Maximus CEO Bruce Caswell Talks Future of Health, Tech & Growth Opportunities in a Post-COVID World

Thank you, Summer. It's a pleasure to be here.

Sure. Well, Summer, as you well know, there are many aspects to the healthcare market in America. So recognize at the outset that my view is really from the perspective of citizen engagement and participation in government-funded programs like Medicaid and Medicare and disability benefit programs, including veterans benefits. With that as backdrop, COVID forced the healthcare market to evolve obviously, and it really accelerated changes that were underway even prior to COVID, like the greater use of technology in the form of telemedicine for assessments and care delivery. And that's created an expectation, I think, among beneficiaries, patients, clinicians, and so forth, and payers, that this can and should in some way continue. So from their standpoint, and ours as well, I think it's part of a broader trend that we would characterize as a trend toward personalized, patient-centered care. An example of how we're responding to this as a company is the work that we have underway with our Veterans Evaluation Services, or VES, subsidiary, which we acquired in 2021. We're investing in new technology to improve the customer experience, or CX as the slang has become, for veterans, and also in bringing the services to them really on their terms. And so we've developed and we're literally rolling out mobile clinics that will be available to veterans in the parking lots of Walmarts, for example, or through veterans services organizations. It's very exciting. Our business strategy more broadly, and we call it the Future of Health, our vision for the future of health is aligned with these trends. And there are three areas specifically that we're focused on in response to the trends. One is again the increasing importance of clinical assessments to governments around the world who rely on independent, conflict-free entities like Maximus to complete those assessments. The second is really addressing the challenges that the public health infrastructure encountered in responding to the pandemic. Obviously, the seams that were kind of laid bare between data systems at the local, state, and national level, the ability to collect reliable public health information and make it actionable. And then the third is really addressing many of those things that didn't get addressed because of the pandemic, like chronic conditions and non-communicable disease states, and certainly things like diabetes and obesity, but also significantly the mental health challenges that have evolved as part of the pandemic. So we're trying to position the company to respond to all of those.

It's interesting because many of the opportunities for further growth that we're seeing in expansion came from what we learned and experienced during the pandemic. And so there are customers, for example, that we served for the very first time during the pandemic, many of whom are state-level departments and agencies that we supported with their unemployment insurance programs, and they're converting in some cases to longer-term customers for the company. But then there's also the question of capabilities. And during the pandemic, we were able to help major agencies like the Centers for Disease Control, CDC, to quickly stand up large projects to meet increasing needs for government services, such as last July when the President wanted to get 70% of Americans vaccinated by July 4th. You might recall that event. So we learned as a company how to scale up very quickly and build out programs and use technologies to drive efficiencies and best practices. And if you think about it, with customer experience, or CX, being a big focus of federal agencies, and in fact the focus of the federal executive order, those digital transformation capabilities and the ability to significantly improve the customer experience but to deliver it with a flexible model that can respond to the changing needs of government is in more demand now than ever before. So I think out of the pandemic, a lot of opportunity has ultimately arisen. And as we stated in our Investor Day back in May, we believe that the total market for our services has now grown to about $150 billion as a consequence of the strategies that we're implementing in this post-pandemic period.

Well, I'm glad you mentioned technology. I can't talk about the company without talking about technology. It plays such an important role in the way we deliver the citizen services that we're entrusted to deliver every day, but also it is increasingly becoming an area where we can support our customers in delivering their missions through the greater use of technology. And so as a consequence, advanced technologies for modernization has become a real strategic pillar for the company as we look forward over the next three to five years. So the next year, of course, is a relatively short horizon, even in the technology world, although things change quickly. And so the table for that period has largely been set through contracts that are in place. But if we take a look at what the agencies are doing, there are significant IT and digital modernization challenges that agencies are facing in the federal civilian world where we operate, because we don't really operate in the military systems aspect of the defense community or the intelligence community. But the civilian world and others are turning to companies like Maximus for technology capabilities like agile development, certainly cloud migration. I think in many ways people hear about FedRAMP and they assume that the federal government has largely already migrated to the cloud, but in fact my understanding is it's the vast minority of agencies and departments that have made that migration. So hybrid cloud computing and being able to deploy customer environments into a hybridized cloud environment is going to be a big thrust not just in the next year but over the next three to five years. We think then of course there's the importance of the data sciences and data analytics, and we call that area information intelligence, and how the greater use of techniques like artificial intelligence and machine learning can build better decision support tools for our customers to use as they transform their agencies to meet their mission requirements as they continue to evolve. So it's a super exciting time to be in the technology space in the federal government, and we're thrilled as a company because we recently were able to break into the top 20 of federal IT contractors. We're number 19 now and climbing. We're intending to climb higher, so watch this space would be the way I'd conclude that.

Oh, it's a great question. And you're right, we built this highly collaborative, open, airy, bright, positive environment for our employees to encourage them to be here and to collaborate and work together and really promote their own well-being as well. The office has been designed in a way that it really is intended to not just facilitate a healthy and productive work environment but also recognize the importance of work-life balance and maintaining your well-being and even having some fun. You make a great point about how the expectation of employees has shifted, and we really designed this with the expectation that we would have employees in the office roughly three days a week. I can understand bookending the week, working from home on a Monday or a Friday. I do that myself. And certainly at times it doesn't seem like the traffic in the Washington area has gotten any better, so if you're facing a long commute, it's a very reasonable thing to do. At the same time, many jobs are just done better when you're part of the team and you're together. And individuals who are parts of teams that function best together when they need to make quick decisions and just bounce ideas off of one another and not have to find ways to schedule 30-minute Zoom meetings for every small item will come back and work together. I would also say that this is not unique to any one generation. I've had conversations with folks about whether it's the older generation that wants everybody back in the office or the younger. I do think that younger individuals working for us are missing out on the opportunity to build connections with one another. And when I think about my career and how it evolved, so much of it was in having that shared experience. And I worry that if we're all working remotely, you don't get to make those connections as deeply as you would, and also you don't necessarily build an affinity or a connection to the company you're working for. So we as a business have focused on our core values, and we recently rolled out our global six core values, which is very important because it creates a structure that brings us all together, and we live those values through our behaviors regardless of where you might work for Maximus. So we're trying to respond to the shortages of talent that we've seen in certain areas by creating the very best employee experience, and that's compensation, benefits, but also the work environment like we've been talking about.

You know, I'll keep it pretty simple. When I look back on my own career, I think like all of us, I've tried to live my life with as few regrets as possible. But one thing that I regret is not having taken advantage of the network around me as robustly as I might have when I was younger. I think I was very deferential and respectful of the hierarchy in the companies that I worked in, and I didn't realize that as people get a little further in their career, they really are focused on giving back. They really want to share their experiences. They want to see the next generation come along and benefit, even if it's only 20% of what I have to tell you that you're going to take away and make use of. There is that opportunity for mentorship and development that is so heartfelt, I think, among many of us. And I would tell you that I've seen top-level executives in companies across the Washington area block out time on their calendars, have conversations with young employees and folks not even in the industry thinking about being in the industry, to share with them their experience. So I think taking advantage of that when you're a young employee, not being too nervous about making that connection, asking for a 15-minute cup of coffee, and also as an executive keeping your door open and being responsive and engaging is just critical. I'd also just say my career was not in any way planned out to happen the way it has. It's been more about recognizing that every time a door might close, another one's likely opening. So finding that path forward, taking advantage of opportunities, always not just working hard but raising your hand and asking for that extra assignment. Sometimes I'll tell our interns, kind of looking over the edge of the cubicle to see what your neighbor's working on and wanting to understand other aspects of the business, that makes you not just a well-developed employee but a valuable employee in a company. So anyway, some words of wisdom, and they're worth what you paid for them.

Well, it's my pleasure, Summer. Thank you so much for your interest, and I really appreciate your time as well.