When your guest starts a business in healthcare with the adage “Go where the competition isn’t”, you know it’s going to be an interesting conversation.

On the podcast today, I’m honored to have Dan McDonald, Founder and CEO of 86Borders and Lauren Barca, VP of Quality for 86Borders. Dan co-founded the company in 2014 with a clear mission: to revolutionize communication dynamics within and beyond corporate confines.

By 2018, he catalyzed a strategic pivot, channeling the company’s energy exclusively into healthcare. As a former nurse, Lauren is deeply passionate about enhancing the quality of care for economically disadvantaged and medically underserved populations, a passion reflected in the “empathy first” model they use to train care coordinators.

86Borders works with health plans to offer a service and a SaaS platform that puts the member at the center of the healthcare ecosystem. Their platform logs every encounter with a member, and connects members with the same care coordinator every time so that a trusting relationship can be built. Care coordinators help address social determinants of health to remove the day-to-day barriers that get in the way of preventive care and chronic care management. 

With this model, 86Borders is highly successful at improving quality metrics like medication adherence and reducing expensive healthcare utilization like ER or urgent care visits for the health plan, but they prioritize an even more important outcome. Human-to-human connection. 

This type of service is invaluable for our most under-resourced populations, but it is not only their work that has me so impressed. It is also their approach to leadership. It’s clear that Dan and Lauren care not only about the wellbeing of their members, but also about the wellbeing of their team. That is the type of humanistic leadership we need more of.

To find out more, visit https://www.86borders.com/