It's hard to know how to love her. God's up there just laughing. And I do believe that, that he's just going, yeah, and the rest of your life, you get to learn to pursue her and whatever like you would naturally do isn't easy. It's kind of like the love languages. If you've seen the love language is the five love languages, it's interesting to see how many, which is most couples I've seen. You don't have the same ones or if they are the same. They're a different dialect, why it means you gotta work at it. My wife's bottom two at the very bottom or words of affirmation in touch. So what am I talked to, which means like if I put my arm around her at church, she's more like get off. But she puts her arm around me, I melt. But I also know that she consciously chose to do this, going, I know cory will like this, so I'm gonna put my arm around him. It was not an act of kind of out of the unconscious, it was a conscious choice when she complements me and she says something I know that it actually took effort and it was thought through. She's an internal processor. One thing that I missed about like today, normally she would be here with me and at the end of this I will go to her and she'd give me a list of what to fix next for next time. Um Like my power points are the wrong ones. And so I'm kind of going, whoa! Um but she's great at that. But what's the other side of that equation I have to receive. It doesn't always work when we were editing my book. So the first one I wrote, I hired a person that actually I would send stuff to them every week. And the number one rule is don't show any of it to your wife Because she'll shut you down tomorrow, which has happened in the past. So 70,000 words later, I hand it to her and she was like, oh my gosh, this is so bad. She's an english lit person. Everything was in passive voice just don't even know what that means. But in spanish everything is reversed the way that the order of it. So everything I wrote was sounds right to me. But she had literally we had to go sentence by sentence and and I remember at one point just having to go, okay any change he gives me, I just submit to because I'm dumb. It was so humbling and it was good for our marriage. Ironically some of the hard things too when I've been hospitalized were hard but they were good for our marriage. The times when we struggled with kids were hard but they were good for our marriage which is really really important. And how do you lean into growing as a couple now? What this has done with our with our culture, society conversations is you've probably seen these the L. G. B. T. Q. Q I A. Plus letters. It's created a mess when it comes to even what's going on culturally, L. G. B. Is actually fighting against T. Right now. I don't want to be a part of that. The experiments you're doing on Children are not okay. There's some that are saying that and hopefully more and more voices will come. It's interesting to think about that sexual identity is. And attractions are coming back to that word bad data, careful where we place these things because what we've done cultural is we've put those front and center as my identity and who I am and in that I lose actually who I am. The marriage is between two sexually different people period. And that's the design from the beginning and where are we at now? We're in the disordered space. We're in the sin space. What is every man or woman, boy or girl who's actually struggling with their gender identity or struggling with gender dysphoria or trying to figure themselves out if they want to be seen, they want to be known and they want to belong. What's really scary about that belonged one is there's now pushes in some schools being gay or lesbian is so old school and so outdated. It's all about trans. That is horrifying. Where is it gonna go next? What's gonna happen next? Now one of the tools that I use to think through and help someone think through where they're at and who they are and how complicated this applies to every one of us in this room is actually this one right here. These six things are parts of who you are. You have your intention, you have your biological sex, you have your gender identity, how you see yourself their persistence and direction, attraction, volition, your behavior and then your value values, your values of framework. If you think of a pie chart, you would make these parts of the pie different sizes based off how much of these, what mattered more and what mattered less. It's neat to think about that because if you did this now and you did this even a few months from now it would change, it would morph it would, it's not kind of set in stone because it's actually very subjective. But when you start thinking about that, you realize for some people for some teens especially they realize you know, their values are actually pretty strong. That keeps them where they're at or their biological sex is even though they feel and how these other parts of themselves and the goal of this is to kind of make it a little more complicated if you will. But at the same time kind of actually pull back a little so you can kind of see it from a different lens and realize I choose who I am, what do I do, who I who I hang out with, how I present myself all of it. That values peace. Am I standing on a biblical foundation? Yes or no. Am I choosing to honor you Lord? Or am I choosing actually a very different god if you will. And I haven't heard very many people speak this way or talk this way, but it is exactly that. And and I'm gonna kind of pit them against each other for a second. If we're not careful, it's either or I am choosing you Lord or I am choosing this as my God I think if you think of it that way, it changes a lot of our conversations because what we're also hearing and some of the conversations and different books and authors is it's also about, well you can be gay christian and then there's a fight about no, you can't use the words gay christian. All these different side a side b all these different kinds of conversations which is for for most of us were kind of going, well you lost me back there For the person in the middle of it. No, they're wrestling and trying to figure themselves out. Go to Facebook and click on gender. I think they're in the 90s now there's 90 something gender options. I can't tell you what 90% of them are. Um, but even if you pick the same word and pull four people that would say that's them, they would give you different definitions. So it's not about that, It's about you and I are trying to wrestle with who am I? We've always been that way by the way that's ever since sin into the world. We're trying to wrestle with who am I. And I think this is actually a really important tool now going back to the gender red person gender identity is a piece of the whole how I see myself is it congruent with my biological sex. Now the research kind of shows this is becoming those that identify as queer or basically non binary is growing by leaps and bounds in our culture. And many of the researchers are even saying it's very much more all around the social contagion piece. And what do you do with that? Actually to me? Great, that's good data. That doesn't tell me how to help, how to love, how to lead, how to guide. Um, some families that I know have actually shut off the internet to the house and they have locked things down, but that's only worked and the ones that I know where the child or the team has been like, I'm hurting and I help and I want you to do this for me. That's where I've seen beautiful things happen. What if they don't want to, I've seen this with husbands and wives even and grown grown siblings where they're wrestling and they're hurting and they're asking questions well, think about this term or this this um phrase, sex is sex is my right. So the conclusion here is that the authority of that, of that of their own experience or intuition. So my foundation of who I am or what I what I um identify as is up to me, which right there, I already kind of go, I don't trust myself on most most things, my emotions especially. So we're already in trouble. But then we have these parts that were supposed to show up separately. But sorry, God has made me and therefore made the desires I have is that foundational, everything God makes is good and therefore my desires are good and then good desires deserve to be and even ought to be fulfilled. It's just scary to think about some of the belief systems that are out there that are actually pushing for claimant grab on, this is who you are now. For me growing up, even the idea of that I'm male was understood understandable. That was not a question, but the working of that out is very difficult for some of us for lots of us. What is the biggest factor there comparison? Uh, Apple, the Apple products added the, the uh screen time feature a few years ago, shareholders of Apple demanded that they do that for one specific purpose. Girls are killing themselves at a higher rate because of social media, that was the purpose. Why did they not say guys too? Because they're doing other stuff which we're gonna talk about a minute. Girls are killing themselves, this is scary what's happening. And us as parents and we talk about this morning this afternoon, us as parents if we're not careful, were left in the dust at what they're facing because a lot of this is the kind of stuff that they believe now part of our job is to help them articulate it at times. So we're having to help wrestle through some of that, help them articulate it. Others have it very well articulated and we're left kind of mouth open and not sure what to do here are the messages that they're receiving from their friends. It used to be tolerance, then it became acceptance. Then celebration. Now it's participation. Think about that. Think about culturally we're at it's not tolerance anymore. That's actually so not even that, that's still seen as subpar. It's even not acceptance. And even celebration is not good enough. And then what do you do as a parent or a sibling of someone who's saying, well, you don't love me. We need to be careful about even how that has been hijacked the term love because the definition of love is kind of where we're gonna end up look at today because loving someone is very different than just accepting whatever they are, whatever they're doing or whoever they are. If we're actually sticking to a biblical view of that. Another quote from Preston Sprinkle, he said we need to create safe spaces where young people can open up, be heard receive godly wisdom and learn about God's expensive vision for what it means to be male and female. Where should that be our homes and our churches. Our church is actually meant to be on the front lines of some of these kinds of places and it should be also also be one of the safest places to come wrestle. But if you think of what culture and others are saying. Um Another study was, was that three of people that that leave the church left because of the theology, 97% of those that left the church left because they felt absolutely unloved and unheard and unaccepted as a person, not because of lifestyle stuff. We've made it and others have made it all about the theology. So we need to change our theology. No, we need to stand on a biblical foundation of truth unapologetically but also not with a big huge bible that were hitting people with a place where people can wrestle and ask questions. Um and not be okay. At first I was at a church one time that just visiting and the associate pastor was preaching and he made the comment. Everyone should be a part of celebrate recovery and I wanted to jump up and go, you there's something true about it. Why celebrate recovery isn't about once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Kind of like a it's a let's look at the beatitudes. Who am I to be in christ. He is a very different lens where you can have a table of an alcoholic and a mother dealing with our team and someone whose spouse just left all at the same table because you're not focused on your problem or where you're stuck. We're focused on who you are in christ very different. Do I still need some space to probably work those other pieces out. Yes. Do I sometimes need some serious help. Yes. But um yeah, we need community to get to as well. People of faith who navigate gender identity issues are our people, these are our sons or daughters are best friends. Sometimes our moms, our dads, but where we're going and our culture is kind of scary what's happening with our teenagers and the questions about who I am, something I want you to hear. I'm just gonna kind of plant the seed right now to kind of think about. I spent the last summer wrestling through nancy Pierce's book, loved my body. Really important work. I've read it over and over and over and over the summer. I read it a while back. Um, probably best protestant look at the theology of the body, which the only other one I know of is um, Christopher West wrote it. But from john paul, the second's teachings incredible. Beautiful, redemptive. But she finally helped me see where, how did we get here? And it's this split and it's a split between human, human being human and being a person. How do we get away with abortion? Well, it's a human, but it's not a person where the ethics is saying, well, there'll be a person when I say they are. And some ethicists are saying, by the way, that's around age 12 when they can do algebra. What are the implications there that if you're not a person I can offer you, I can end you, I can kill you. Well that just goes for abortion. It goes for infanticide, which is we're gonna start wrestling and fighting within our culture more than ever. It starts with euthanasia or continue with euthanasia. Or if you are downs or if you are, um, any kind of mental incapacity. But it goes into gender identity and it goes into homosexuality and it goes into um, transgender as well. But how do we end up accepting is when we actually make a duality out of it? There's something my body is a piece of material. It's expendable from the person. How do I have sex with whoever I want to have sex with? And I'm actually living the lie of culture of my body is expendable and we see the research actually shows how many do it and try to and it's empty on the sex part with anyone. How many of those that have transitioned are de transitioning. What I want to start seeing is more lawsuits to these doctors and counselors sue the life out of them. That's to me the next step because it is utter abuse. That's where we're at this duality. If we're not careful, what scares me is you and I actually have elements of belief in this most likely why? Because my body is sinful. We talked about this in the church. And so the body is almost of the devil and then my spirit is of God. So we start talking this way in church and we're careful. We've just done the exact same split that has led to our culture accepting all these things that are absolutely not okay. When I start putting that together, my mind goes okay, I can start understanding why if someone believes what they believe, but we need to put this back together as a whole. Well, here's the coolest part think of when scripture, I think of when Christianity entered the picture in history, Christianity entered the picture in history at a time when men especially you had your wife, she was to make a baby babies with that our boys to carry on the name. That was it. And then you had sex with your concubines and with your slaves, male and female. What did the bible come and do? What does Christianity come and do it. Come came and said, husbands love your wives as christ loved the church Christianity came in and raised the bar in a society that was more debased than we are now. Or maybe we're kind of close to it. Where's the answer? Here is Christianity. Where is the answer? It's christ Where's the answer? It's jesus, where's the answer? It's surrender to all these things. I don't know about you? I start getting kind of excited because we live in a time where we're gonna see jesus work if you haven't already. I have in my own life over and over and over and over and over. Have you heard of the maps this is the new term that we have to learn now. And I guess the letters will be added at some point. Minor attracted person. It's called pedophile, but we can't say that because that's too mean. We have to find they found a term that's acceptable. That can be palatable because it needs to be part of that protected class. This is where

Speak Your Mind co-hosts Riley Sheahan and Tyler Smith went to Seattle, WA for a live recording of a podcast episode in front of the Premera Health team. Joining Riley and Tyler on the panel were two Premera employees and Richard Taylor Jr., a former star athlete and now incredible advocate for mental health. The group had a very deep and vulnerable conversation about each other's own personal experiences with mental health and the lessons they learned. Subscribe to our podcast episode channel to not miss an episode! Then head to TorchPro.com for more mental health content in sports.

Welcome to Cannabis Daily - Your daily guide to cannabis news, industry trends and trade ideas in under 5 mins.Episode Summary:More than 50 % of Americans don't believe President Biden will get anything done for the Cannabis industry in 2022.Stocks Talked About In The Episode:Trulieve Cannabis(OTCQX:TCNNF)22nd Century Group(NASDAQ:XXII)Elliot's Stocks To Watch For The Day:Glass House Brands(OTC: GHBWF)(Mystic Holdings Inc OTC: MSTH)Goodness Growth Holdings(OTCQX: GDNSF)Hosted & Produced By:Elliot LaneAaron Thomas Contact us at: cannabishour@benzinga.comFollow Benzinga Cannabis On Social MediaInstagramTwitterYouTubeLinkedInSubscribe to all Benzinga Podcasts at https://www.benzinga.com/podcastsSubscribe to the Cannabis Insider Newsletter to get more cannabis news and trending links delivered to your inbox.Tune in weekly to Cannabis Hour at 4 pm ET every Thursday for Cannabis News & Executive Interviews at bzcannabishour.comHit us up at https://www.benzinga.com/cannabis/ for more news today, tomorrow, and everyday.Access All The Cannabis Daily Episodes HereFor Top Gainers & Losers Cannabis stocks of the day check out https://www.benzinga.com/cannabis/stocksNOT FINANCIAL ADVICEThe Information Contained on this Podcast is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, financial adviceUnedited Transcript:Good morning, my friends. Welcome to your field. Good Friday episode of cannabis daily. This is Elliot lane, your host as always with my good friend, Aaron Thomas who's producing and we'll join as he always does on Friday to give us some more interesting bits of news about cannabis culture, but super excited to be here.It's been a great week, been a lot of legislative news this week, but a lot of stock news this week, and it's not slowing down. Today for all those who are new to the show this show brings you stock insights and news on the cannabis space and tells you what might be worth keeping on your watch list to look for an investment opportunity and, or not.So let's dive right in mystic, holding. This is a Nevada operator, a company that has pretty strong footprint in Las Vegas. They list on the OTC Q X upgrading from the pink markets with ticker, M S T H. I love this management team. They are filled with lawyers they're filled with just people who know compliance, know the space. They have really cool branding. Qual can  is part of their brand. If you know them in the Nevada area, They are a strong company that I think could challenge the likes of 1933 that could challenge the likes of flower one. So keep them on your watch. Let's keep an eye on the Nevada market.There's some super interesting players there. And of course I didn't even mention planet 13. So Nevada obviously becoming a battleground pretty quick. Private companies some news there, solar therapeutics, which you wouldn't think was a cannabis company based off its name launches, a paleo and the vegan artisinal chocolates and edibles line in Massachusetts.This is edibles B Y K Y or. Becky, I don't know, but very cool news there. This is the first of its kind, apparently in the state pharma can the largest private MSO, if I'm not mistaken, currently issued 12% senior secured notes due in 2025. And they raised around 39 and a half. Million dollars off of that.So pharma can being your largest private MSO, or for those of you who may not be aware that as a multi-state operator companies who are operating in multiple states as cannabis growers and distributors. Plus products, files, sanction order with the Supreme court of British Columbia to approve transaction.In combination with glass house brands, that's OTC listed G L a S F a strong California company. There most likely a very strong MSO when it's all said and done. But I love this acquisition by glass house brands and plus products obviously does as well. Rhode Island, governor includes marijuana, legalization and expungements in the budget requests.So another state looking to move forward here, we've touched on South Carolina. We've touched on Mississippi making moves and now Rhode Island this week, also looking to make its move Premera. Want a moment? Precedent and Biden's promises for the marijuana industry remained vastly unfulfilled and Americans by more than half. Do not believe he will get anything done for the industry in 2022. So obviously we don't want that to be the case. We want the marijuana industry to move forward. But it is worth noting what is happening, what is not happening and safe banking through the sentence, or one of the bills that is currently in the, in that the house of representatives and or Senate will most likely move before the.It takes any action, Kevin, what he's done to date harvest health, and truly celebrating one year anniversary of recreational sales in Arizona with in-store activations and product specials and celebration. So that's pretty cool. It's truly TFC in F biggest M and a, I believe to date with their harvest health acquisition expanded them into the state of Arizona and they are celebrating the Arizona sales, which.Relatively massive since Arizona came online and last but not least 22nd century XXI appoints James mish to the board of directors. He is the president and CEO of the company. XXI is a very cool company that towed the line between cannabis and tobacco. So with that being said, that's some stock news for ya.I would keep glass house brands, Glasshouse group on your watch list. I love that acquisition when it closes. I think it's going to be big news in personally for me MSDH or mystic holdings is definitely worth a look. Nevada is a very interesting state that I think hasn't been nearly fully tapped yet. So I, I.What they're doing, and I love that. They're ready to go to war down there. Aaron, get your butt over here and tell me something. I don't know about cannabis. What's up Elliot. How's it going? Zinger. Nation. Happy Friday. We are back at it again. Whoo. Yeah, let's go. We are excited. Yeah. All right, let's get right into it. So first up New Mexico ups cannabis production limits as adult use sales loom. New Mexico sales are about to expand with adult use legalization. So to prepare cannabis production is working to keep up less than three months before legal sales of recreational cannabis begin in New Mexico state regulators have increased production limits placed on adult use cannabis cultivators under emergency regulations that went into effect last week.Most licensed cannabis producers will be permitted to grow twice as many plants as previously. Which is very great news, right? Let's see. Yes. Just to bring it back to  the stock industry and, or the stock market, part of the cannabis industry, I should say, not the stock industry. But to bring it back to that the company is, I think of our goodness growth. G D N S F a is a strong. Decently medically based operator in the states, but used to be a considered top 10 MSO, they have fallen off a little bit, but they're still there. They're still fighting. And in states like New Mexico and Minnesota, and I think this is big news for somebody like them. This is cool though. However, isn't it like 70 days away? Yeah, it's right around the corner for New Mexico. They said that the that the. Provision. So like the limits are a set till July so that they have the Capitol. Nice. The reason I ask is I don't think that's enough time for a full harvest.So I would imagine if you're trying to prepare for recreational sales, there might be an issue in products once that launches, but I know New Mexico is not an incredibly populous state comparatively to other markets like California. And  some of the larger markets out there right now, but just something to keep an eye on and something I think we covered before.In the sense that I think some people feel like there might be a product shortage because they did this so late in the game. However, it is still good news, especially for the companies growing in that state. Totally a great news for New Mexico, a men, another state jumping on board. We've been talking about it all week.Aaron, what else we got my friend. Let's go. So three. C H I blazes into a 2022 partnership with NASCAR racing. So 3 8, 3 Chi and NASCAR teaming up for a first of its kind partnership between the hemp company and racing brand. The world is the world of cannabis has shifted. Again. Social media has lit up with memes and cannabis fans, collectively rejoice.So ever since the company first pioneer Delta eight three Chi has been a company focused on THC innovation with hemp based consumer products. Now raising the bar, the company has teamed up for groundbreaking partnership with Richard Childress racing. Tyler Reddick, the driver and number eight NASCAR cup series team.22. This is a significant partnership for both organizations as it marks the first category specific team partnership in NASCAR and first hemp-based consumer brand sponsorship across all major professional sports. It's a big step for NASCAR and a huge step for the THC industry. I have questions. Specifically, this is awesome so start there congrats to three Chi.Super cool. This is this the first I feel like I faintly remember him fusion doing this. A while ago like a year and a half ago, but I don't know if it was in the U S so maybe that's the distinction. Okay. However, I'm not trying to take away from three Chi and in the marketing here, I think this is super cool and NASCAR is huge.So I don't think infusion did it in NASCAR. I think it was like F1, not F1 some  it was some sort of race car. I thought that they did it on a. But I could be wrong, but I will. You know what guys, I will come back to you on Monday with whether or not that happened. I'm relatively positive that you're going to have to fact check yours, check yourself relatively positive.That him fusion that has done that. But that being said very cool news for three C H I a. Yeah. I would also point to Philo and we sign up that just did it as well. It seems to be a new way for cannabis companies to put themselves on the level of other major CPG brands of other major just B to C focused companies. And just just worth noting. I think for the industry that these companies are ready to be mainstream or they feel. Yeah, and three Chi is the main sponsor of the car. Their logo is very apparent on the NASCAR itself and our NASCAR race car itself. So this is, this could open up many different sponsorship opportunities for other cannabis companies.So let's see.  We'll throw it to the audience out there. What do you think is the next cannabis company to appear on your favorite teams, Jersey, your neck, your favorite teams, a sports car. What have you let us. It's going to be one with a big marketing budget. And honestly, we haven't seen a lot of those in this industry to date.  I will honestly be very interested to hear what our audience has to say. Three Chi though. I don't want to take away. I was just for some reason thinking that this wasn't the first, however, it could be the first for a major us sport. Which is fantastic. Awesome news there, man. Anything else you want to close us out with one last?News items. So cannabis companies target teens on social media, a study clamps. So a new study with a modest sampling pool found that cannabis retail companies are not adhering to state restrictions on social media and are targeting teens. The study was published in the journal of studies on alcohol and drugs recently on.On January 19th and found that many recreational cannabis companies market their products in a way that appeals to children and teens, flouting, state regulations, or flouting state regulations once Staley's flouting state regulations. But what state are you just like? Just general state regulations.So say, okay, not a specific state.  Content analysis of cannabis company adherence to marketing requirements and four states provided. So that was a mouthful. I did an analysis of social media posts from cannabis companies and a handful of legal states. A team of researchers evaluated one year of publicly displayed posts on Facebook and Instagram by retail cannabis companies in four states, Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, and evaluated.If companies adhere to restrictions on social.  Keep reading on, keep going on the, they go on to say that a lot of these marketing ploys by in these states definitely did not follow the state regulations. They were not including  their age restriction, labels or warnings.  They weren't properly labeling their posts. There were more. Hey, here's some, here's our cannabis marketing. It's open to everybody.  You got to follow regulations and unfortunately in cannabis, even more so than other industries  it's an unfortunate thing that you have to digest when you work in the cannabis space is that you are held to a different standard than a lot of other industries. And. That standard can be ridiculous sometimes in California, they don't let you, they don't let you have billboards as cannabis companies because they feel like you're targeting teens with that. Yeah. I would love to see all the lists of ways that this is effective for teens.In their marketing, but that being said, there are regulations for a reason and whether we like them or not, you, the only way for the industry to move forward is for companies to be compliant. So that's unfortunate. And I hope some of these companies. You move forward intelligently. Now it would be curious to know which ones they were slash if they were all in the licit market or if some were in the gray market, definitely would like to know that, but that might be a study for another day.Yes, sir. Awesome. Aaron, good news today, man. Appreciate you jumping in everybody. This is. Daily Thank you for checking us out. We bring you stock knows every Friday we chat about what's going on around the industry, outside of the markets, but this is meant to bring you some interesting cannabis information.Let us know what you think, and review us.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/cannabis-daily/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Co-host Alexandra Archer interviews Steven Carleton, the Vice President of Customer Experience at Premera Blue Cross, on how he is approaching the overall customer experience in the medical insurance industry. Steven has been working hard to improve the user experience at every level, and he's in the middle of developing a company culture that is accepting of “not always knowing the answers.” Coming from a tech background, Steven is excited for the new opportunities and challenges ahead. Find out more in this week's episode.What You'll Learn:The difference between working in a tech environment vs. medical insurance.How to create a company culture that's open and curious.A bigger overview of some of the missing pieces in customer experience, and how to bridge that gap.Employee engagement and why a purpose-driven approach matters.Key Takeaways:What lessons has Steven brought from working in tech to healthcare? [2:20]Steven wants to create a culture where it's okay to not know all the answers. It's okay to ask others for help, and to source new information from outside sources. [3:35]How has member feedback helped transform Premera? [5:30]Steven shares how he is currently measuring the success of incorporating new member feedback and where he sees the company going in the future. [8:20]Steven shares his approach on how he plans to expand this model beyond his direct members to satisfy users and employers. [13:25]Right now, Steven has identified key gaps where he can improve the customer experience and he's working diligently to close those gaps so that everyone involved, from the insurance broker to the provider, has a good experience. [15:45]How does Steven plan to turn traditional systems and processes into a purpose-driven endeavor? [20:00]It's important that Steven's employees are engaged and aware of their impact on this industry. If you don't have engaged people, everything falls apart. [24:00]Continue on Your Journey:Medallia.comPremera.comSteven on LinkedIn

Good Morning it's Saturday August 7th,, and this is The Wenatchee World's newest podcast, Slices of Wenatchee. We're excited to bring you a closer look at one of our top stories and other announcements every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.    Today - The city of East Wenatchee is in good financial shape, according to its latest financial report. According to the presentation to the City Council earlier this week, the city's cash balances for all funds at the end of June were at $11.2 million.   Before we jump in, we're excited to let you know that Wenatchee Wine & Food Fest is back this year on August 28th at the Town Toyota Center! Ticket holders will get a chance to sample small pours of amazing local wines, local ciders and beers… and of course, enjoy tasty bites from area restaurants and caterers.   Make sure to get tickets in advance! We'll see you there!   Now our feature story...   The city of East Wenatchee is in good financial shape, according to its latest financial report.   The report, which compares revenue and expenditures from June 2021 to June 2020, paints a positive picture of the city's finances.   East Wenatchee Finance Director Josh DeLay said that they're in a great financial position. It'll allow Wenatchee to continue to upgrade and modernize city infrastructure.    DeLay noted that people can expect to see increases in expenditures in the next few years for these upgrades, but these are all planned and that's the reason why cities build up their fund balances.   During a presentation of the financial report to the City Council on Tuesday night, DeLay said the city's cash balances for all funds at the end of June were at $11.2 million.   He explained that he doesn't think the city has ever been over $10 million.    A lot of that increase is thanks to $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds, but tax revenues have also contributed.   So in all, DeLay had a positive outlook on tax revenues during his City Council presentation.   He said sales tax is up 24.1% from last year, which is incredible. The numbers are just rolling in.   Gambling taxes are also up - 104% from last year.    Revenue from operating funds is up 59% compared to June 2020 and non-operation funds increased by 38%.    The revenue increase is more than just recovery from the pandemic. Operating funds revenue in June 2020 also increased from the previous year. Non-operating funds revenue did too - it rose by a whopping 722.42%.   DeLay said the increases are a combination of what appears to be a recovery from the pandemic, federal dollars received for the American Rescue Plan and a limited tax general obligation bond the city took out for capital purchases and improvements.   To read more on this story visit us at wenatcheeworld.com   Also,    Local artist Dan McConnell will have an exhibit displayed in the Pybus Market Board Room through August. So check it out!   The show, which is called Images in Grids, pulls together a variety of topics, dating back to watercolor paintings that McConnell painted in the 1970s. The show's name references McConnell's process when he was fresh out of college and would paint with watercolors and draw using an underlayment of gridded pencil drawings. Several of the pieces of art in the exhibit were created with this method.   Among the art pieces on display are Giclee prints, graphic novel page prints and original watercolors as well as original graphic novel pages.   McConnell will also have several bowls that depict presidents as caricatures.   The show will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.   Before we continue, a special thanks to our friends and sponsors at Confluence Health. The team at Confluence Health is grateful for the trust the community puts in them every single day. They are diligently working to improve the health and quality of life for our friends and neighbors. They are Grateful | They are Confluence Health.  Learn more by visiting them at ConfluenceHealth.com   Next,    Over 36,000 patients with Premera Blue Cross health insurance will be considered out-of-network with Confluence Health in February of 2022… that is unless the two sides settle a price dispute before then.   Confluence Health began negotiations back in April by informing Premera that they would not renew their contract. Why? Because of disagreements about Premera's pay rate.   Dr. Peter Rutherford, Confluence Health CEO explained that Health insurance contracts typically last between two to three years. And after months of negotiations, there was no real progress.   But David Condon, Premera vice president of Eastern Washington, doesn't believe that negotiations are at an impasse.   He said that they still have quite a ways on the runway, and they really do believe that they can come to an agreement. They want Confluence to come back to the table - it's in the best interest of members and for the community.   Still, Confluence Health says the issue is that Premera refuses to a pay rate consistent with other commercial insurance payers in the market.   For now, Confluence Health is not allowed to discuss any details of the contract, but Premera is the outlier among the many commercial insurers Confluence Health works with.   What we do know is that in 2020, Premera paid Confluence Health $167 million in claims, up from $160 million in 2019. The increase is attributed to rising hospital costs.   And if Confluence Health does not renew the contract, more than 36,000 patients across North Central Washington will be “out-of-network” which could mean higher deductibles and other fees for patients.   These Premera-affiliated health insurance providers will also be “out-of-network” or affected in some way starting in February of 2022…. LifeWise, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Regence Blue Shield, and Uniform Medical Plan.   Read our full story on this at wenatcheeworld.com   Now, some history…   Did you know the three lakes golf course was proposed in 1951? The course went through a number of fundraising efforts to put together the money needed to hit the links including a land donation from Harold Weed, a non-profit stock offering for $25,000, and a charity tournament with Bing Crosby and US amateur champion, Jack Westland. Originally only 9 holes and relying on volunteer labor, the early players had to go around twice to complete a full round.   Thanks for listening. Today's episode is brought to you by Equilus Group, Inc- Building Your Financial Success. Learn more at Equilusfinancial.com   The Wenatchee World has been engaging, informing and inspiring North Central Washington Communities since 1905. We encourage you to subscribe today to keep your heart and mind connected to what matters most in North Central Washington. Thank you for starting your morning with us and don't forget to tune in again on Tuesday! Support the show: https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/site/forms/subscription_services/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were too lazy to come up with our own healthcare predictions for 2021, so we invited Bob Kocher, MD (Partner, Venrock) onto the show to discuss his Fortune magazine article, “10 Non-COVID Predictions for 2021.” Will Medicare go all-in on virtual care? Will Amazon's pharmacy gain traction? Tune in to find out!About Bob Kocher, MD: Bob Kocher, MD is a Partner at Venrock and focuses on healthcare IT and services investments. He currently serves on the Boards of Virta Health, Aledade, Renew Health and Lyra Health as well as Devoted Health, both of which he also co-founded, and the Blue Cross insurance company Premera. He is a Board Observer at Grand Rounds, Stride, Doctor on Demand, and Suki. He is formerly a Director at Jiff and Castlight Health (CSLT).Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and a Senior Fellow and Advisory Board Member at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC. He serves on the Advisory Boards of Harvard Medical School Health Care Policy Department and National Institute of Healthcare Management (NIHCM). He is also a member of the Health Affairs Editorial Board.Prior to Venrock, Bob served in the Obama Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Healthcare and Economic Policy on the National Economic Council. In the Obama Administration, Bob was one of the shapers of the Affordable Care Act focusing on cost, quality, and delivery system reform and health IT policy. He was one of the leaders of the First Lady's “Let's Move” childhood obesity initiative, led the formation of the Partnership for a Healthier America, and served on the Federal Advisory Panel charged with developing a national obesity strategy. He also co-founded the Health Data Initiative with Todd Park, a joint effort of HHS and the Institute of Medicine, to release healthcare data to spur private sector innovation to improve healthcare cost and quality.  For five years, he served as Co-Chair of the Health Datapalooza.Before the White House, Bob was a Partner at McKinsey & Company where he led McKinsey Global Institute's healthcare economics work. He has worked widely across the US and international healthcare systems to improve regulatory policy, economic performance, labor productivity, clinical outcomes, and patient experience.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uCBsKA7jtKE#venrock #2021 #medicare #virtualhealth #homehealthcare #caretalk #carecentrix 

In this episode, we interview Matthew Neidich, Director of Product Implementation and Partnerships at Premera Blue Cross. Matthew covers Premera's goal to improve healthcare and leverage technology to solve problems and create convenient and cost-effective solutions. He discusses Premera's latest product, which provides a hundred percent free on-demand primary care 24/7 365 days anywhere in the country. Matthew shares insights on having a North Start, looking for opportunities to serve customers better, overcoming the mainstream mindset especially for innovators, and more. This has been a fascinating interview, so please tune in. Click this link for the show notes, transcript, and resources: outcomesrocket.health

The CyberPHIx Roundup is your quick source for keeping up with the latest cybersecurity news, trends and industry leading practices, specifically for the healthcare industry. In this episode, our host Brian Selfridge highlights the following topics trending in healthcare cybersecurity this week: Mega fines and legal costs totaling more than $270m related to two breaches for health insurers Premera and Anthem. We break down the details behind the OCR penalties, state fines, and class action lawsuits. NIST releases the new NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, the first overhaul of NIST 800-53 in over seven years. We discuss the major changes to the standard and its implications for healthcare entities. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) warns that it may begin to issue fines for organizations that facilitate payment to ransomware attackers. We discuss the difficult position healthcare providers face between patient safety and potential federal fines. Highlights from the ransomware breach of Universal Health Services this week that may impact its over 400 locations.

Suzanne Delbanco chats with Rick Abbott, VP of Product and Market Solutions at Premera Blue Cross. Premera Blue Cross is a health plan in the Pacific Northwest, serving about 2.2 million members with customers ranging from large tech companies to family-owned grocery stores. Suzanne and Rick discuss if narrow networks, also known as high-performance networks, represent a viable way to lower prices in the employer-sponsored health insurance market. Historically, employers have demanded broad access PPO networks that include the vast majority of providers and hospitals in their region. This trend has somewhat impeded health plans from using their volume to negotiate steeper discounts from providers. Rick describes how creating narrow networks based on provider quality provides a real opportunity to lower costs by both reducing wasteful spending on unnecessary or harmful care and by negotiating discounts from higher-quality providers in exchange for higher volumes of patients. Suzanne and Rick also discuss the opportunities and obstacles for employers interested in pursuing alternatives to the incumbent health plans, like alternative third party administrators or group purchasing initiatives. Rick points to Premera’s 85-year history as an important value-add for customers, allowing the health plan to implement strategic initiatives at scale. For instance, Premera Blue Cross recently launched a “virtual-first” health plan that allows members to designate a virtual network of providers as their primary care providers.

Headquartered in Washington state, Premera Blue Cross provides innovative wellness and prevention, disease management, and patient safety programs for approximately 2 million people. To stay on top of evolving healthcare trends, Premera needed to modernize an 83-year-old workplace culture and employees had begun adopting Microsoft 365 virtual collaboration tools when COVID-19 triggered a pivot to remote work.  Jared Spataro talks with JT Perry, VP of Business Transformation at Premera Blue Cross, to talk about taking care of members and employees in a crisis. Find out more about Premera Blue Cross on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Click here for transcript of this episode. Watch the video: Microsoft Fireside Chat | Premera Blue Cross Modern Workplace links: Microsoft Together Microsoft Teams Blog Microsoft 365 blog Microsoft Tech Community COVID-19 Business Resource Center Learn more about Modern Workplace Start your digital transformation now The Future of Work Explore tech for the modern workplace Listen and Subscribe to Modern Workplace at http://modernworkplace.mpsn.libsynpro.com/ Listen and subscribe to other Microsoft podcasts at aka.ms/microsoft/podcasts

Do you have ideas on how to make Alaska healthcare costs lower and more efficient? If so, Halle Showalter Salas would love to hear from you. Halle's role is to identify opportunities that reduce the friction and barriers that plague the healthcare system. Technology advancements in machine learning, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, data integration and cloud services have accelerated these kinds of disruption in healthcare, and Premera is leaning in to this, experimenting with innovative care delivery There is a long way to go to make healthcare work better, but Halle Showater Salas ise committed to making this happen. We join her on stage during the Health care track. See the presentation Learn more at www.accelerateak.com & www.acceleratearctic.com  

The 2109 Industrious at Premera Blue Cross program launches May 1st at Mountlake Terrace, Bothell and Spokane campuses. This year there are multiple class times for Industrious 30 plus an evening yoga class as well.All the details on who the program is for, what you can expect to get out of it and how to register for Premera employees is covered in this episode of Industrious Radio.

Can fitness really impact all aspects of your life? Find out how Elaine has grown since taking the leap to try an Industrious workout at Premera. She shares her powerful story of overcoming doubt, pushing herself harder and how fitness has impacted her personally and professionally.

Neal Sofian Neal Sofian leads a company that builds conversation bots for the health-care industry. Using algorithms, machine learning, and contextual storytelling, they create complex, customized content on the fly to help people change their health behavior. Neal and I talked about: conversational AI and how conversation bots can create conversations and build relationships how technology that permits the creation of unique compelling content helps people change their behavior their "Mad Libs" model for creating conversational content on the fly the differences between machine learning and AI and how natural language processing relates to these technologies how his background in public health leads to a people-first, behavior-first approach to the tech solutions he works on how establishing conversational context - with concepts like the "vulnerability index," like information about relationships, etc. - drives the tone of the content they deliver the importance of starting conversations by asking questions how his service adds an "engagement layer," making them the concierge that helps you find the info you need to solve your problem - smoking cessation, for example how they protect the privacy of users by giving control of their information to the consumer how some medical content has been diluted by focusing on compliance with HIPAA and other standards, which reduces opportunities to create interesting, compelling content Jamie, their gender-fluid bot whose personality can be programmed to be like your mom, a drill sergeant, coach, mentor, BFF, and whose vocabulary, patience, and how other voice and style choices can be customized for the context how establishing context enables content creators to use vocabulary and deliver content that is appropriate for the exact situation the reader is in how writing to one generic reading level is a relic of old mass communication - now we have "segments of one" with the customization that is possible how storytelling with a narrative customized to the user's needs is superior to generic advice like, "You need to exercise. Here's why." how the conversation itself provides the permission mechanism they need to include third-party information in the profiles from which they derive the context of the conversation the ongoing need for good writers to create compelling content for their "Mad Libs" how to go from "pushing information to creating a conversation and a relationship" "Always start with people." Neal's Bio Neal Sofian is the CEO of tuzag, Inc., a digital, conversational AI health company that has built an "infinite" tailored-content & engagement platform, using conversational AI to drive exponentially greater consumer behavior change. Previously Neal was the Director of Member Engagement at Premera Blue Cross where he was responsible for development strategies to engage the 2.2 million members of Premera in reaching their optimal health. Neal is a noted author and speaker and continues to be acknowledged as one of the true innovators in the world of health behavior change., and the role of personalization and social networking. Neal holds a master's degree in public health from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. He is also a working potter/sculpture and has done stand-up comedy in a vaudeville show. Video Here's the video version of our conversation: https://youtu.be/prCO94A9PMg Transcript Larry: Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 39 of the Content Strategy Insights podcast. I'm really happy today to have with us Neal Sofian. Neal is the CEO of Tuzag, which is a really interesting company that helps folks do behavior change in the healthcare field. One of the online ... I think the website says they do hyper-personalized content and interactive storytelling to promote health. Is that accurate, Neal? Neal: Yeah, I think it might grow a little bit. You'd almost say now,

Neal Sofian Neal Sofian leads a company that builds conversation bots for the health-care industry. Using algorithms, machine learning, and contextual storytelling, they create complex, customized content on the fly to help people change their health behavior. Neal and I talked about: conversational AI and how conversation bots can create conversations and build relationships how technology that permits the creation of unique compelling content helps people change their behavior their "Mad Libs" model for creating conversational content on the fly the differences between machine learning and AI and how natural language processing relates to these technologies how his background in public health leads to a people-first, behavior-first approach to the tech solutions he works on how establishing conversational context - with concepts like the "vulnerability index," like information about relationships, etc. - drives the tone of the content they deliver the importance of starting conversations by asking questions how his service adds an "engagement layer," making them the concierge that helps you find the info you need to solve your problem - smoking cessation, for example how they protect the privacy of users by giving control of their information to the consumer how some medical content has been diluted by focusing on compliance with HIPAA and other standards, which reduces opportunities to create interesting, compelling content Jamie, their gender-fluid bot whose personality can be programmed to be like your mom, a drill sergeant, coach, mentor, BFF, and whose vocabulary, patience, and how other voice and style choices can be customized for the context how establishing context enables content creators to use vocabulary and deliver content that is appropriate for the exact situation the reader is in how writing to one generic reading level is a relic of old mass communication - now we have "segments of one" with the customization that is possible how storytelling with a narrative customized to the user's needs is superior to generic advice like, "You need to exercise. Here's why." how the conversation itself provides the permission mechanism they need to include third-party information in the profiles from which they derive the context of the conversation the ongoing need for good writers to create compelling content for their "Mad Libs" how to go from "pushing information to creating a conversation and a relationship" "Always start with people." Neal's Bio Neal Sofian is the CEO of tuzag, Inc., a digital, conversational AI health company that has built an "infinite" tailored-content & engagement platform, using conversational AI to drive exponentially greater consumer behavior change. Previously Neal was the Director of Member Engagement at Premera Blue Cross where he was responsible for development strategies to engage the 2.2 million members of Premera in reaching their optimal health. Neal is a noted author and speaker and continues to be acknowledged as one of the true innovators in the world of health behavior change., and the role of personalization and social networking. Neal holds a master's degree in public health from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. He is also a working potter/sculpture and has done stand-up comedy in a vaudeville show. Video Here’s the video version of our conversation: https://youtu.be/prCO94A9PMg Transcript Larry: Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 39 of the Content Strategy Insights podcast. I'm really happy today to have with us Neal Sofian. Neal is the CEO of Tuzag, which is a really interesting company that helps folks do behavior change in the healthcare field. One of the online ... I think the website says they do hyper-personalized content and interactive storytelling to promote health. Is that accurate, Neal? Neal: Yeah, I think it might grow a little bit. You'd almost say now,

In this episode I talk to Torben Nielsen about creating new products and systems in health insurance. We touch on the tension between insurer's well-founded risk aversion and trying new things, the process of insurance companies working with startups, and how to even know if things are working. Torben runs programs at Premera Blue Cross with both internal teams and external startups to build new products and systems. Premera is one of the largest health insurers in Alaska and the northwest US, so even small changes can impact many people. Torben spent many years working in healthcare and built his tech chops at Xerox and Lego. Much to my chagrin, we spent zero time talking about the latter because of time constraints. His official title is "VP of Innovation" which I do poke at a bit in the podcast. Outtro My major takeaways I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this, but in health insurance, like so many places, the process of creating new products and systems ultimately hinges on the opinion of a few decision makers. Startups trying to work with health insurance providers are often frustrated by the providers' speed. This conversation helped unpack why the providers move slowly and what they're trying to do to change that - I hope it works!   Resources https://www.linkedin.com/in/torbenstubkjaernielsen/ https://twitter.com/TorbenSNielsen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premera_Blue_Cross https://www.premera.com/Premera-Voices/All-Posts/Healthcare-must-innovate/ Questions What does being a VP of Innovation in a large org do? What are your incentives? Incentives in the system? Who are the players in the process of innovating within healthcare? Why is healthcare slow to change? I assume there must be good reasons. How would you deal with a situation where an innovation challenges the core of the company? Conflicts? Primero test kitchen How do you assess/quantify risks? What are expected ROI timelines? How should startups engage in partnerships in healthcare ecosystem? Hard Question. Are there moral limits on cost per treatment / monopolies to drug therapies? What have innovations in health insurance looked like in the past? Let's talk about the elephant in the room: from the startup world, working with insurance companies is notoriously dangerous because of getting stuck in pilots, Insurance companies are inherently a hedge against risk. Innovation has built in risk. How do you manage this conflict? It makes sense that Where do you see the biggest areas for innovation?

In this podcast, Tracy Bos, General Manager of Senior Markets at Premera Blue Cross, discusses Premera's recent acquisition of Soundpath Health's Medicare Advantage program contract.

Today, Premera Blue Cross and MultiCare announced an alliance that promises a better customer experience while providing the right care at a lower cost through a new product Peak Care. In this podcast, we sit down with Bill Robertson, President and CEO of MultiCare and Dr. John Espinola, Executive Vice President of Healthcare Services for Premera to learn more about how this alliance was formed and what it seeks to accomplish.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam and Jeannie tackle customer experience challenges in many industries with Curtis Kopf, Vice President of Customer Experience for Premera Blue Cross. Behind-the-scenes customer experience challenges A great customer experience is an easy one. But there is often great complexity involved in making those experiences happen. Curtis Kopf has a long history of working with customer-focused organizations that are driven by strong missions. These companies have become leaders in their industries by hiding that complexity, or simplifying internal processes and training programs to remove that complexity from the equation altogether. For many companies, the challenge is not so much about understanding their customers as it is about executing the actual solutions to their challenges. We often feel powerless to neutralize known pain points due to internal processes, industry regulations, legal obligations and safety practices. Sometimes the best improvements come from pushing those perceived limitations and even finding creative ways to work with external agencies that are closely tied to the experience. Curtis explains some of the innovative ways Premera, Amazon and Alaska Airlines have created viable customer experience solutions that were previously considered impossible. Would you like the inside scoop on how these companies have set industry standards with the incredible experiences they create? Listen in! About our guest Curtis Kopf is Vice President of Customer Experience for Premera Blue Cross. Curtis is a visionary leader and digital innovator who has built industry-leading customer experiences.at Alaska Airlines, Microsoft and Amazon.com. As Vice President of Customer Innovation for Alaska Airlines, Curtis built award-winning mobile apps and customer feedback programs, as well as pioneered such innovations as online bag-tags and the use of biometrics. Future Travel Experience named Curtis in June as one of 25 global innovation leaders in the airline industry and Alaska’s mobile app was named by Fortune as the best travel app in America in 2015. Curtis has held a variety of leadership roles in his career - from serving as Amazon’s first General Manager in the UK to developing curriculum and teaching at the UW’s Mobile Business Strategy Certificate Program. He has an undergraduate degree in English from Brown University and a master’s degree in writing from Johns Hopkins. He is Vice Chairman of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound Board. Connect with Curtis Twitter LinkedIn Related Content Customers That Stick® Post, Customer Experience: At the Edge of a New Discipline 360Connext® post, 3 Ways to Add Magic to your Customer Service Training Episode 123: CXPA Live, Regulated Industry Challenges Episode 039: Does Employee Empowerment Work?   Sponsor message: Develop your customer experience mission Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We can help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. The Customer Experience Investigators™ at 360Connext specialize in helping companies across industries and around the globe develop and internalize unique and scalable customer-focused missions. To compete with the other 89% of companies staying afloat by providing better experiences, you need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience while breaking down the silos that are holding you back. We offer evaluations, workshops, and roadmaps to keep your wheels firmly planted on the road to a customer-centric future. Join us on our mission To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™ today. Visit us at 360Connext.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holiday Seasons are approaching.  After a car accident, holiday cheer may have been left at scene of collision.  Family, friends, or individual holiday plans placed on the back burner until recovered is ideal. Unfortunately, they only come once a year and won't wait until healed.  Insurance Companies and Self-Insured Employers view these as good times to catch you being "normal".  Aren't they clueless.  ESTRA understands your situation and wants to hear your questions and concerns, so let’s talk.  Your daily struggles are real and no harassment or intimidation can change it. Tune in every Monday 7:30 pm  PST for “Talking About You with ESTRA” on BlogTalkRadio.  ESTRA knows firsthand these experiences.  Come talk as we discuss experiences dealing with Insurance or Self-Insured Employer Claim Processes.  Disabilities, harassment, intimidation, surveillance, are among the topics.  ESTRA also slips in other fun and informative facts. ESTRA’s has dealt with Insurance Companies such as USAA, Geico, Pemco, Progressive, Farmers, Premera, Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Medicare. Lifewise Assurance Company, Social Security, and Employer SNC-Lavalin Constructors, previously Enron.  ESTRA’s latest book, “Car Accident/Personal Injury Wisdom, Knowledge, & Support" is now available at local or online bookstores.  Making Thanksgiving comfortable means being you and balancing expectations with abilities, especially if involved in a car wreck.  A key ingredient is remembering holidays are meant for refreshing our spirits by sharing time with those special to us and vice versa.  May the Thanksgiving Podcast for this week be uplifting and insightful, because that's what the holiday seasons are all about, uniting in love and friendships.   Have a Happy Thanksgiving ESTRA 

Car Wrecks at Thanksgiving bring more stress to a time where emotions are volatile.  Now pain and suffering are added to the mix.  How unpleasant.  ESTRA understands your situation and wants to hear your questions and concerns, so let’s talk.  Tune in on Mondays 7:30 pm PST for “Talking About You with ESTRA” on BlogTalkRadio.  ESTRA knows firsthand your situation.  You have an opportunity to talk with Guest Speakers as we discuss experiences dealing with Insurance or Self-Insured Employer Claim Processes.  Disabilities, harassment, intimidation, surveillance, are among the topics.  ESTRA also slips in other fun and informative facts. ESTRA’s has dealt with Insurance Companies such as USAA, Geico, Pemco, Progressive, Farmers, Allstate, The Hartford, Premera, Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Medicare. Lifewise Assurance Company, and Social Security.  ESTRA’s new book, “Car Accident/Personal Injury Wisdom, Knowledge, & Support" is now available at local or online bookstores.

Car Wrecks at Thanksgiving bring more stress to a time where emotions are volatile.  Now pain and suffering are added to the mix.  How unpleasant.  ESTRA understands your situation and wants to hear your questions and concerns, so let’s talk.  Tune in on Mondays 7:30 pm PST for “Talking About You with ESTRA” on BlogTalkRadio.  ESTRA knows firsthand your situation.  You have an opportunity to talk with Guest Speakers as we discuss experiences dealing with Insurance or Self-Insured Employer Claim Processes.  Disabilities, harassment, intimidation, surveillance, are among the topics.  ESTRA also slips in other fun and informative facts. ESTRA’s has dealt with Insurance Companies such as USAA, Geico, Pemco, Progressive, Farmers, Allstate, The Hartford, Premera, Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Medicare. Lifewise Assurance Company, and Social Security.  ESTRA’s new book, “Car Accident/Personal Injury Wisdom, Knowledge, & Support" is now available at local or online bookstores.

Holiday Seasons are approaching.  After a car accident, holiday cheer may have been left at scene of collision.  Family, friends, or individual holiday plans placed on the back burner until recovered is ideal. Unfortunately, they only come once a year and won't wait until healed.  Insurance Companies and Self-Insured Employers view these as good times to catch you being "normal".  Aren't they clueless.  ESTRA understands your situation and wants to hear your questions and concerns, so let’s talk.  Your daily struggles are real and no harassment or intimidation can change it. Tune in every Monday 7:30 pm  PST for “Talking About You with ESTRA” on BlogTalkRadio.  ESTRA knows firsthand these experiences.  Come talk as we discuss experiences dealing with Insurance or Self-Insured Employer Claim Processes.  Disabilities, harassment, intimidation, surveillance, are among the topics.  ESTRA also slips in other fun and informative facts. ESTRA’s has dealt with Insurance Companies such as USAA, Geico, Pemco, Progressive, Farmers, Premera, Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Medicare. Lifewise Assurance Company, Social Security, and Employer SNC-Lavalin Constructors, previously Enron.  ESTRA’s latest book, “Car Accident/Personal Injury Wisdom, Knowledge, & Support" is now available at local or online bookstores.  Making Thanksgiving comfortable means being you and balancing expectations with abilities, especially if involved in a car wreck.  A key ingredient is remembering holidays are meant for refreshing our spirits by sharing time with those special to us and vice versa.  May the Thanksgiving Podcast for this week be uplifting and insightful, because that's what the holiday seasons are all about, uniting in love and friendships.   Have a Happy Thanksgiving ESTRA 

Programa de actualidad presentado por: Miguel Angel Gonzalez Suarez. En la Premera hora tertulia con: Pedro Anatael, Rosi Rivero, Manuel Bastida, Clemente Afonso. En la segunda hora: Jose Juan Capote. En la tercera hora: Alberto Diaz, Fructuoso rodriguez,Jose Antonio Exposito. Hablan sobre la independecia canaria. En la cuarta hora: Mario Escuela Habla sobre el sector Primario. presidente de la coperativa hogar del taxista Emilio Dabo.

Photography has changed a lot in the past few decades and you might have fun going back to look at older images. Automating routine, repetitive actions has always been one of my primary objectives -- perhaps because I'm lazy. If you are, too, let's look as some programs that will help. In Short Circuits: A look at Microsoft's changing business model, Premera says it has exposed personal information that belongs to 11 million users, and Kaspersky wants to help protect your Android device. In Spare Parts, only on the website: MalwareBytes describes an old scam in a new suit, news site Gigaom is dead, and ubiquitous high-speed fiber is the future (and may always be the future).