Name: The MVP Method: Elevating Patients & Profits through Expert Medicare Plan Comparisons
Uploaded: 2025-09-16T18:16:10.721Z
Duration: 1 h 10 min 44 s
Description: The MVP Method: Elevating Patients & Profits through Expert Medicare Plan Comparisons

Transcript for "The MVP Method: Elevating Patients & Profits through Expert Medicare Plan Comparisons": Welcome to today's webinar hosted in Live and Health. Our topic today is the MVP method, evaluate elevating patients and profits through expert Medicare plan comparisons. Thanks for joining us today. Before we get started, I'd like to highlight a few housekeeping items. Please type your questions in the q and a tab to ask questions throughout the presentation. We'll be sure to answer your questions during the dedicated q and a session towards the end of our time together. Lastly, we are recording this webinar and will email the recording to all attendees. I am now delighted to introduce our speakers. Marvin Guardado has worked with community pharmacies for over ten years. He started at AmpliCare in 2015 where he held several notable roles. Marvin currently heads EnlivenHealth solution sales and strategy team for Medicare Match. He ensures customers are set up for success and contributes to the product road map by aligning market expectations with product capabilities. Whitaker Moose, a fourth generation pharmacist who graduated from the UNC School of Pharmacy, has led Moose Pharmacy since 1987, continuing a legacy begin in 1882 by his great grandfather. He's chairman of the Mount Pleasant Planning and Zoning Board and is active in his church where he's chairman of the administrative council and plays the drums in the praise band. Whit is an avid cyclist, father of three boys, and grandfather of two beautiful girls. He lives in Mount Pleasant with his wife, Dana. And without further delay, I'll hand it over to Marvin. Great. Thanks. Thanks, Nicky, for the intro. And thanks everyone for joining us for today's webinar. So as Nicky said, my name is Marvin from the EnlivenHealth team. And we're gonna be taking the next hour or so to talk about how to use, annual enrollment period or AEP to make the most out of your most valuable patients. And as a result, set yourself up for success going into 2026. So here's a quick look at what we're gonna cover heading into October. We're thirty days now away from the start of AAP. So we're gonna start with some updates for 2026. Lot of changes coming up to Medicare in 2026, carriers pulling out, carriers consolidating plans, and patients, being on plans that are being discontinued. And then we'll dive into how to engage your MVP patients during AEP. And then from there, we're gonna talk about building efficient workflows, using digital tools to reach patients, and then finally, how to scale that entire process. So let's start with our mission real quick, which at the core is simple. It's to put pharmacy teams at the center of care and get them paid. And we do that by building digital tools that help pharmacies with improving patient care, strengthening population health, and growing in a sustainable way. And joining us today is someone who's been growing in a sustainable way for generations, as Nicky said. So he's been doing plan comparisons and using match since the iMedicare days, so ten plus years. And over the years, Whit been a big part of shaping the product and making sure it stays focused on what community pharmacies really need. So when Nicky said that I work to align road or road map initiatives with what the market needs, it's talking to, savvy owners like Whit and getting some feedback from what he's seeing out in, the real world. So his pharmacies help hundreds of patients each year with plan reviews, and they built workflows that go beyond the counter to support patients in several ways. So Whit, you know, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, your pharmacies, and how plan comparisons fit into everything that you're doing? Well, thanks thanks, Mara. Well, you know, you did a great job already, so did Nikki. So, I'm with Moose Pharmacy and fourth generation pharmacist, Mount Pleasant, North Carolina. And we've been, Mount Pleasant is a small community that's just outside of Charlotte. We've grown to seven retail pharmacies and a compounding pharmacy, which are all around that Charlotte area. So, we've got a really nice mix of patients from being very rural to to some that are, of course, more, and some of our in a larger community. So, we get to see, a really nice mix of patients as I said. And, of course, we've got a great, Medicare population, and and using tools, you know, like, EnlivenHealth, Amplicare, every once in a while, I still call it, I Medicare Martin. You know, we're able to, help to focus on our patients that are are our greatest, contributors to our bottom line and do our best to try to make sure that they get on the best plan for them, but also the best plan for the pharmacy. And, fortunately, we've been able to make those two two goals align. Plans that have been good for us have been good for the pharmacies. So, you know, that's been very successful for us. As you mentioned, Marvin, we've been doing this for a long time. Now now when open enrollment comes, we're we're pretty full as far as, scheduling and keeping our slots really full of folks. And and, you know, there's no way to do that without good tools. So, you know, and and not only the tools, but just that knowledge that that, Marvin, you guys have got that you share with us to to keep us current. And you mentioned there are some changes for for this upcoming season, and so, those are gonna be important, I think. So and and a lot of us, I didn't realize until we talked the other day. So, yes, good to to get that information and and have it so we can plan accordingly. Absolutely. Thanks. And that's gonna be a great backdrop into today's conversation and, you know, it really shows how plan comparison can be part of a broader strategy, not just the one off during AEP. And every year has its curve balls. Right? Two years ago, do you remember it was a DIR cliff? So pharmacies are trying to get ahead of 2024 and make sure that patients are on plans that are, again, focused on helping the patient, but also, at that point, minimizing the DIR fee impact for that double dip that was happening that subsequent year. And then last year, it was the inflation reduction. Right? Right? The implementation of that, what the ramifications are gonna be, and how patients are gonna be impacted. And this year, we're still seeing how carriers are responding to the inflation reduction act and reacting to some severe, market conditions for them. And what we're really seeing is a multiyear recalibration on how these carriers are approaching Medicare, both on the Medicare Advantage side and the PDP side. So carriers, as we said, they're pulling back, they're trimming plans, they're rethinking which markets they wanna serve. You wanna take UnitedHealth as an example. They're the biggest Medicare Advantage carrier in the country. They're cutting back on plans that it can impact over 600,000 patients. It's a huge number. On the PDP side, we're seeing both Cigna and WellCare are consolidating. So each of them are going from three PDPs down to two in 2026. And, WellCare is especially important. So I just wanna take a quick, moment to to note that, you know, they've been drying driving a lot of growth with their $0 premium value script plan. That single plan now offer now that those three PDPs that that they're offering or they've offered up to this point, they cover almost 8,000,000 lives. So that's nearly half of the entire PDP market. And pharmacies know that there's a problem with that. Right? Because these plans often are not reimbursing enough to cover the cost of the medication, especially for brands. And earlier this year, in fact, you know, we've seen another major PSAO reject the ESI contract that these WellCare plans roll up to and leaving that decision to the individual pharmacies. So we talked a bit about that in our last webinar with Joe and how pharmacies are reacting to some of these network changes and making sure they're aligning those changes with making sure that patients are staying, seeing minimal disruption and staying at that pharmacy. So, you know, the trend is clear. Patients are being pushed to these low premium plans, in particular, this WellCare value script plan that may look good for them, but are terrible for the pharmacies. So unless you step in and you're guiding them, they're gonna default to some of these choices. And at the same time and, you know, Medicare Advantage does continue to grow. Despite some of these challenges that carriers are experiencing, MA is still more profitable for them than PDT. So carriers are gonna continue to focus this year less so on expansion as aggressively as they have in the past, but more so on retention and finding ways to expand their margins on their, core MA plans. And where we're seeing really gonna see the growth continue in 2026 is in the special needs plans. Right? Which are type of Medicare Advantage Plans that are designed specifically to the most vulnerable populations. So a lot of momentum there. It's gonna continue into 2026. Anthem is an example. Right? They're actually pulling out of the PDP market completely and focusing on growing their dual special needs plans. So it's a tough landscape, but it's also an opportunity. Right? Pharmacies can get in front of these changes, in front of these patients, and help them make smart choices. They're gonna come out stronger for 2026. So with you know, you've been through a lot of these changes through the years. How do you talk to patients when plans are changing like this? So that's a little tricky because as you mentioned, the WellCare plans are really bad for pharmacy, but they're pretty patient friendly. But as you start to break them down, you know, a lot of those we saw so using WellCare WellCare as an example, the patient may have had low co pays, no premium, but they were still basically paying the full price. In other words, WellCare wasn't paying anything. They were just basically acting as a discount card. So I think, you know, how you talk to the folks about that. I mean, if you're not even accepting WellCare, obviously, you just you tell the patient we're not taking that plan anymore. And so if you want us to to be your pharmacy, we're gonna have to look at another option. Some pharmacies, you know, we even looked at it, said, look. Get your WellCare plan if that's what you want, but still come to us for the medication. And that plan is is almost going to be like a catastrophic coverage situation. So you get put on Eliquis or something like that, you're gonna have to use your WellCare. But if you're staying on your your cheap stuff, we don't tell a patient that, but stay on your lisinopril and your hydrochlorothiazide, etcetera. We can still match those prices or give you that kind of pricing and keep you. So those are kind of a proactive way to deal with those plans, but, ideally, we wanna use our tools and live and help to do some comparisons to say, well, you know, this is what they're offering you, but there are other plans in our area that you can use us, or we can try to drive you into an advantage plan. And some people are still, for some reason, are resistant to those. So that's another issue to have to try to overcome at at times. But the, the PDP market is not great for pharmacy. And for in our situation, for example, we still took SilverScript. That's still not a great plan. So, fortunately for us, we we have seen a a little bit of reduction in those plans. But, if you're just being creative too and trying to figure out your best way with your patient population to to convince them of the direction they need to go and we'd like to see them go. And you made a good point about the the MA front. And, you know, if pharmacies are focusing on just PDPs, again, we've mentioned how WellCare has got almost half of that PDP market. Right? So if you're only showing a patient PDP plans, they're really only gonna see that one plan unless they're a dual eligible patient. But if they're not, they're only seeing that one plan that is a $0 premium. So they're gonna gravitate towards that. So if you were to expand, show them a more comprehensive list that includes MA plans, MA plans are growing for a reason. Right? There's some trade offs for sure with doctor networks and prior authorizations, but the reason that people are driven to this primarily is because so many of them, almost three quarters of them, offer zero premium plans. So if you were to open up that comparison for PDP and MA, they're not only seeing WellCare as $0. Right? They can see a UHC plan or another plan that's paying better for the pharmacy, especially on that brand rate that also offers that $0 premium. So it's imperative, you know, more so this year than ever because these PDPs, like like we saw, they're continuing to dwindling to continue to dwindle in their offerings going into next year. It's gonna be important for them to look at some other options that give you as a pharmacy an opportunity to show them something that's gonna be a a little better reimbursement than you're seeing on just that WellCare value script plan, which is, you know, depend when you ask, AWP minus 23%, 24%. In some cases, it seems 28%. Whereas, you have some others that are AWP minus 19%, on on brands. Right? So again, if you're just focusing on PDP, they're only gonna see that AWP minus 24% at $0 premium. So it's important as which to to look at some of these other plans that provide broader offers. Okay. Marvin, I would say another thing too is, you know, as the person either you know, if it's you as the pharmacist or whoever's doing the reviews, you need to be aware of what offerings the United or Humana's or whatever do have because you wanna know what those little benefits are that you can talk to that patient about. So is it an OTC card? Is it a gym membership? Whatever that might be, if you've got those little enticers, if they're dual eligible, tons of enticements for that person to not be on an, PDP. So in understanding what the plans are and what how you can make that look like a a valid, alternative to their their PDP PDP, I think, is is really important. Yeah. No. Absolutely. There's these other offerings, like, OTC card you touched on. That could be a benefit to your pharmacy if you're set up with that, with the processor and you're able to take that card as a debit card almost, and that's potentially some front end revenue that you weren't getting beforehand. And now a patient, especially a low income patient, because these, OTC cards are offered on almost all dual special needs plans. That turns a patient that would maybe buy a supplement or a vitamin into someone who who is, again, presenting positive cash flow for you on the on the front end side. Yep. So, so let's shift gears a bit and talk about, you know, dual eligibles are what I would consider one of those MVP types of patients. But let's talk about, patients that are really gonna move the needle for your pharmacy. Right? Identifying them, making sure they're on the right plan that, again, isn't just good for them, but critical to to your business. And, you know, for you, within your pharmacy and your staff, you know, what are some key patient characteristics that you look for? Well, like you mentioned, Marvin, a dual eligible is is a no brainer. A lot of times, those folks have a lot of medications, and they're just it's a great opportunity for them and for you because as you, you know, just mentioned, they get a lot of benefits from a special needs plan. So they're, they're definitely, one that we wanna focus on. Obviously, someone who's on a lot of medications or someone who, has expensive medications. They're ones that we wanna look for. I mean, I think those are, like, your your top who are your your highest movers as far as as that goes. And, yeah, I think our pharmacy had a call this morning. We were talking about, you know, how do we deal with some of these, profit well, we call profit rejects, you know, what your team calls them. And and when we're looking at that, it's the same as as these plans, I think, too. If you've got a a patient that's a high brand name utilizer, you know, that's one that you're gonna have to to make sure if you're dealing with that patient, you're getting a plan that that that reimburses better on brands than, say, some do. Or or better yet, you as that pharmacy pharmacist expert look at that profile and say, well, you're using a lot of brands, but there are some less expensive alternatives that we could look at. So it's not just about necessarily your your highest revenue patients. So, you know, I know, the EnlivenHealth software can help track or help identify who some of the those MVPs are. Pharmacy software, of course, they do the same. So, but, yeah, I think the deal eligible is if you're just like, well, where do I start? That's absolutely where you start. Yeah. No. Absolutely. Thanks, Wayne. That's really helpful. It lines up with what we're seeing with a lot of pharmacies. Right? Especially those high utilizing pharmacies. And, you know, these are some common traits that that we're seeing. A lot of it is reflected in some of the stuff that that Whit has shared. But some of the characteristics, common traits that make a patient stand out as an MVP. You know, first, prescription volume. Right? We touched on that. The average Medicare patient fills about four prescriptions a month. So anyone with a higher volume than that is worth paying attention to. Then, you know, again, something we touched on here, to eligible patients. You know, they often have access to these richer benefits that we mentioned. So matching them to a special needs plan can be a win for the pharmacy and and, of course, the the patient. Then you have those community anchors. Right? Those are those loyal patients. They've been with you for years. They influence family decisions and influence their neighbors and their community. And then last, you have clinical revenue potential. You know, patients who are eligible for immunizations, testing, medication reconciliation, they aren't just good candidates for plan reviews. They're also the ones who can open the door to other revenue streams. So an example, take Humana. Right? In some states, they pay pharmacies for med sync consults under the medical benefit. And they also pay bonuses to high performing pharmacies. So if you move a highly adherent patient from a plan that doesn't reward performance over to a Humana MA, you can bill for MedSync consults right away. That's could be anywhere between 30 to $60 per session, and then months later receive that performance bonus check from Humana. So that's, you know, again, a good example of cohesive strategy. We're using plan pairs. It's not just with the simple goal of switching someone's plan to save them money and extend your PBM revenue, but open up other opportunities, on the pharmacy start side. And again, it starts by identifying patients who would be a good fit to switch plans. So I'm gonna There was one other the chronic conditions that's on the list. I don't know if you're gonna go back to that, but it's my understanding, and you you could probably elaborate on this better, but there are special needs plans for some of those chronic conditions patients like diabetes. Correct? That, could could be another one of those things that helps to sway that patient to a better plan for them and and for the pharmacy. Yep. No. Good call. Absolutely. So you got the dual special needs plans, which patient Medicare and Medicaid, they often are qualifying for a special needs plans. And then there was those chronic conditions. Right? Whether they're diabetic, you know, they have other conditions that would qualify them for this type of of plan. So these are, you know, again, for the most vulnerable patients. So they are having the they have these richer benefits that do align with then patients that do need these sorts of, of of expanded benefits. And it's something that on the carrier side has been more profitable for them. So that's not an area where they're pulling back as we've seen with PDP and regular MA. And then there's these other opportunities with pharmacies, as we said, with chronic conditions, with dual special needs plans where pharmacies can see additional, revenue opportunities. So yeah. Absolutely. There's you know, depending on your patient breakdown, your demographics, your community, you could have a whole lot of dual eligible patients that qualify for these types of plans that, will keep them on track. You know, some of these plans also have care coordination that helps when making appointments to see a doctor, making sure they're using and understanding their benefits a bit more. So another layer that really help the patient, again, the most vulnerable patients, to to, use their benefits, understand their benefits, and, align the different, areas of care, better for the patient to to understand. Do you have a bit of a a good amount of those opportunities at your pharmacy with? That was something that I just learned about last year, and, I don't I wouldn't say we've got a a lot of them, but, we we have had a few. The diabetes one really stands out, and specifically on Humana. And and I think maybe you and I talked at one point too, Marvin, what we're even looking down the line at, is as these patient get these special needs plans for conditions like diabetes, now we can start to look at, are there other opportunities to work with them as far as diabetic shoes or some other kind of, area where we may not have a lot of focus right now. But with these folks in this plan, that could be opportunity. So it's looking beyond just the medication too that that is is important. And that also gives us something, not only to use this platform for after open enrollment and after the first of the year. It it allows us to use the platform beyond is what I'm trying to say, just the open enrollment time. So, yeah, I think that that's another place where we just gotta open up and dig and dive a little bit more to learn about what these plans cover and then how can we take advantage of those opportunities. Yeah. No. Absolutely. And even when a lot of these patients, you know, they they they'll have some special enrollment periods too where they can enroll or switch plans outside of AEP. So with dual eligibles, there's a lot of flexibility and a lot of opportunity for them to to get on better aligned plans. And, you know, the next question is what happens when you actually engage those patients with, client comparisons. Right? And we ran the numbers from last AEP, and we found and this chart is from an analysis, again, that we ran from activity last fall, and it shows a difference. Plan comparisons, make in terms of retention. Right? Ninety seven percent of patients who received the plan comparison last fall continued filling at the same pharmacy this year compared to only seventy six percent of patients who didn't get a comparison. Right? So that's huge 21 gap. Extrapolate that on how much revenue, Medicare patient brings to your pharmacy and what that 21 gap actually represents in in dollars. Right? I think the average Medicare patient's revenue per pharmacy is about $2,800. So, again, extrapolate that on how many patients, are getting comparisons versus those who who aren't. And it's the, you know, clear as proof that these conversations don't just help patients, you know, they help keep patients. So so wait. Do you see the same thing in your pharmacy that, you know, patients that are getting plan comparisons and they're reviewing the process, that they're more likely to stay with you long term? Absolutely. And and not only that, but are they're staying with us long term. They trust us, you know, because we've done done it for a long time, and they tell their friends about us. So it's also an opportunity for patients that maybe aren't coming to you that are coming. Okay. Well, I've heard about your plan comparisons. And yeah. I mean, honestly, what pharmacy is gonna put somebody on a plan that that they can't take? So, yeah, that I mean, that's kind of a no brainer, but it's also definitely an opportunity. And and you build that base over the years as as people start to refer to you. Exactly. And and that's why building, you you know, comparisons into your strategies this fall is is gonna be important. Because, again, it's not just about switching plans, it's about keeping patients loyal to your to your pharmacy. Right. Yeah. And this chart here, you know, it's it's, regarding our medical billing solution, some numbers, some some stats we got from there. It shows that seventy four percent of successful medical billing claims for our customers are for Medicare patients. So again, this goes back to the point before about opening up clinical opportunities with plan comparisons. So, you know, in other words, seniors are driving the majority of revenue that pharmacies are generating on the clinical side. So that means these patients aren't just important for prescriptions. You know, they're foundational for expanding into clinical, services. So when you keep Medicare patients or you keep more of them, you're also keeping patients that are most likely to be eligible for things like immunizations, testing, again, Medsync consult that we said before, other services that you can build to the to the medical benefits. So, you know, retention doesn't just protect prescription revenue. It opens the door to grow, in clinical revenue, as well. So have you seen some of that on on your end with where, you know, again, these are not people that are just doing PBM, bringing in PBM revenue, but they're also growing, revenue streams in other areas for you. Yes. Definitely. And that's, you know, obviously, an area of focus with our team is is our clinical services. And and, fortunately, we've got, you know, a residency program that that brings in young smart talent every year, and and that's where they focus. So, yes, stand on top of that, and there's opportunities whether it's Medicare or other clinical opportunities that your state might offer. You know, it's kind of I almost see it as the wild, wild west out there right now, Marvin, because there's there's things that there's, like, new services that we're learning maybe every day that, wow. Okay. We could we can do that. We can bill for that. And so, yeah, it's fine in those those patients. It's fine in those services, and then it's fine in that way to to be able to bill them. But but just like whether it's the clinical service or, like we mentioned, the diabetic shoes or whatever, just using these plans and these patients to dig for those opportunities. Yeah. No. Absolutely. And I always go back to that example, you know, customer we had, billing to, you know, Humana, m a, and United m a for med reconciliation, medicine consults. Right? That becomes a subscription revenue almost for you as a pharmacy. Right? If you're having these consults on a monthly basis and you're billing at 30 to $60 a month, that could take a patient that's underwater for you into a profitable patient. Right? And, these are, you know, just an example of something that you're probably already doing. Majority of pharmacies are having some sort of med sync, program at their pharmacy. So if you're already doing that, it's a matter of getting contracted credentialed with a payer, getting patients that are a good fit into those plans that you're credentialed and contracted with, and just keep doing what you're doing. You know, at that point, again, you're already providing a lot of these services. It's a matter of just aligning the payment mechanisms. Alright. So, so, you know, that's really what we wanted to get into in terms of why patients Medicare patients are important to keep, but the next thing is making sure that you got the right workflows in place. So comparisons are happening efficiently and consistently. And, here are a few basics, that are gonna make those comparisons again more efficient and more effective. So you wanna start by reviewing the patient profile, make sure you got clean information, adding the patient's current plan, so you're looking at a true apples to apples comparison, and then decide which plans and PBMs to prioritize. Right? That could mean patients on discontinued plans, patients on plans where your pharmacy is at a network. Again, were you are you a pharmacy that was part of that larger PSAO this year that reject the ESI and you, as the individual pharmacy, decided to opt out? Well, you better reach out to all these patients so they can keep coming to your pharmacy next year. Or patients that, you know, again, you wanna move on to plans that you're already credentialed and contracted with. And, you know, finally, I'd say is really designate this to a single team member as the point person. Right? Having one person on the process, it minimizes confusion, keeps things moving, and, you know, it's not really always even about efficiency. Right? Definitely helps on the efficiency side, but also could be an opportunity to develop your staff. You know, this could be a stepping stone for someone who wants to get more involved in the pharmacy, more involved in the communities community, take on more outreach, or even one day become a broker themselves. Right. So that, you know, really kind of the process that helps you with making sure that this is a manageable, service that you're offering in the fall. And, you know, the real test is not just making it a pleasant opportunity for your patients and helping them, but, again, your your team, you don't wanna overwhelm them. There's a lot going on at the pharmacy here. So really bringing in these workflows that help with making this more streamlined and can't, emphasize enough on really designated that one person. You probably have one person that kinda runs med sync at your pharmacy and a lot of pharmacies do or other types of services. And, you know, this should fall in that same area where one person's running it and, you know, they can delegate a c fit, but they're the point person. They own the process, and they they, they own the service. So so what how do you, you know, how do you make plan comparisons easier, for the patients sitting across from you and also for the staff that's doing the work? Yeah. That that's a tough one because every store is different. And, you know, as you mentioned, having that that key person to go to I mean, honestly, in in the years that we've done it, we've had a pharmacist do it. We've had, we tried to have an agents come in one time and do it. You know, that it's it's it's hard to say what the best, the best way of doing it because as I say, it's just gonna be different for each store. But, I think it's the same program is key. You've already got a relationship with those patients, and they should be usually, they're gonna get higher utilizers also. So just whether it's your your your, adherence tech that's making the the contact with them, hey. You know, when you look at your end plan, can we schedule you a time? What works best for your workflow? Again, definitely data mining as far as who those patients are, your MVPs like you talked about. You know, finding that patient, having that staff person to whether they're the scheduler for it, whether you train them to do the the, the actual consultations. But just getting your your workflow down of how you're gonna do that, who's gonna do each one. And, you know, I've heard of pharmacies that, like, say this is my time of the year that that we're all out. This is our focus because what happens to us in '26, we're determining today, right now. And I really think that's that's actually a pretty good philosophy. So, you know, I don't think this is the kind of thing you say, oh, we'll get to it when we get time. We'll do a few people as we go. You know, that's not the way to do it. It's really kinda jump in there and figure out what's gonna work. Go all out for these this next month and a half or whatever, and then you rest, then you see what your your, your efforts have have given you come January 2006 '26. Right? And and now you're saying, oh, wow. We made this much on this on this prescription when we were losing money on it before. So, just make it happen in your workflow, whatever that that looks like. No. Absolutely. That's such an important point. Right? Because if we, you know, we tell our customers too. We have training webinars every week and, you know, as we're leading into AEP, tell pharmacies that, you know, what you don't do do what you don't do or what you do this fall is gonna set you up for 2026. Right? So consider it training camp, you know, as you're gearing up for for 2026. Right? So if you're talking a lot of patients, you're aligning them to situations which help them help you, then you have a great start for 2026. But, you know, if you're not doing some of this, you're filling a prescription January 5 and it's coming back negative where, you know, you could talk to that patient because there is a better plan for them that was gonna pay you better, then that's a lost opportunity. Right? Although there is an extended period in the first quarter of the year if they're on a Medicare Advantage plan. There's a Medicare Advantage open enrollment period from January 1 to March 31. And oftentimes, that time is actually better, in terms of, helping patients because patients are feeling the hurt already. Right? They're they're feeling. They're seeing their co pay went up or something happens, it's not covered. Where if you taught them in November, they haven't felt that pain yet. Right? They're it's just anticipated pain in the future. Right. But if coming in January and they're filling in, they're like, this is much higher than before. What's happening here? Then, you know, you could probably easily easier have that conversation. But as crazy as the pharmacies in the fall, I know how how bad it is in January, right, with all the new insurances. So you certainly wanna get these things aligned, before the start of the year. And Marvin, you had an on the previous slide, another important thing was to get your, plans right in your system. So, doing those eligibility checks and making sure that you not don't go generic as hell as Humana. We need to know as Humana PDP. We need to know it's Humana MA and which MA. We wanna know exactly what plan they're on. So if you're not doing that, you gotta learn to do that. You gotta get those eligibility checks. You gotta get those plans entered correctly. And then when 2026 hits, I want all my '26 plans loaded correctly. Yes. A little bit of work upfront, but, man, is it it changes everything once you get in there because, you know, you you and I'm sure every pharmacy has this. The person that's doing the eligibility check or whatever picks the first one that pops up, and then you go with it for the whole year. And and that whole year, to me, the Humana example is the best because our tech sometimes would get in a hurry, pick that, PDP plan, and it's totally diff the m the MA plans are totally different. So what I can talk to that patient about when they're in the pharmacy, it is, you know, it's those opportunities. They're not there with the PDP plan. So just get those plans loaded in your in your pharmacy system correctly, but also use it in your EnlivenHealth system. And that's where I actually go to find out once I get the plan number from the eligibility check. I'll flip over to the EnlivenHealth, Medicare Match program, see what plan that is, make sure I've got it entered in my system, and then that's there. And then I know so and that's that is time that's well worth, what you spend on it for your outcome. Yeah. No. Absolutely. And yeah. You're you're absolutely right. Knowing the actual specific plan is is where you start. Right? Because it could be one WellCare, another WellCare, but they have different formulary, they have the premiums. Right? So when you're doing the comparison, you wanna know the exact plan they're on so you can compare what they're doing now with what these other options are for them. And if you're looking at BIN, PCN, and group number, that's often not as reliable. It's good for segmenting and helping you target, like, a group of patients on a group of plans. But, BIN, PCN, and group, often the same combination roll up to several different plans. Right? But when you run that eligibility check, getting that contract ID, that plan ID, that benefit ID, and that combined number is unique to that actual plan. So that number starts with an s for PDPs, starts with an h for MA plan, starts with an r for regional PPOs, which are a type, of a MA plan. So yeah. Definitely with great point, you know, getting started with those those eligibility checks now, really. Right? Thirty days out of AP Absolutely. Is gonna be when you wanna start doing that. Yep. And you do either need to have, like, last four of the social or their, their Medicare ID number to be able to get those accurate, results on your eligibility check. So, figure out how to get that that information from the patient even if that's part of your intake so that you can get those reliable plan plans that they're on. Yeah. Absolutely. And we saw, you know, some your point about intakes is we saw a lot of closures this year. Right? Rite Aid shut down. So depending on if you you are around a Rite Aid, you probably had a lot of new patients coming in. And pharmacy is a little skeptical. They're like, I don't know if I wanna take on new patients because I don't know if they're gonna reimburse me. So what some customers did is they were dual eligible. As part of that intake process, they were also saying, well, let's look at your plan. Right? Let's look at your plan. And if they were dual eligible PDP, they were able to switch to to something else. So making it part of, like you said, in certain instances, that intake process really sets you up nicely if you're getting pharmacies or patients switching to your pharmacy and you wanna be you're a little apprehensive about taking on new business because you don't know if it's gonna be profitable or not. Yep. And you may we've had seen this multiple times where we run an eligibility check on a established patient that we've had, and we find out, again, the plan wasn't put in there correctly. This patient is a dual eligible. Why do we not have them on a special needs? So it was that opportunity there to go and do that even for an established patient. So, yeah, a lot of opportunities. Yeah. Absolutely. And having the, you know, having the the workflow is key, but the other side of this is communication. Right? So you can have the best process in the world, but if patients don't know about it, then they're not gonna show up. They're not gonna ask you for it. So, you know, I'm gonna go over some practical ways that your pharmacy can get the word out to their communities. And now first is word-of-mouth. Right? The old classic word-of-mouth. If you help a patient pick a plan that saves them money, they're gonna tell their friends, they're gonna tell their families, and that ripple effect could be really powerful for your business. Second, text and phone campaigns. Automated reminders can be an easy way to reach Medicare patients and prompt them to come in to, to your pharmacy for review during AEP or when they're turning 65 throughout the year. Or again, if they're dual eligible or have some other flexibility, they can come in throughout the year and, review plans as well. So think about the ways you communicate with your patients now. Right? Is it by phone? Are you manual making calls? Are you sending out text messages? Are you doing something automated? So wherever your patients are used to hearing you, like, whatever medium they're used to hearing from you with, I'd say definitely focus on that. And as pharmacies and patients are getting more receptive to messaging, text messaging, I know you talk a little bit about you set up appointments or you do some things, you know, that that help you with, spreading out the workload. Putting in there the link to your appointment schedule in a text message is a really great self serve option. So if you have an appointment scheduler for vaccines or other clinical services, then create some, some slots for for Medicare plan reviews. And, and then the third is local media. Right? It's kind of an old school way too is, you know, whether you get a spot on a morning show or a short ad in a community paper or if you're doing community outreach. Right? If you have, some senior living facilities around or see senior communities, then that's a great way for you to go out there and turn this not into retention, but a way to attract new business. And, again, the timing of all this could really, make a difference. And and and finally is in store signage. Right? Flyers, bag stuffers, simple sidewalk sign. Patients that are already in your pharmacy are the easiest ones to reach. So if you're doing a lot of vaccinations this year, you know, throw something in the prescription bag or just, you know, as they leave, you know, hand them something that tells them that you're doing plan comparison. They wanna come back the next week or during the next visit to review their options. You're probably gonna see a lot more patients this fall for the vaccine season, flu season that you usually do at other times of the year. So this is an opportunity for you to drive awareness, inside the the the pharmacy. So so what what have you seen that works best, with getting the word out in your stores? Yeah. That's good. For me, personally, I think the text phone thing works the best. It's simple. It's easy to use. Doesn't really cost anything if you've got a program like we do that that that does that. We're not plugging that, are we, Marvin? But, that that's a piece of our our medic our EnlivenHealth program. So it's super simple, and it does it for you. A lot of our stores still do old school letters too, where they'll just mail out a letter to the patient. So yeah. But for me, personally, the the text phone campaign thing is the way to go. Yeah. No. We got the communication right through, match for Medicare eligible patients. So, yeah, certainly, that's if we're talking about workflow, being efficient, and communicating with patients on an efficient manner, yeah, that's a a a way to do it. You can do your one on one manual personal calls, certainly. It's gonna take a bit more time, Or you can set up a recording that goes up in your voice from your caller ID. That's just call to action, direct message saying, like, this is what we're offering. It's Medicare annual enrollment period. And, there's a lot of expected changes to Medicare, so come see us for your review. Right? Or, again, a message that directs them to to to your pharmacy, to call the pharmacy, or, again, simply to set up a, an appointment with you if I have a scheduler already, set up. And and and, you know, again, speaking of communicating with patients, keeping patients, you know, one of the tough situations I've seen through the years is when they get one of those letters from plan saying that they have to switch pharmacies or, you know, for your pharmacy no longer a preferred pharmacy. Your pharmacy is no longer in network. Here's some pharmacies in your area that are preferred or are in network, and they're often, you know, big box change, your competitors. So so what how do you how do you approach the conversations with patients when they bring in on a letter like that? Well, obviously, we most of the time, those letters are wrong, so we have to set the record straight on that. But, you know, the the there again, the phone text message thing, I think, is the best way to reach out because now I I know patients on this plan. I've got my plans entered correctly in my system. Now all I've got to do is set up my campaign to go right to these folks, and it's gonna you know, I can address it with them, right then. So, there again, that's why I need those plans set up in there, correctly. But, most of them don't wanna leave you, so they're willing to do whatever it takes to to keep coming to your pharmacy. We just gotta find a good alternative for them. Yep. And you're right. A lot of those plans a lot of those letters are misleading. Right? They're, making the patient feel like they have to switch pharmacies. And the thing is if you, you know, haven't done this, haven't offered this service to your farm to your patients before, they may get that letter. And as Whit said, a lot of it is false, but they may get that letter and take it at face value. Right? Because they don't know how to come to with they don't know how to come to Moose Pharmacy for plan comparisons because they never heard from them about it. Right? So, it's something where as long as you're getting the word out and they're aware of doing that and you do it this year, then they get a letter next year saying some something bogus, then they can say, wait. I got this letter. I know you helped me with the plans last year. Like, can you make me make sense of this? Right? So, those letters go off often too. They do. And another thing I think we saw, is a lot of times in that situation when you're not proactive, the patient will go ahead and leave you. But you may not realize because they didn't transfer. They just went and got new prescriptions from the doctor and had it sent to the to the other pharmacy. So you may be losing them and not even know they're gone. So, you know, there again, being proactive with that kind of thing is the way to the best approach to try to get some results to keep that patient with you. Yeah. No. Absolutely. That's a a strong approach. And, and, of course, having those conversations with one or two patients is one thing, but the change is the challenge is how do you scale that during AEP or when there's dozens or if you're with, you know, maybe even hundreds of patients that need help. So let's look at some ways, you know, scale comparisons, effectively. Because, again, when you think about starting a scale, you wanna put a structure in place so you're not just reacting to patients as they come in. Right? But sometimes we get pharmacy saying, well, I only talk to people when they ask for a plan comparison or I only you know, I don't know. Should I talk to everyone who I talk to? You know? So patients, for the most part, aren't aware of, like, hey. If I switch my plan or my plan changed so much that it's maybe the worst option for me this year or going into next year, then that place of reaction is not gonna make for an effective, workflow. So we said it before is is set appointments. Right? Scheduling plan comparisons, appointments during slower times of the day, it's gonna help spread out the workload and make it more more manageable. Second, again, it says before is choose a point person, a plan specialist for the duration of AEP, have that one staff member focused on plan comparisons. And if you can, minimize some of the other work or, you know, have them do it in conjunction with other work that they're doing again. So if it's something about a flu clinic you have, then you could definitely marry those processes a bit with, at least getting that word out for patients to make an appointment with you for, a plan review. And, third is is let patients compare plans at home. Right? So you wanna provide a printout of the comparisons for them to look at. They can then review with their caregiver if they need to, review with their with their family, make a decision, perhaps not when they're at the pharmacy, but they can call the plan. If you're working with the, you know, if your pharmacy is working with the broker, then they could connect with the broker to finalize that enrollment. Or, you know, if you're one of our pharmacies and you don't have a local broker partner, you know, we have some some staff that's dedicated from our partners at HP one that can help your pharmacy your patients through that process. So so, again, it doesn't all need to be done at home at the pharmacy. You can do some of this over the phone, on a Zoom, or, again, provide a printout where you're then, directing them to either enroll at home by the phone or doing an online enrollment, on the patient portal that our pharmacies have available for their patients, with, with match. So question for you is, you know, how do you, you know, with how how do you, how do you serve an increasing number of patients this year without putting more pressure on your team? It's a tough one for sure because, we we do see that. And, obviously, most of us don't have that luxury of just hiring a few extra people, because you're not gonna hire a Medicare expert to come in, obviously, and do that. So, there you go. I think just, thinking through the workflow to make sure that you're minimizing the impact on your staff, to to allow for this for the appointments to take place. But an appointment structure system is is key, I think, and just planning, planning, planning, have it have it set so it goes smoothly. In your other in the previous slide too, you you mentioned another thing because there are those people that are gonna wanna well, I'm gonna get back to you. I'm gonna come back. You know, giving them the papers to take home with them. They're gonna bring those back, and they may come back three times. Well, I still have to you know, you're just gonna have those and and, you know, I honestly don't know a great way to to, to deal with those other than just say, you know, I'm telling you this is the best plan. You're also gonna have the ones that wanna come into your appointment and tell you their life story and their their full medical history. And, you know, fan it figuring out a gentle way to say, you know what? That that's really interesting, but we've gotta focus on on getting you this plan done, and I've got, you know, other people coming in that we've gotta deal with. So efficiency is gonna be key too, and and people are people. They they love to talk about themselves, and and, it just hopefully I mean, of course, you do that every day as a pharmacist. So develop a a way to kinda close that conversation and and be efficient with it is probably the best way to deal with the this increase in volume that you're gonna see. Yeah. And yeah. You know, although someone telling their life's telling you your life story is gonna lead to a longer interaction, there could be there could be some things you pick up from that life story, right, that, you know, perhaps there's something in where you could service them or they're needing assistance in some way that it it comes out during these conversations. Right? Because these are often not just about, well, what's gonna save me the most money, but it's about their health, looking at them in a comprehensive manner and connecting the dots. Yeah. And that and that's absolutely right. And I think this this situation of of the open enrollment scheduling and all that, it's almost like those doctor visits that the doctor's got that, you know, that short little time he can spend with you. But I do think like I said, I and I didn't mean for that to seem like I'm trying to be insensitive about that story. But I think in that situation, Marvin, you're right. They're opening the door up for all the stuff that's potential for you to help them with, but also could lead to more and more services that you're able to give them. So that's that time you might say, you know what? These things that you're telling me are are really, interesting, and and I I hear there's so much going on. We still have time to do it right now. Let's set up another appointment. Maybe it's after open enrollment where we can you come back in, we sit down, and let's talk about some of these things because I think I got some solutions that are gonna help you. Yeah. No. Absolutely. Wait. You probably heard the same person tell you their life story countless times too, so I get your that's a lot of you on, on that. And and, no, look, that's a a great perspective. And, you know, it often makes me think about how, you know, people say they're bad with routines or they lack discipline to to sticking to one. And, you know, the truth is everyone has a routine. Right? The difference is whether they've they have a routine that they designed themselves or they just inherited one by by default or a chaotic routine because they don't actually have a routine. And, you know, some routines some routines move you forward, you know, others keep you stuck, And the most dangerous ones feel normal because they they weren't chosen. Right? So being very deliberate on your workflow, what you wanna accomplish, and how you wanna go about doing that is important because no one has time, but we do need to make time for things that are important. So if this type of service is opening you up to other opportunities to serve a patient, other opportunities for clinical billing, or to just, again, look at that patient in a more cohesive way, then, you certainly need to do that by being more more efficient and proactive in your, in your flow. So, you know, if you don't put the structure in place, you know, that routine is gonna be reacting to patients. And, a lot of you probably put in med sync programs because you don't wanna react. So you certainly shouldn't react in this area too because that's gonna burn everyone out. And when you design the process, you can scale reviews and protect your staff and and and make it much more manageable. Yeah. And, hopefully, all this extra income we're gonna be bringing in, we can start looking at hiring another staff person to to help with some of this. So, yeah, we hopefully, we just see this continue to snowball and get bigger and bigger. Yeah. No. Absolutely. And, again, it's not, you know, just an AP thing. This is where you're gonna be able to talk to majority of your Medicare patients, but you have opportunities to engage them throughout the year. They're turning 65. They're dual eligible. They're coming out of a facility. Right? There's a lot of these life changes that provide you with an opportunity to engage patients throughout the year, instead of, of AUP. So, so so we have, you know, so we've covered, you know, covered a lot today with with with, you know, from the market outlook to identifying the most valuable patients and and building workflows that help you scale. So if you're wondering how all this looks in practice, the next, best step is to join us for our guided walk through of EnlivenHealth match on Friday. It's gonna be a quick and easy way to see the product in action, ask questions, and figure out if it's the right fit for your pharmacy, truly. Like, perhaps it is not the right fit for you to offer this sort of service. But, you know, again, if you're focused on retention, on growing revenue, getting into clinical services, then, you know, you gotta start with what patient what plan the patient is on. So you can register, by using the, scrolling link below. And before we wrap up, I did wanna point you to the next, webinar, which is, gonna be coming up next, month, a day before the start of AEP. And it's gonna expand on some of the things we've talked about, right, about hidden profit centers of Medicare Advantage. So, you know, some of those OTC cards, again, aligning plans with clinical services. So these are these opportunities where, oftentimes, health care incentive payer incentives are not aligned, but you have to actually dig through the opportunities to to align them. Right? They're not gonna align themselves. So, digging into those opportunities and, aligning them with your strategy is is gonna be key, and it Medicare Advantage does offer, a lot of those, opportunities. So that's gonna bring us to the q and a. So I did wanna give you a thank you, Whit, for sharing your perspective today. You know, you've been through the trenches for years. So I know a lot can relate to what you've, what you've shared. And, so while you're dropping questions in the chat, just a reminder, you can register for our next webinar and then also for the guided walk through that's coming up this Friday. So let me see. Some of these questions could be for you, Whitt. Some of them for me. So Michael says, which MA or PDP plans are more favorable for pharmacies in 2026? So, I'll start with I'll pass it to you that, there's no silver bullet. Right? So, it really depends a lot on what prescriptions a patient is filling. Right? Because one plan's gonna reimburse them differently than, or the same plan may reimburse differently depending on the formularies and, and the medication that the patients are on. But generally speaking, right, if we we looked at some of these plans that we talked about before, right, some of the WellCare Cigna's, they roll up to ESI. You know, look at your reimbursement rate on that. Compare it to some of the others that are out there. And generally speaking and it looks like a lot of the rates may stay consistent going into next year. We don't know for sure yet. But UnitedHealth on brands, AWP minus 19% has been the better playing plan on the brand side for the last few years, especially versus, you know, in in ESI. So I think those are your two extremes that you wanna look at. Right? ESI, the most aggressive. UHC providing the better opportunity of of the other plans, both on the MA or and and PDP, side. And and and if you're rural, then those things change a little bit more. Right? Then you have some more favorable rates. But if you're not, you wanna look at those two extremes. Right? UHC on one end, WellCare, on the other. Yeah. I would go along with that, definitely. And and, Humana can be good too, especially if you're meeting your equip metrics. I think you mentioned that earlier, Marvin, that, you can get that back. So, those tend to be our most popular plans, the the UHC plans and the and the Humana plans. And, honestly, PDD, there's probably not a good one. So picking the the least bad one, like you're saying, is is the boy to go on that one. Yep. No. Thanks thanks, Whit. So I hope that was, you know, helpful for for you, Michael. So, again, no silver bullet, but you wanna generally look at something, UHC being the better one historically on the brands, and ESI, particularly on WellCare than Cigna being, some of the poorer ones on the on the brand side. Yeah. And and we did also mention earlier too, though, on those, MA plans, not just what's the best, you know, as far as reimbursement goes, but also what's the best as far as other opportunities, other clinical opportunities, other potential DMV opportunities. So looking at at the big picture, not just that that, what we're seeing for the drug side. Yep. Great point. So, Michael, if you're, you know, if you're doing any medical billing, if you're contracted credential contracted as a provider with some of these carriers, MA plans fall under that umbrella. So, you know, look at if there's a couple plans you are, then you wanna look and align patients that are gonna, you know, again, save money switching those plans, but then open up some opportunities for yourself where you're looking beyond just the the the PBM revenue. But the PBM revenue is a big part of it. Right? And that's why we're showing that's why we show the estimated revenue on there because at the end of the day, 90% of independents, their revenue is coming from dispensing. Right? So, we're we're we're all looking to switch over more to a more diversified revenue stream. But for now, it still is very prominent on the, PBM side. But, you know, again, this process could help you diversify a bit more with aligning with some of those those plants. Christina had a question. It is, not a stupid question, but, says I'm learning about all this stuff now. We service, we service boarding cares. Last year, I tried to do comparisons to try to get them on better plans. Have either of you dealt with talking about plan changes with case workers for those SSA or SSI or both? So what do you think? What have you had experience with working with, case case workers? I have not. I'm I can see a potential there. I do know that they typically do not understand it even, like, even our our state, SHIP programs where you've got volunteers basically telling people what to do. They don't get it. So, I'm focused I'm gonna focus my time probably more on a patient that I've got, but, you know, that's it's certainly if you have a relationship with that person and you can get them to to to listen to what you're saying, I'm all for any anything that you can do like that to get, support for what you're recommending, I think, is is gonna be key. Absolutely. So yeah. And that's a good point because I've seen the same thing. There was a study that the SHIP counselors, you know, have been putting patients on plans that haven't been the best for for the patient. Right? So it is complicated, as we all know, which is probably why we're all here trying to make some sense of this complicated process. But oftentimes, yeah, a lot of these case workers, you know, they need your help with some of this. Right? So Absolutely. You know, reviewing the drug profile with them, you already have the drugs uploaded. You already have what's in network for you, what's gonna cost the patient. So you're really guiding them to helping, your mutual patient in this case, with a better plan. So so you can you know, I know you're just Christina, you said you're just learning about those all the stuff. Probably, some of these case workers too. I'm just learning the stuff, and I'll I'll be learning it from from you. And, you know, that's another thing too. I don't deal with a lot of that at our sites. But if that was a majority or I had a a large number of patients that I would have was having that situation, that would be different. Then I would be digging in to figure out, well, how can I make this work? So, I guess my my initial answer is we don't do it, but that doesn't mean it can't be done and it can't be done efficiently. Especially if you got a large number of patients, you gotta figure that out. Absolutely. And, Jim had a question about the estimated revenue. So what is the estimated revenue or patient cost based on? The patient filling out your own pharmacy or something like Walgreens, etcetera? Or are they typically the same? Good question. So your default view is gonna be everything that's in network at your pharmacy and what the patient will pay at your pharmacy and what the estimated revenue is at your pharmacy. We do have a little toolbar for nearby pharmacy tool where we aggregate some pricing so you can compare what it would be like on, let's say, a SilverScript plan at your pharmacy versus a Walgreens. But it is the default view is is your patients and you're helping guide them to plans that are gonna save them money and also some insight into, the the the estimated revenue. And and, you know, I'll touch a bit on the estimated revenue piece of it because we get some questions about that. Is that, you know, CMS, they publish this data and they put it up on medicare.gov and they have a full cost figure which represents the the revenue for the pharmacy. Right? That's a combination of the, co pay or coinsurance the patient is gonna pay you, dispensing fee, and also what the the rest of that reimbursement, is as well. And what we found through the years is that is often inflated. Right? Even, you know, DIR fees made it really chaotic, but even more so now, in some cases, this stuff is really inflated because you're seeing, some full cost or revenue projections coming from CMS for the pharmacy that are just a lot higher than when you're actually getting paid. So what we do is that with some sources, you know, some webinars, industry webinars that are put out there by several different stakeholders, is that we basically aggregate and take a blended average of what those reimbursement rates actually are. Right? So so, like, the AWP rate of those for brands in particular and are overriding what we're getting from the government site into what those actual rates are. Right? Those completed averages. So what you're seeing is not gonna be as inflated as what you're seeing on CMS. Right? And at times, there's some smaller payers that come in where we don't have, you know, an an an, average completed average for that particular plan. You just need to let us know. Be like, hey. I think this has been inflated. This is the rate that I've heard this is going for, and we'll plug it in, for you to make that a a bit more accurate. But but I just wanna touch on that because the revenue piece is a big part of why our customers use match. And starting going into next year, we're gonna have an ROI reimbursement tool that shows you, hey. This is how many patients switch plans, and this is what that difference in in, reimbursement was for the pharmacy. So, Christina, about the case worker, my head exploded last year over the board in care of patients. We service a lot. Yeah. So, you know, hopefully, it's something that can help simplify that, that relationship and that process for you. So I know we're a little over. I'm gonna take one more question, here. So Christina said Sai. And, for you, Whit Moose is gonna be from Lisa. What are your opinions between regular Medicare and Advantage Plans? So we talked on it a bit, but if you wanna put a bow on it, Whit Moose, pass it over to you. I think one of the best things I've seen or best ways I've heard some someone explain that is if you've got regular Medicare, you're doing a part d, and you're doing, a Medicare supplement plan to pick up the difference, you're paying a premium price for that. But you probably as far as your health side of it goes, you're gonna have great coverage with that that that that, supplement is gonna pay for stuff, but it is way more expensive. And so the MA plans, to me make sense just because I think they're in the big scheme of things over the year that that patient's looking at, it's probably gonna save them money. But I always do I think the the thing was, if you want the most expensive plan, but you want something that covers you, that's the way to go. If you want a plan that's that, is a little more economical, but, you know, for most people and and we had the $2,000 max show up last year. And most people are paying way more than $2,000 a year for their supplement. So, anyway, I think, it comes down to economics on that. I think another thing I saw come up on a couple of these questions as I was kinda reading back, A lot of people, I think, had questions about providers being covered. And and, Marvin, you might do do a better job of explaining, say, the HMO versus the PPO in that situation because most of your advantage plans have both options, as far as providers being covered. Yep. Yep. With HMO, right, they'll need to see a primary doctor that could then, refer patients to to a specialist. So that primary doctor serves as the gatekeeper, so to speak, to, obtain additional coverage with with, again, with providers. But the main difference is in terms of providers is that on original Medicare, you as a patient, you see any doctor in the country that accepts Medicare and you're covered. Right? Where on Medicare Advantage, works a lot more like private insurance. It is a form of private insurance, right, for Medicare, where you have to make sure that doctors are in network. Right? So, that's one of the ways they manage their costs. And really one of the ways that they're profitable is by limiting those doctor networks. So, I know there's a question by Marvin here about those doctor networks and how accurate they are. And and you're right, Marvin. There's been, even the government released some information a few years ago that these directories, public directories are often 50% of the time, they're wrong, or they're outdated, or the doctor is no longer he's retired, or she's, no longer at that office. Right? So, what we would suggest best practice there is doing the plan comparison and narrowing it down to three plans based on drug coverage. Right? And the things that you're aware of and that the tool is able to provide you information on. And then looking to see of those plans that they're covering their doctors. And that's if that's either by calling the doctor, and that can help strengthen their relationship with the doctor a bit too. Right? You can say, hey. I'm looking reviewing plans with the with our our for mutual patient and just wanna make sure, you know, what are you in network with. Right? And really kind of doing that rapport with the provider in that way. And over time, you'll also know whether it's a particular doctor or health system or hospital in the area that they are covered on their certain plans. Or, you know, if you work with a local broker, they have some of those tools since they're connected with the carriers, that provide doctor network information. Or if you're working with some of our partner brokers at HP one, again, they have the relationship with the carriers too, so they have that doctor network look up too. So if you go that route, it's narrowing down that plan selection to about three plans and then, you know, having them connect with one of our brokered agents to make sure that, those providers are covered. Alright. So I think we've gotten through most of the questions. I know we went a little over everyone, so thank you so much. And thanks, Whit, for joining us. You know, thanks everyone for, spending your time with us today. You know, we know AEP is gonna be a another chaotic challenging one, but it's also a big opportunities for pharmacies that lean in. As with said, right, what you're doing or not doing this fall is gonna set you up, for 2026. So we'll send some follow-up links with what we shared here today. Again, in the meantime, make sure you're signing up for our walk through this Friday and our next webinar, October 14. With thank you. Thank you so much again, and everyone else have a great rest of your day. We'll see you next time. Great. Thanks, Marvin. Thanks, everybody. Bye.