Oscar Health has hired a former Uber (NYSE: UBER) executive as its new chief operating officer.
Meghan Joyce, who was previously a regional general manager at Uber, will fill the position, which has been open since 2016, according to the health insurance startup backed by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL).
“Meghan possesses an incredible understanding of how to optimize complex processes while rapidly scaling a business, precisely what Oscar needs as we expand our footprint for the third consecutive year and continue to help our members navigate their health care with ease,” CEO and co-founder Mario Schlosser said in a press release.
New York City-based Oscar Health started as an Obamacare provider back in 2012.
Since then, the company has secured a $375 million investment from Alphabet, used that investment to positioned itself to break into Medicare Advantage (MA) and announced a major expansion into new markets.
Oscar plans to launch its MA offerings in 2020, but it’s unclear what those will look like or if they’ll include any home-based care offerings. Rules prevent insurers from discussing plan details until open enrollment begins in October.
Here’s what we do know: The company’s plans will be available in New York and Houston, pending regulatory approval, and the members will have the same “personalized experience” of those who receive Obamacare from Oscar, the company has said.
That means MA beneficiaries will likely have access to Oscar’s 24/7 virtual care, which the company says saves the average member $129 with every use.
Another prediction many have made is that startups like Oscar will shake up the MA industry — so it makes sense the company would draw from the talent pool of another disruptive startup in that of Uber.
“These plans can position themselves to be member-centric from the start and leverage technology to allow more direct interactions under a variety of different sales, marketing and enrollment channels — and also in designing their benefits in a more creative way,” Cavulus CEO Patrick Phillips told HHCN.
Hilton Head, South Carolina-based Cavulus is a technology firm that caters specifically to the Medicare Advantage industry, providing plans solutions for marketing, sales, compliance and more. Cavulus frequently interacts with MA startups, Phillips said.
Meanwhile, as COO, Joyce will build, scale and lead Oscar’s operations, as well as work with Schlosser to develop long-term growth strategies. These tasks are in line with Joyce’s work at Uber, where she grew a team of five to more than 700, the press release announcing the news said. She left the company in April before it went public.
HHCN reached out to Oscar for comment but had not yet heard back at the time of publication.
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