11/16 Julie Miller and Steve Church, BluMine Health

11/16 Julie Miller and Steve Church, BluMine Health

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Chamber Connection on Talk Radio ten eighty,
a program designed for small business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and
community members who are eager to learn more about the
intricacies of running a successful business, hosted each week by
the dedicated staff of the Chamber of Saint Matthews. Now
here's your host for this week, Josh Suitter, CEO.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good afternoon and welcome to the Chamber of Connection on
Talk Radio ten eighty. My name is Josh Suitor and
I will be your host today. And today in the
studio I have Julie Miller and Steve Church with Blue
Mine Health. Welcome in, guys, Thanks, thanks for having us.
So we're gonna start with an easy question. Why don't
you both take a couple of minutes tell me a
little bit about yourselves and what you do at Blue Mine.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, I am the director of sales and Marketing for
Blue Mine. I've been with them for ten years now,
time flies. Prior to that, I was in the staffing
industry for fifteen years and just saw a need for
employees that didn't have access to care and Blue mind
fulfilled that. So it's been a pleasure to be here
and make sure that we're helping folks get healthier, one

(01:07):
person at a time.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yeah, And I came from the insurance background. I have
a benefits background health insuranceation for thirty three years.

Speaker 5 (01:18):
I retired in twenty twenty.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
One and Michael and Julie approached me and said, would
you like to work with us on the side and
just do some consulting.

Speaker 5 (01:29):
I said, sure, it sounds great.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
So I wrote it along with Julie for about a
week and loved the concept. And I've been here now
a little over a year, so it's been a fun treat.

Speaker 6 (01:39):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So for those of you who don't know, we just
recently the Chamber entered into a partnership with Blue Mine,
and so the inspiration behind today was we wanted you
to get to know one of our newest partners. So
my next question is can you describe to our listeners
what exactly is Blue Mine?

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Probably the best way to describe it is exclusive access
or membership to a network of healthcare centers for primary care,
wellness and chronic condition management. We have two goals in mind,
to guide members to healthier outcomes and to save employers
money on their healthcare costs.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
And I think one of the reasons why I was
so attracted to what Blue Mine is doing is having
been in the space where health insurance year over year
for employers continue to go up ten twenty percent every year,
Blue Mine offered an opportunity to turn a lever that
would give the employers some control. So what I feel

(02:37):
like is Blue Mine is a sweetener to a health plan,
and it really really fits well into a very good
offering for employees for retention and also for attraction of
new employees.

Speaker 6 (02:50):
Yeah, we would agree.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
The whole reason we entered the partnership is we have
our own health insurance plan. And one of my first
questions for Julie was are we stepping on toes here?
And it was like, no, absolutely not. So we're excited
to work with you guys. So when it comes to
Blue Mind, how does blue Mind differ from my primary
care physician?

Speaker 3 (03:10):
You know, I think I would start with a little
history lesson the concept of a clinic is not new.
It actually started in the eighteen hundreds with the coal
mine and railroad industry, and interestingly enough, we have signed
a coal mine to serve. But family practice doctors have
moved to concierge medicine, but not everyone can afford that.

(03:30):
So what we've done is volumeize that and we're making
it an attractive benefit for employers and the employees and
their family members.

Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, and if I could just jump in on that
as well. You know the difference in a blue mine
care center and going to your primary care doc. I
would say the number one is time spent with the patient.

Speaker 5 (03:51):
We are not.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
You know, we're not obligated to just spend a thirteen
or fourteen minute chunk of time because we don't build insurance.
We don't have those constraints. The second thing would and
Julie touched on this a little bit earlier. Access. We
are in some essen essences a one stop shop. So
if you come in with an earache, we see you

(04:14):
for an earache, we can walk you out of the
door with the antibiotics for that earache, and you don't
have to go to the Walgreens or the Kroger's and
wait in the line and do all that stuff as well.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
So that's g's convenient.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
We have a great referral program if you do need
specialty care, consistency of care, our people, our providers are
always there. It's not like, you know, you go to
a little clinic or something like that and you might
not see the same provider ever, you know, because they
rotate around.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
And then the sixth thing is outcomes.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
We track outcomes and we focus on outcomes. So when
you are getting healthier and your family's getting healthier, we
track that and it's very, very important.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
It's one of our key indicators of success.

Speaker 6 (04:56):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
And I'll tell you one of the things that attracted
me most to you was that convenience factor.

Speaker 6 (05:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
You know, sometimes you call your prime of your head
doctor and they say, oh, well, we might be able
to get you in this week. Look, man, I'm running
a fever of one hundred and two. We can't drag
this out for a week.

Speaker 6 (05:11):
Right.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
The simplicity here is what really I think sets you
all apart, and that's part of why we entered this
partnership with you all. So I'm going to have you
all talk a little bit about this partnership with the
chamber and how does that look and what do employers
need to know about it?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Sure, so we saw a need to serve smaller employers
and not overlook the business owner that has maybe three
or four employees, and while we have groups that are
over two thousand employees and serve nearly thirty thousand members,
we wanted to make sure that our local businesses have
access to so in supporting the communities and the chamber,

(05:47):
we've put together a package for chamber businesses to access
that membership and the services that Blue Mine offers.

Speaker 5 (05:54):
You know what the chamber.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Does is it really allows many companies to get benefits
that they could not get on their own. And what
we do just dovetails really quite well into that.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Now that's actually a good point because you know, in
our in our chamber, not only is the health insurance benefit,
we have a workers comp plan, we have discounts on
office supplies, and we've gotten real creative about how we
find those approaches to entice people to come along. And
when you all approached us, I went, well, this is
definitely a nice way to add on to that health

(06:28):
insurance piece, which has added about five hundred members to
our chamber. But now this is going to help us
add even more and increase our offering star members, which
is probably the single most important part of doing this.
So just excited to see how this grows and how
it goes from here. So what do you all love
most about Blue Mine.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
I think that one of the members that we had.
You know, we've got wellness programs and they're very interactive.
We have a whole team that supports that. But after
we had finished one of our lunch and learns that
went along with healthy eating and how to do that
and you know, recipes, came up to me afterwards and
he hugged me and he said, you know, I think
it's your fault, but I'm going to live longer. I thought, well,

(07:12):
if that's what we're accomplishing every day, then we're doing
the right thing right. Steve usually says, you know, we're
keeping people out there to make sure that they can
go to the kids' soccer games, or the grandparents are
around to do things with their kids and so forth.

Speaker 7 (07:26):
And I think that's the key.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
You know, we can talk about how much money we're
saving employers, and that's important, you know, the CFO cares
about that, But I think even more importantly is the
quality of life that we can give back to people
in taking care of them and guiding them to healthier outcomes.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
And I would say that, you know, Blue Man has
the largest network of near sight clinics in the Kentuckiana area.
So of all of our competitors, we have thirteen right now,
we have thirteen clinics, soon to be fifteen and going
towards twenty five in near future. But the people in

(08:04):
each one of those clinics, when you go into a
Blue Mind clinic, you're going to find a friendly face
that's pretty much going to treat you like you know
the old family doc did right. They care and every
single office I've ever been into it's the same. The
providers care for you that you know, the people are

(08:24):
drawing your blood are there. It's just they get it,
they really do.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Julie, I'm glad to use the word quality of life
because that kind of leads me to another question. We
live in a world today where checking out of work
is harder.

Speaker 6 (08:38):
Right.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
We have email on our phones, We have Zoom, so
we can hop on calls at any point. So what
advice do you all have as folks who work in
the health industry to balance that personal life and that
work life.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
You know, we try to make sure that we are
doing that internally with our own staff and practice what
we preach, but we also as approaching care for our members,
we're thinking about what they need. You know, we're not
driven by claims. It's a flat fee membership to the
care centers and so we don't need you to come
back in if it's not necessary. So balancing things like

(09:15):
in person visits with telehealth so that we're meeting people
where they are. And we have a variety of industries
that we serve, so if it's a transportation company, those
drivers may not be able to make it in as
easily as maybe our university employees.

Speaker 7 (09:28):
So again, just.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Making sure that we're meeting them where they are and
providing the services that are needed by that family group.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
So I'm going to back up to one of the
things you mentioned earlier, wellness programs. So we're all familiar
with like weight loss programs. What other wellness programs do
you all have that our reader our listeners should hear about.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
You know, I think one of the wisest things that
we're navigating to is calling it healthy outcomes as opposed
to wellness. That feels like a worn out word these days,
and we really want to quantify what that is. And
for each employer it can be something different, you know,
for some they've had a biometric screening once a year,
but nothing else after that. So we always tell them,
you know, if you step on the scales and you

(10:11):
don't like the number, but you don't have a plan,
then we need to do something. So we customize it
based on what we see that employer is going to
need and what outcomes they want to achieve.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
And if I can jump in here, So we were
at a care center over in New Albany, I'm sorry,
over in Jeffersonville a couple of days ago, and our
nurse practitioner was talking about an interaction with a member, right,
and we not only talk about the nuts and bolts
of your health, but it's like, you know, setting personal
goals and helping people reach their personal goals, helping people

(10:44):
guard their schedule.

Speaker 5 (10:46):
The little word no is a very very big word
that we just avoid.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
So our schedules are packed, prioritizing our health because we
follow up. We can do that, you know, establishing these
guardrails where we can and not only help the physical help,
but the mental health as well. Practicing gratitude and then
valuing others. I mean, those are things that are that
our caregivers are talking to the members about and that

(11:11):
really helps balance some of these things out. You know,
work life balance is a really tough one.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Life balance is what we're looking for.

Speaker 6 (11:20):
Yeah, I think you're right. Well, we're going to take
a short break.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
When we come back, we're going to continue our conversation
with Julie and Steve about Blue Mine Health and a
little bit about some of their expansion and challenges. So
stay with us, come right back on Talk Radio ten eighty.

Speaker 8 (11:40):
Does your business need health insurance? The Benefits Firm is
here to help with a Saint Matthew's Chamber insurance plan.
We can help your small business with health insurance. Our
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(12:02):
at five zero two four six A one six ninety
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Speaker 1 (12:10):
Talk Radio ten eighty, Real News, Real Talk.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Welcome back to the Chamber of Connection on Talk Radio
ten eighty.

Speaker 6 (12:21):
This is Josh Souder.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
I'm your host today and back in the studio with
me is Julie and Steve with Blue Mine, and we're
going to dive right back into our conversation. So I
know for a fact you guys are expanding throughout the area,
but I want to hear from you all tell our
listeners a little bit more about your expansion plans in
the region and what do they need to know.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
So right now, we have thirteen care centers across Kentucky
and southern Indiana. Our newest ones will be coming to
East Louisville and New Abanie, Indiana. In January, we'll have
two clinics opening in West Virginia, and then our next
stop is going to be Tennessee. So we'll have a
strong focus in twenty twenty five to have half a
dozen or so open in the Tennessee area.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
Yeah, and my focus, Josh, is just the I sixty
five corridor. You know, there's a lot of things that
are going on just right down I sixty five. You know,
we've got a we've got a clinic in Shepherdville. We've
got a clinic in Barge Town, so that's close. But Etown.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
You know that big battery plant's going down and right
right outside of Etown. So we feel like that there's
going to be a need for what we do in
some of those areas that are really close to Louisville
and still have Louisville maybe a Louisville presence, uh, because
employers will drive for those.

Speaker 6 (13:36):
Jobs absolutely well.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
And when you guys get to that point, don't forget
You've got chamber of friends over here, you know, chamber
directors all over Kentucky.

Speaker 6 (13:45):
I'm happy to make those connections.

Speaker 7 (13:46):
We will certainly be tagging you in for that.

Speaker 5 (13:48):
That's important.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
So obviously, in any business, there are challenges, right, we
all have them. What are some of the challenges you
all face at Blue Mine?

Speaker 7 (13:58):
You know, first, I think we're a best kept secret.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
We want the world to know we bought these magnets,
and I said, I want a Blue Mind magnet on
every refrigerator in Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (14:08):
Right.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
But I think one of the things when we get
in front of a customer or a potential customer is fear,
you know, this just must be too good to be true.
How can you possibly be delivering this level of care,
especially if they've had the experience of not getting into
a primary care so overcoming fear and then just lack
of understanding, you know, I feel like we have to
tell the story and make sure that we're educating people

(14:30):
on how we really make this work, because maybe they've
been burnt on a different scenario and it didn't work
out for them. So we're asking them to overcome their
fear and understand and trust us that we can deliver
on what we're promising them.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
And I think, you know, one of the things that
is so important to me from the Chamber perspective is
that we can now bring this concept from the huge
corporations that have been doing this for many, many years
down to a level of where the entrepreneur or the

(15:04):
or the employer with ten employees can bring this right
into their organization and say this is something that you
get only when you're working for you know, Ford or
Toyota or something like that. And now we can bring
it down to a member of the Saint Matthew's Chamber

(15:25):
and say you can have that too. And by the way,
the cost is much less than what you would anticipate
because you're not you're not funding the whole thing. You're
funding your portion of it because we have shared sites,
so we have many employers using one of our sites.

Speaker 6 (15:43):
You're right.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
And the interesting thing, Juliet, is something that you said
was the overcoming fear you know, when you guys first
approached us, I was like, I have no idea who
these people are, right, But Amanda in my office immediately screamed,
oh my gosh, I love Blue Mind. Can you please
make this happen? And that was a testimony old to
the work you all do, because Amanda came to us

(16:04):
from the trucking world and she was used to utilizing
Blue Mind. And here I was thinking, I knew Louisville
real well, and I went, I've never heard of these people.

Speaker 6 (16:12):
I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
But then you started dropping other chambers that we work
with and that I know and had conversations with them,
and so I think that fear piece is a part
of it. But I also think your best kept secret
comment is also true. And that leads to my next question.
How do you market your services out to consumers? And

(16:33):
how can we as a chamber leverage that a little
bit as well?

Speaker 5 (16:37):
Well?

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Just like you mentioned, we have relationships with several chambers,
and we are so grateful that the Chamber at Saint
Matthew's has allowed us to be part of their program now.
But networking and working through those we want to make
sure we're good community partners. So we're looking for ways
that we can integrate and serve before we're asking for business.

Speaker 7 (16:57):
So we'll do that a lot of times.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Chambers referrals, you know, just like you mentioned, Amanda, We've
had other companies that have come to us because someone
knows someone or a spouse says, well, gosh, why don't
we have this, you know, So it's been through those referrals.
And we're working with a brokerage community too, So we've
got great partnerships with strong brokers in the community, and
we're very grateful that they've taken the time to learn

(17:21):
about Blue Mind, to our clinics and really see what
we're doing and then trust us enough to put that
in front of their clients.

Speaker 6 (17:32):
I was waiting to see if Steve was going to
add to that.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
I couldn't say any better. I mean, I really couldn't.
It really is just name recognition and getting out there.

Speaker 6 (17:40):
It just is absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
You also mentioned partnerships and so that leads to a
whole other question. How do you all partner and collaborate
within the local community.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
You know, a lot of our employer groups will have
a particular event or charity.

Speaker 7 (17:56):
We've been on five k walks.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Because we had a that said, hey, guess what, we're
going to have this and you're going to co sponsor,
and so we're out there at seven o'clock in the
morning and doing that. You know, you got to practice
what you preach. So we're doing things like that. We're
also looking to support local charities. And every time a
golf scramble comes up, I don't play, but I'm like, hey,
guess what, guys, you're going to be playing in a
golf scramble. So we're trying to make sure that we're

(18:20):
connecting in the community, but not just for the fun things,
also for things related to health and wellness. You know,
we want to participate in those or help build those
as we're working with our employer groups and again, practice
what we preach, you know, and get out there and
do it.

Speaker 5 (18:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:35):
Health fairs are something that we really like to participate in.
If we could get you a table or a booth
at a health fare, the HR conventions. The SHIRM convention
is another way to you know, to get out there
in front of the HR folks that are making these decisions.
But being present is one thing, but being present and

(18:59):
active is another. And that's what we really try to do.
We try to we try to make sure everybody knows
that we're in the room without being rude.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
No, that's that's perfect. And honestly, that's part of what
attracted us to you all is that connection you have
in the community, and not just hearing it from my
own staff member, but hearing it from Anita Bullet County
who loves you guys. She just raves and so that
that partnership and collaboration is a big piece of who

(19:29):
we are and you all brought that right to the
table with you, and so I wanted to make sure
our listeners heard that. And by the way, Julie, we
have a golf scramble in July, so get ready.

Speaker 7 (19:38):
We'll be there. I'll send you golfers from our staff.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
I think I might be on that team. I really
appreciative of that.

Speaker 6 (19:45):
I love it. And we're at Eagle Creek and Oldham County.

Speaker 5 (19:48):
So that's a great track.

Speaker 6 (19:49):
Yeah, yeah, we're pretty excited about it.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
So I'm gonna shift gears a little bit and we're
going to do more of a personal piece here. So
if you could go back in time and offer one
piece of advice to your younger self when you were
first starting out, what would that be.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
So, you know, we're a health and wellness company, right,
so I think my first answer has to be exercise
more and slow down on the chocolate.

Speaker 7 (20:15):
So you know, yeah, I mean, there's just I am so.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Grateful that I get to be part of a company
that is truly making a difference, you know, and everything else.

Speaker 7 (20:25):
And so maybe I would have just said be patient.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
You're going to have a job and a career someplace
where you truly do make an impact with other people
and things like that. And like the guy that said
I'm probably going to live longer is going to be
your fault.

Speaker 7 (20:37):
I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. That's a
great legacy, and I would like.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
To I thought about this question too as we were
preparing for this. I had three criteria for coming to
work for Blue Mind. The first was that I wanted
to work for a company that wasn't all about the money.
They had to have something that was more important than
just making money.

Speaker 5 (20:59):
Blue Mind checks box number two.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
I wanted to work for an organization that allowed me
to use what limited brain power that I had, but
it had to be intellectually stimulating. Blue mind does that
because we get to solve problems for folks, right. And
then third was I wanted to work with nice people.
I did not want to work with people who were
not nice, and Blue Mind checks that box. So for me,

(21:23):
if I could go back in time, I would I
would say, you just need to be to be more
of the following. Be more consistent, be more persistent, be
more present, and be more useful. Blue Mind does all
those things as well, so it's really a good fit
for me my later in my second career.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
I always liked that question because I never know who's
listening and how old they are, and so if there's
a twenty three year old, I hope you listen to
that advice because you needed to hear it. Let's talk
a little bit about trends in the industry. I know
in our world there's always a new trend, there's a
new fad. How do you all stay on top of
the trends?

Speaker 6 (22:02):
In your industry.

Speaker 7 (22:05):
Education seminars.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
You know, we're always trying to find places where we
can collaborate with others in our industry, you know, and
collaboration not just competition.

Speaker 6 (22:15):
Right.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
We always feel like we're the best, But the way
we stay on top of our game and make sure
we're the best is to talk to others and learn
from some of the things that they made mistakes in
to make sure that we're always doing better. And if
we ever get to a point that we think we
can't improve, we need to quit, right. We always need
to be looking for ways that we can be just

(22:36):
a little bit better and serve our customers a little
more consistently for that.

Speaker 7 (22:42):
But you know, besides.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
Education, looking back at where we've been, you know, we
always have strategic meetings to say what worked well and
what do we excel in, let's make sure we continue
that and where could we have improved and take an
honest look at ourselves and say here's where we can
do better and then put it into Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
And I think Julie thinks that I probably have the
most questions of any person she's ever known in her life.
But curiosity is also how we stay ahead of the game.
When you stop being curious and you think you know everything,
that's when somebody's going to come up and slap you.
And we are not a company that's going to sit
back on our laurels and rest.

Speaker 5 (23:20):
We are going to always be at the cutting edge.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, And I think that's another feather in your all's cap.
If you will, you do, you genuinely care and it
shows in everything that you do. So I want to
take a minute and thank you both for sitting down
with me today and sharing a little bit about Blue Mind.
If you want connections to Julie and Steve, reach out
to the Chamber.

Speaker 6 (23:41):
I want to help you. I want to help connect
you all to them.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
And if you're interested in learning more about the Chamber
of Saint Matthews, you can check out our website Saint
Matthews Chamber dot com or you can find us on
Facebook and LinkedIn. And make sure you tune in next
week because we're going to hear from Camera and Beck
with Game Day Men's Health. That'll be Saturday at eleven
o'clock on the Chamber Connection on Talk Radio ten eighty.

Speaker 6 (24:03):
Have a great day,