Taking on the challenge of changing the state of health care in rural areas

IntelliCare president Mario Silos’ credentials say it all. Having spent a significant portion of his career in the fields of investment banking, insurance and pre-need, Mario Silos was paving a road towards a place of big opportunities not only for himself but for an even bigger number of people as well.

As president of IntelliCare, one of the country’s leading Health Management Organizations (HMOs), Silos firmly believes that the capacity to grow and expand, be it as a person or an organization, is directly proportional to the size of one’s dreams. And from its very beginnings, IntelliCare was driven by big, hairy, audacious goals or what he likes to call, B.H.A.G.

At closer inspection, one will indeed see that IntelliCare has expanded towards nobler aspirations. For what started for him as a dream to make premium medical care accessible to people at an affordable rate has turned into a far loftier wish to change the state of health care in the country.

IntelliCare started as a company that wanted to deliver value to its members by establishing new benchmarks of service excellence in the health care delivery. The company was able to achieve that in time and eventually found itself innovating and challenging known boundaries of HMO standards.

"By the mere fact that an HMO exists and offers benefits or promises, it is already participating in that endeavor (to change the state of health care). But it is infinitely better if you are keenly aware of what you are doing because you are able to drive it forward, far beyond pure business considerations," Silos explains.

Needless to say, IntelliCare is keenly aware of what it is doing. So aware that it is now the most widely trusted HMO there is. By way of its own success, it is paving much smoother and wider roads towards the desired objective.

Since its inception 11 years ago, IntelliCare has actually taken giant strides to achieve dominance in an industry that has been in existence for over 25 years. In that short span of time, IntelliCare is looking at taking the actual lead in the industry in the foreseeable future. Today, the company can account for a significant share of the total HMO clientele.

The desire to change the state of health care actually encompasses a variety of concerns. Chief of which is making medical practice especially in the rural areas a more desirable prospect than it used to be.

"Brain drain is really prevalent in the provincial areas. Most of the doctors who practice there are hard-pressed with the income they earn and even compounded by the lack of the national budget to upgrade facilities of existing government hospitals and clinics," Silos says. Given this scenario, IntelliCare ultimately seeks, when it enters the rural areas, to provide benefits to doctors and to offer service to patients similar to those given to their counterparts in the urban areas.

"When an HMO enters a certain area, it gathers membership among large groups. The HMO then channels this potential usage to potential servicing by hospitals and clinics in the area. If the HMO brings these members there, then it creates volume. That volume created then allows doctors in those areas to have a minimum number of patients for them to make it worth their while to stay or earn a decent living and to contribute to the community," Silos explains.

In other words, the end is mutually beneficial between doctors or medical providers and their patients. The doctors are given what is due to them for their hard work and the members get the quality health care they deserve.

An HMO’s entry also bodes well for hospitals and clinics. The volume of patients will pave the way for premium health care facilities. For hospitals and clinics can eventually afford to invest in first-rate equipment, x-rays and CT Scan among others, because they now have the necessary volume to recoup such investments.

In the absence of HMOs, volume is limited. Patients who cannot make outright cash payments to hospitals and clinics are discouraged to seek these institution’s services. Instead, they seek out alternatives or just settle for less than par medical advice.

Sometimes in certain hospitals and clinics, the government’s investment in premium facilities needlessly deteriorate since there is not enough volume of patients who actually make use of them.

By using the concept of insurance, i.e. the law of large numbers, HMOs make premium health care available even to those who under normal circumstances cannot really afford it.

At the end of the day, everyone benefits from an HMO — from the doctors, the medical providers and facilities, the businessmen and ultimately, their workforce.

Despite IntelliCare’s tangible success, Mr. Silos is not wont to rest on his company’s proverbial laurels. "Success is not a destination but a journey. And one is simply moving from one milestone to the next," Silos says.

"One must not be afraid to embrace greatness or to aspire to something that is bigger than oneself. That greatness should of course not be borne out of conceit, rather an aspiration to wield positive influence and impact on as many people as possible," Silos affirms.