Hello, everyone. I'm Peter Schmidt from Workday. Thank you for joining us for this podcast. We are thrilled to be joined today by Karen Downs, senior director, HR, technology, and operation at Prime Therapeutics. Karen, thank you so much for being here today. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. Great. Today, we're gonna discuss human resources and Prime Therapeutics' use of Workday. With that, let's dive right into our conversation.
So the first question, today, Karen, is can you tell everyone about yourself and a little bit about your professional experience? Sure. Happy to. So, as you said, Peter, so I'm currently at Prime Therapeutics, in the capacity of senior director, overseeing the HR technology and operations teams that also comprises payroll and HR compliance. So I've been at Prime since February of this year. Prior to that, though, I have been in the work deal, the HR technology space
for around about 6 years. My my background has really spanned, you know, project management, product management, program management Early on in my career, that led me to some technology software as a service organizations and then on to talent acquisition. I led talent acquisition teams at a large global supply chain organization. And while I was in that role, I found my way to Workday, Cornerstone, ServiceNow, really supporting the HR technology roadmap and have stayed in that space since.
Great. So Prime Therapeutics might not be familiar to everybody turning in tuning into the podcast today. Can you, explain a little bit about what Prime does? Absolutely. Yep. So Prime Therapeutics Diversified Pharmacy Solutions Organization, really in that pharmacy benefits management space offering innovative solutions around specialty and medical drug management and, and more recently, state government solutions. So really servicing
millions of people across the country. A key component of our mission and positioning is that we're endeavoring to reimagine pharmacy solutions to provide the care we'd want for our own loved ones in what is typically, you know, very complex and stressful situations.
So looking to challenge the way that things have always been done in this in this space, challenging that status quo, to develop intelligently designed solutions that focus more so on savings, simplicity, and support to help people achieve better health. Great. Well, that that certainly, helps a lot of us understand what Prime does.
So back to the my first question and and your tremendous amount of experience with HR transformations, can you share some of the highlights of your, your history, doing these sorts of transformations? Yeah. Yeah. I, personally, I feel really, really fortunate to have had the experience I've had, especially over the past 6 years since I've been in that HR,
technology space. And I would say even for a couple of years prior to that, being involved in HR transformations, it's, it's been fantastic to have, you know, a a front row seats and oftentimes even a seat at the table, to where business and HR strategy is being defined and then supporting the enablement of that and and really being able to be involved in and influence that end to end employee lifecycle from that point of candidate attraction all the way through to, you know, retirement
or termination. So for me, I would say some of the highlights have been that, you know, I've done 2 implementations of of Workday and ServiceNow and one of UKG thus far. And both of those implementations have really been complex in their in their own ways. One was a global implementation. You know, as we went live in 36 countries and we were bringing together
various different approaches to HR. Some were some countries were still working from whiteboards and and, you know, Excel spreadsheets, and others were on more legacy systems. And then my second implementation was only in in the US, but it was in a very, very regulated unionized environment. And so that brought with it its own inherent challenges. So they've both been fascinating
implementations of of work data work on. The companies I've worked through have been going through rapid change, and that's, you know, either been caused by growth into new markets, new geographies, acquisitions, or maybe it's, you know, changed due to technology that's changing either at the business or the HR level. The transformations have also been hinging upon cultural evolutions going on at the various companies as well. So just made for really interesting and complex work.
Beyond those implementations, very, very grateful for opportunities to work on dynamic roadmaps. You know, I love post production work where we're really able to leverage the technology that we've implemented to further HR and business strategy. And that has been a wonderful experience to be able to work on that across the gamut of, you know, payroll benefits, talent recruiting, it's, you know, compensation and such.
And I would say the last thing I'd mentioned here in terms of some, you know, one of my key highlights is that service delivery model. I get really energized by models and putting models in place that that leverage strong governance, and effective frameworks and really effective partnerships
upstream and downstream internally. So whether that's partnerships with IT and finance, audit, external vendors, bringing all of that together to create those effective frameworks have have certainly fallen into that highlight category for me. Great. Sounds like an incredible history, Karen. So looking at at Prime and and especially recently, the Magellan acquisition seems like a a pivotal moment for Prime. So is this gonna be a new business model, for Prime? Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. We've,
we we acquired Magellan. Sometimes you'll hear us call referred to as MRX, but we acquired them in in December of 2022. And so since then, we've been in this post acquisition landscape of really working to understand how do we bring together that legacy Prime and legacy MRX and really work together in more of that new Prime capacity. So it sounds like there are a lot of changes in the organizational structure. So how did how did you manage the acquisition? How did Prime make that happen?
Yeah. So I would say that, you know, as is really typical with any of that m and a activity, it happened very quickly. There's never enough time, right, to be as thoughtful and as planful as you as you would want to be. I'll break my answer down into into 2 sections. The first is from more of that technology and worker data standpoint. We engaged Accenture to to support the acquisition. What helped us in many ways is that Magellan was also a Workday customer.
So that's that's simplified thing here, less to do in terms of, you know, data mapping and such. So that was certainly going in our in our favor there. We didn't actually harmonize any data at the point of that initial acquisition. So we kind of brought over Magellan as it was in its own workday environment. And then harmonizing of that data has really been more of a focus in that post acquisition landscape the past couple of years.
Culturally and strategically, it was framed as a as a collaborative merger, really intended to be a happy marriage and a mutually beneficial, I would say, to to the goals and the strengths of both companies. But as you mentioned, it's certainly a new business model and once that's going through definition and now socialization.
Internally, it's absolutely, I would say, a priority to move into that new prime phase and also away from those legacy references and and really look ahead, to how we reap the rewards of of what has been a very strong collaborative merger. Great. I I think one of the things that always fascinates me is the talent transformation aspect of this, and it's an important, part of any company merger. How did Prime, leverage Workday to help navigate this issue?
Yeah. I think there's there's actually quite a few layers, to this question. Because post acquisition or those merger activities go through multiple phases, often over multiple years, and Prime's no exception to that. So the first stage is really understanding who our company is now from that talent perspective, and we really need worker data and accurate worker data for that. So, you know, as I mentioned, we did bring over Magellan structures
and hierarchies and job profiles and such. And at the start of this year, we began down more of that aggressive harmonization path, harmonize working with finance, I should say, to harmonize cost centers and supervisory orgs. And then for the past 2 years, we've been working on a on a harmonization initiative for job and compensation frameworks that will go
live at the end of this year. That's then really going to pave the way for a further phase of career frameworks, skills and competencies that will reflect new prime. And I think that second phase, which will likely run over 25, 26, will see us leveraging more of Workday's talent capabilities, both from a functionality perspective and then also from an analytics perspective.
Great. So going back to technology, one of the things that comes out whenever you talk about Prime is that, you know, modern technology, and it's a key focus for Prime. Can you tell us a little bit about about that and what types of strategic or customer objectives are tied into that move to modern technology? Yeah, sure. So I would say I can talk at length about this topic
of, you know, modern technology. It really is a passion area of mine because, you know, people have come to expect intuitive, user friendly, seamless interactions with companies. If you think about how easy it is to buy something online or really do anything in your personal life through your phone, whatever device you have. It's that very, very much that self-service mindset
that is inherent throughout our society now. And in some ways, the health care industry has struggled to keep up with that progress. In some cases, we're using technology that's, you know, decades old, which can create barriers and require a bunch of workarounds that can make our work harder and in turn can then cause friction and frustration for members and prescribers. So
for frustration for members and prescribers. So the prime uplifting our technology is a top priority, and we are making progress in that regard. For example, you know, technology is enabling us to complete more prior authorizations automatically, which means prescribers can receive real time clinical reviews and responses. And members can then get their prescriptions without surprises when they actually get to the pharmacy. And I would say another example is our
pharmacy match products. So Prime is conflict free, and doesn't direct patients to our owned pharmacies. So what pharmacy match does is it's a cloud based solution to help ensure members specialty medications prescription process between our clients and members easier, faster, and more intuitive. But what I'd also say is this, you know, concept of modern technology absolutely extends to our HR solutions. I I have this little joke of, you know, we live in the 21st century until we come
to work. And that is one of my own motivators to work in HR technology because of the opportunity to work on solutions that that bridge that divide between personal and work life. And I would say one example is that we recently implemented Workday help as a means of providing our employees a more modern, personalized, and and self-service driven model with which to engage with with HR.
Great. I I mean, it sounds like a phenomenal thing for for members to be able to, to to especially around specialty drugs, to be able to to find the the optimal situation for them. So, obviously, transparency is important to to Prime, conflicts of interest. You wanna mitigate those. And, and and I think another interesting fact is is that, you know, Prime talks about, going beyond profits.
So, you know, how do these, company values show up in your operations and in business practices, you know, particularly particularly in in in human resources? Are are there other things that you're endeavoring to do?
Yeah, I would say so from a business standpoint, first, you know, at Prime, we really are focused on doing what's right for those we serve and helping our customers choose the best and most affordable path for their for their members to get the medicine they need prioritizing more so of that seamless integration into the health care journey. Because as I mentioned earlier, that's what we would want
for our loved ones. You know, so we're not looking to steer people to our own pharmacies or pursue the highest margins and instead prime focuses on demonstrating true transparency to do what's right for its customers and their members, passing value back to those that it serves.
From an HR standpoint, similarly, I think that transparency is important and more really focusing on what do our employees need to not just do their work at Prime in an efficient in a productive way and breaking down some of those barriers and and, you know, mitigating some of the inefficiencies that can exist with the with the systems that employees have to have
to navigate. But then also for them as an employee itself, you know, they look to work day, they look to h. R. To support them as an employee around, you know, whether it's pay and benefits, etcetera. So I would say a focus for our strategy and our roadmap going forward is really on promoting that positive employee experience, empowering our employees to be effective and productive employees, but then also taking care of the human first as well through their interactions with HR.
So exciting milestone for us to introduce Workday help and, and have that be an example of how we're able to be transparent around HR policies, processes, putting information at our employees fingertips, and then providing a high level of care to our employees, as they are engaging with HR moving away from some of those legacy mailboxes moving to more of that modern experience, but making sure that our HR teams as they engage with employees
through, through Workday help case management, that they are committed and still continue to provide those superior levels of customer service. Thanks for sharing that. Really appreciate, the the commitment that that, Prime has on these topics. So can't have a can't have a a podcast discussion without talking about AI. Mhmm. So can you talk a little bit about what Prime, what the plans are for AI and how that might, you know, affect what you're working on?
Yeah. Yeah. So Prime is exploring options to harness AI to make our work stronger, more engaging, and more valuable to our clients and members. But it is important to note that with any option that we're pursuing, strong security has to be a top priority for us. Our clients and our members trust us to be good stewards of their data when we're dealing with PII, PHI, etcetera. And so we have to make sure that we ensure the proper policies, guardrails and governance
exist in order to do exactly that. Naturally, AI solutions to enhance and enable HR strategy and processes is certainly in scope for this discovery work. And I would say that, in general, there's a strong appetite and a desire to explore what AI can do for Prime and what AI can then in turn do for our members now, our employees. But we are really balancing that out with strong due diligence, around security, especially for for data.
Great. So, obviously, you know, you've got a tremendous amount of experience with Workday. Specific to Prime, you know, how has Workday helped Prime reach their corporate goals? Mhmm. I think in a in a couple of ways. You know, first, Workday itself is a company in in growth mode. When choosing vendors, I personally am always looking for vendors who can scale and diversify
with us. That to me feels a far better scenario for simplifying a technology footprint versus needing to find alternate vendors for more of those bolt on custom solutions. So with Workday's approach to R and D and continually expanding capabilities and its own acquisition strategy, there are increasingly fewer, if I can say that increasingly fewer needs that Workday can't meet. The second, I think, is is influence and
enablement. You know, the Workday community is so strong and it has such a it's such an advantage to be able to network and align with companies who forged a similar path and have tackled like challenges. So there's a lot of inspiration, a lot of assurance and solutions in being part of the Workday ecosystem. You know, we also get visibility into industry
trends to validate or influence our goals. And I think especially from an HR standpoint, to help us feel confident that we're working on the right things. Thank you. So we do have a couple of, final questions for you here, Karen. And, you know, contingent workforce is is really an important part of the strategy for for most health care organizations. Does Prime leverage contingent workers? Yep. We absolutely do. Yeah. We have both staff augmentation vendors, and then we have more of the
professional consulting, contingent workers. So we the different contingent worker populations in a couple of different ways. The first is staff augmentation, We manage through a third party through through Fieldglass that integrates into into Workday. More of our professional consulting contingent workers, we process them via ServiceNow. IT is on ServiceNow And then we add them manually into Workday.
So relative to Workday, do you have plans to increase how you manage those workers with Workday? I don't think it's necessarily a matter of increasing how we our view of contingent workers. But as with anything else, you know, on our roadmap is making sure that we are looking to leverage technology in the most appropriate way that we, that we automate, that we simplify, and that we ensure that we've got access to the to the data that we need around, this important worker population.
Great. Well, Karen, really appreciate, your time today. Thank you so much for joining, the discussion. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. I'd also like to thank, Workday for making this podcast available. And you could turn into more podcasts and virtual events from Becker's Healthcare by visiting, beckershospitalreview.com.