A conversation with Mike Butler, former President of Providence Healthcare

We sat down with former Providence Healthcare President, Mike Butler to discuss his new role as the chairman of the League Advisory Board. The conversation touches on Mike’s professional history, his involvement with League and what excites him about the digital healthcare market. The League Advisory Board comprises a diverse group of members with deep expertise spanning many facets of healthcare and technology. Advisory members provide transformational guidance for League’s go-to-market strategy and product development, drawing on vast leadership experience with institutions like Providence Healthcare, Aetna, Abbott, Moderna and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Q: Mike can you tell us a bit about yourself?

A: I’ve spent the last 35 years in the healthcare space, with the last 22 years at Providence where I served as CFO and then President. I helped build Providence from a $2 billion to a $25 billion organization. One of the things that I helped start when I was at Providence was our pro-ventures group, which was a minority investment that we made in 26 different companies, all of which focused on improving the patient and consumer experience (CX), as well as quality of care and affordability. I’ve always been frustrated with one-at-a-time point solutions, and I’ve been focused professionally on finding ways to improve CX and create customers for life.

Q: How did you get involved with League?

A: I worked for many years with Brian Ancell (League’s President and COO). He reached out to me, knowing my frustrations and concerns, and said that League is an organization that would be great for me to work with, advise and help realize their vision, which I completely believe in. This idea and approach that League has created—a platform for healthcare—versus a bunch of apps or point solutions. This really is a game-changer in healthcare. The industry needs to drive great consumer experiences, greater affordability and better predictability as people optimize their health going forward. Brian then introduced me to Mike Seribinis and Andrew Dubowec, and we hit it off. I met other folks who were on the advisory board, and it made a lot of sense that I should join.

Q: Can you tell us about the League Advisory Board?

A: What I really like about it is the quality of the people and the different backgrounds that are represented. We have people from a number of sectors in healthcare—pharmacy, payers and providers—and we can utilize this diversity to get feedback to Mike and the League team. The focus of an advisory board, in my opinion, should be on the go-to-market strategy or the commercialization strategy. My position will allow me to work closely with the board members to provide more of that outreach strategy. 

Q: What are you hoping to achieve as its new chairman?

A: I want to accomplish three things as the chair. The first is that I want to make sure every one of the advisory board members is getting the maximum professional value out of their position and making sure that they are helping build a company that we are proud of.

The second thing I want to do is pair up members of the advisory board with leaders from the organization. This will allow them to bring a different lens to the conversations they are having with potential healthcare clients. This type of relationship-building can be extremely powerful. 

The third thing I want to do is dig deeper into the advisory board and how these perspectives can help our conversations with distribution partners like Google, Deloitte and Accenture. We are here to be supportive of the team and their outreach.

Q: In terms of the healthcare industry, what excites you right now? 

A: I think what’s happening within the C-suite at payer and provider organizations is that they’re realizing that buying or building a bunch of point solutions is not going to optimize their position in the marketplace. To truly change and create that customer for life, they need the platform that League has built. They need the ability to lay out any app on the platform, whether they built it themselves or purchased it, and they need a way to integrate it so that it creates an immersive and engaging experience.

Q: Is this indicative of a change in how healthcare organizations approach digital transformation?

A: In the past, there was a mindset with payers and providers that they needed to build everything themselves while layering point solutions on top of things. Over time, this led to a fragmented CX and disjointed healthcare experiences. This independent philosophy has shifted and I think there is an incredible willingness for payers and providers to look for strategic partnerships. I think this idea of League being the Shopify of healthcare is a great analogy of what is possible.

Q: Considering you were the former president of a provider system, is there anything else that League offers that you think is particularly valuable?

A:  I think healthcare organizations really understand this idea of creating a customer for life and then optimizing the value and the health of that customer. A position that’s been underutilized in healthcare is the chief marketing officer (CMO). The CMO understands that creating a customer for life isn’t just about delivering quality care—that’s now table stakes and everyone is pretty good at it. The real differentiator is the CX that connects a person to a health system or a health plan. A platform like League enables this connectivity, and CMOs are owning this project.