"If his dentist had taken his blood pressure, we likely would have found his autoimmune disease before we needed the transplant."

Helen Drexler, CEO of Delta Dental of Colorado, opens with her own family. Her son saw a dentist once or twice a year while his kidneys were failing, and nobody in that chair took his blood pressure. In this conversation with host Sas Mukherjee she explains why the mouth has been treated as a separate country from the rest of the body: separate providers, separate records, separate insurance, separate rules for what gets paid.

She talks about what gum inflammation can signal elsewhere in the body, why dental insurance grew up on its own track from medical, the dental deserts inside the Denver metro, and a mobile clinic run by two hygienists with a wheelchair ramp that goes to people who have not seen a dentist in years. On the system as a whole: "We don't have well care, we have sick care."

She also talks about the year that was both her best and her worst, how a non-profit plan lives by "no margin, no mission," why fax machines are still everywhere in dental offices, why her son kept asking why he had to pay his deductible again, and what she tells young leaders who want to work in a system that needs fixing.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open: her son, and the blood pressure nobody took
00:37 Welcome: Sas Mukherjee introduces Helen Drexler
01:05 A career that started in the lobby
01:57 The grassy knoll: best year, worst year
03:28 The moments that shaped her leadership
04:54 Mission versus margin in a non-profit: no margin, no mission
07:07 What counts as meaningful innovation
08:57 What she is most excited about right now
10:55 Why dental is still a silo
13:32 Her son's kidneys, and the blood pressure that was never taken
15:24 Why dental insurance is not medical insurance
18:37 Dental deserts in the Denver metro
20:43 No silver bullet: bringing care to the member
21:37 The van with the wheelchair ramp
22:31 The biggest challenge in U.S. healthcare: sick care, not well care
24:10 Fax machines and the two bookends
25:33 Why do I pay my deductible again?
25:55 A CEO says broken, and keeps innovating
26:40 Advice for young leaders
28:07 Thanks and close

GUEST
Helen Drexler, CEO, Delta Dental of Colorado.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/helendrexler/
https://www.deltadentalco.com/

HOST
Sas Mukherjee, President and CEO, Catalyst Solutions.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sascfo/

ABOUT
Catalyst Conversations brings payer executives, clinicians and policy voices into plain-spoken conversations about the systems behind American healthcare.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FPksoBeHcGQ?si=53NGyEv0mWBbrStq
More from Catalyst Solutions: https://www.catalystsolutions.com/