Insights from an Opyn Leader: Travis Droupy, Chief Client Officer

1. What are the biggest challenges in Workers' Compensation today, and how are payors adapting? 

When you look back on the last three years, quite a few things have directly impacted the workers' comp space. We had the COVID pandemic, we had a political change, and ultimately, we had and are still having, some economic grumbling. As a result, payors are now facing a wholly changed labor market and rising medical costs. 

Between older professionals choosing retirement and others leaving the industry for new opportunities, claims organizations are feeling the stress of a headcount that's already down and continuing to trend downward. Because of this, we're witnessing a transition to a less experienced and predominantly remote workforce. Plus, higher caseloads. It's no longer abnormal to hear of adjusters carrying 200+ files at a time, which is double what it was just a few years ago.

If that's not enough, we're also dealing with inflation and the rising cost of treatment. While medical inflation remains lower than general consumer inflation, medical care costs are still increasing. They're also starting to account for more of total claims spending than before. Without an accompanying rise in premium rates, carriers, in particular, are searching for new ways to contain costs.   

What we see as a result is a rise in the adoption of new technology solutions by payors. Solutions that automate, simplify, and integrate with existing systems being a key focus. When payors can deploy a tool that digitizes workflows to give time back to staff, better serve their claimants, and reduce medical and indemnity expenses, it's a huge benefit. Going forward, we'll continue to see accelerated adoption of a more tech-centric approach to work comp care, and payors that didn't lag will come out the better, despite these challenges.  

2. How does Opyn balance the need for automation and efficiency with the importance of providing compassionate support to injured workers? 

Oftentimes, when we hear terms like automation and efficiency, ultimately, there is a trade-off. Is it agency over a process, a human touch, meaningful engagement, etc.? This type of sacrifice typically happens when you automate for the sake of automating without thinking about the end users involved and what's actually helpful to them. 

At Opyn, we take a holistic approach to when and how we introduce technology and automation. We carefully consider the experiences of injured workers, payors, and providers and are very thoughtful about determining what we can do to simplify and improve the ancillary service engagement process for all constituents. 

For injured workers, that means doing away with the traditional call center and, more recently, the offshore model and taking a digital approach to how we communicate with them. Recent research shows that only 20% of Americans today will pick up the phone for an unknown number, while approximately 95% of text messages are read, no matter the sender. For us, that made this decision a no-brainer. While still offering call support as needed, we schedule and communicate digitally. It's more convenient, secure, and faster; doing so means we're seeing same-day treatments for 15% of our injured workers. That shows us that we're giving injured workers the support they need and want as they work on their recovery.   

3. What do you think separates Opyn from its competition?

Honestly, our entire approach is what separates us. For the first time, we're bringing transparency, which earns trust, and digital transformation to the ancillary space to help everyone win. Using our intelligent marketplace platform, we've improved the experience for injured workers, payors, and providers. 

By doing away with outdated call centers and percentage of savings models and by using technology to expedite workflows, we're saving payors money, paying providers more, and getting injured workers' care faster. And we're doing it with complete transparency. Payors know what providers get paid, and everyone has full program oversight with real-time reports and dashboards. We've brought all the historically hidden information into the light and simplified all the unnecessary complexities, and we're seeing everyone benefit because of it.  

Another thing that can't be underestimated as a differentiator is our team. We've all been in this industry for a long time and bring a lot of expertise, but most importantly, we all share the same passion for improving the care delivery return-to-work process. With that shared mission and the ability to execute, we're hitting new milestones rapidly. With other organizations dealing with a lot of instability and volatility, it's huge for us to grow the way we are, and that's a credit to the team.

4. We typically hear a lot about benefits to payors and injured workers, but what are some benefits that Opyn offers to providers? 

At Opyn, making it beneficial for providers to want to work with us is essential, and we treat them like the valued customers they are. Historically, they've been working within the silent PPO model where they're locked into a price, can be stuck chasing payment, and are sometimes shocked when they receive payment. We're doing things differently. 

Our providers are empowered to use the Marketplace however it best serves them and control their prices, which they can modulate for each patient as they see fit. Plus, they know exactly what they'll be paid, they only need to submit a bill once, and they receive detailed, real-time reporting to boost their success. Most importantly, they're receiving payment exponentially quicker. Within 16 days on average across our book. They also benefit from a dedicated provider experience team who supports them and ensures they have a voice in what we're doing. We're finding that because of this, providers enjoy working with us. They're actually becoming promoters on our behalf, helping to inform others about the Marketplace, which has been incredibly exciting.    

5. What's next for Opyn that you're most excited about? 

Everything! So many exciting things are happening that it's hard to nail down one "next" thing. We're continuing to implement new clients to the Marketplace and also to Opyn Iris, our commercial price transparency tool with over 1.7 million lives on the platform across 38 states. We're also working on some amazing product enhancements, and we've got workers' compensation ancillary product expansion plans going into effect later this year in a dozen additional states. Plus, we keep adding incredible new team members, which adds to our collective expertise and to the fun we're having. The market has never been this ready for digital transformation, and I feel so lucky to be here at Opyn and working to help progress the industry forward.  

Travis Droupy is the SVP, Chief Client Officer at Opyn Market^®. With over 25 years of industry experience, he is dedicated to reimagining client experiences, fostering long-lasting partnerships, and shaping an industry-leading standard of customer-centricity that drives sustainable growth and surpasses expectations.

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