Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to Anthem's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Liz Tallett, Chair of the Board.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Anthem's 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The meeting is called to order, and the polls are now open. Shareholders of record and their proxy holders can vote and ask questions online during the meeting. After the formal meeting, Gail Boudreaux, President and CEO, will provide a business update, followed by a question-and-answer session. I will preside as Chair of today's meeting. Joining online are our other Directors as well as several key Anthem executives. I will now ask Kathy Kiefer, Corporate Secretary, to proceed with the meeting agenda.

Thank you, Liz. The agenda and rules of conduct and procedures for the meeting and question-and-answer session are posted on the meeting website. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that you abide by these rules. As set forth in the rules of the meeting and in our corporate governance document, the only matters to be acted upon by the shareholders during this meeting are as set forth in the agenda and proxy statement. Alisa Zagare and Catherine Reyes from Computershare have been appointed to act as inspector of election for the matters to be voted on during today's meeting. I will file the oath of office of the inspector of election with the minutes of this meeting. A complete list of our shareholders of record is available for review on the meeting website. Most shareholders have already voted by proxy, and the proxy votes have been tallied. If you are a shareholder of record and have already voted, then there is nothing further for you to do. If you're a beneficial shareholder and attending this meeting, your previous vote has been revoked, and you need to revote. Shareholders can vote by clicking on the identify its voting link on the meeting website. A total of 244,911,524 shares of Anthem common stock was outstanding on March 22 and entitled to be voted at this annual meeting. Proxies representing approximately 88% of the shares of common stock outstanding and eligible to vote have been received, and thus, a quorum is present. As described in the proxy, there are 3 items to be voted on during this meeting. The first item is the election of Directors Lou Hay, Antonio Neri and Ramy Peru, each to hold office until the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and to hold office until their successors are elected and qualified. The Board recommends a vote for each of the Director nominees. The second item is an advisory vote on the compensation of the company's named executive officers. The Board recommends approval of this proposal. The third item is to vote on ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young as the company's independent registered public accounting firm. The Board recommends approval of this proposal. That concludes the matters to be voted on during this meeting, and the polls will be closed shortly. I'll turn it back to you, Liz.

Thank you. The polls are now closed. According to the preliminary report provided by the inspector of election, the Director nominees have been elected, the executive compensation is approved and E&Y has been ratified. We will provide the final voting results in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC. The formal meeting is adjourned. Gail will now provide a brief business update, followed by a question-and-answer session that will last no longer than 30 minutes. Kathy, please review the rules for this session.

We may make forward-looking statements during this session, and actual results may differ materially from these statements. You should refer to our periodic SEC filings for the risk factors related to our business that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. As mentioned earlier, the rules of conduct and procedures will apply during this Q&A session. Now I'll turn it over to Gail.

Good morning. On behalf of the Anthem Board of Directors and our more than 80,000 associates, welcome to the Anthem Annual Shareholders Meeting. Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic, the related economic downturn and the rising awareness of social injustice and health disparities has had a significant impact on people across the country. At Anthem, we drew on our mission of improving lives and communities and our bold purpose of improving the health of humanity to ensure our associates, consumers, customers and care providers were supported. Our first priority was the safety of our Anthem associates in order to best serve our consumers and communities. As such, we transitioned 98% of our in-office associates to work-from-home while maintaining service operations. We also implemented additional benefits and digital support tools and services to address the new challenges our associates were facing. With all of our associates safe, we were able to quickly address the evolving needs of our stakeholders. This included $3 billion of financial assistance during 2020 to ease the burdens they were experiencing. We responded to increased coverage and access to care, deployed innovative digital tools and increased outreach to our members, and the efforts we've made to simplify our business and transform our products and solutions accelerated in the context of COVID-19. We're now focused on helping ensure safe and equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccines and encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. Our health plans cover the vaccine 100%. And we are also working with care providers and industry and community organizations to provide important educational information on the vaccines, including where, when and how to receive them, especially for people in rural areas and vulnerable communities across the country. For our own associates, we're offering paid time-off for them to get vaccinated. And once they're fully vaccinated, they can receive a onetime credit towards their own health care premiums or donate on their behalf to Anthem Cares Fund. Further reinforcing our commitment to improving health and shaping stronger, more inclusive, sustainable communities across the country, we provided $50 million for COVID relief. These funds helped provide access to food, life-saving personal protective equipment, mental health services, education and training assistance and more. We also enhanced our focus on community health and equity by aligning our business assets, our products, our data, our analytics, our digital capabilities, relationships with care providers, our role as an employer, our voluntarism and our philanthropic dollars to make a real difference and drive positive outcomes for our associates, our consumers and our communities. This included a $50 million pledge over 5 years to address racial and health inequity. For example, our efforts include a program that aligns with the White House's emphasis on the maternal health of black women, The First Lady Teas program. This program is designed to encourage base leaders to provide information and support to at-risk mothers and babies in their congregations with education-focused community baby showers. Additionally, Blue Cross Blue Shield plans across the country have come together to launch a multiyear national health equity strategy, starting with a focus on maternal health, where we will explore and scale best practices like these. The goal is to reduce racial disparities in maternal health by 50% in 5 years. I'm also proud of the work we're doing with the United Negro College Fund and historically black colleges and universities to provide scholarships, career coaching and other opportunities on the advancement and leadership development of women and people of color in our workforce. We've also joined forces with 4 WNBA teams to make an impact on people's health and our cities, focusing on areas such as food and security, mental health, women's empowerment and other social justice issues. And finally, we are focusing on our own associates. Over the past year, we've held listening sessions to hear their perspectives and concerns. And we continually strive to ensure our workforce represents the diverse backgrounds and experiences of the communities we serve. This is a reflection of our core values and our belief that welcoming diversity of thought and experiences will help us accomplish our goals, build a stronger community and achieve our purpose. At Anthem, we understand the importance of the societal role we play. Committed, connected and invested in our communities, we continue to raise our ambition to create a better world. This is why we joined the United Nations Global Compact, which calls for companies around the world to align their operations with sustainable and socially responsible practices that advance societal goals. Specifically, we've identified 7 sustainable development goals that offer the greatest opportunity for us to deliver impact, good health and well-being, zero hunger, gender equality, reduce inequities, sustainable cities and communities, no poverty and climate action. No matter the circumstance, our purpose serves as our north star for the work we do each day, driving us to improve the health for our consumers, make a lasting impact on our communities and create a more just future for everyone. Turning to our business performance and our strategy for the future. Despite uncertainties with the pandemic, Anthem delivered solid growth across all of our businesses in 2020, reflecting the diversity and strength of our portfolio. We continue to lead the industry in organic membership growth, adding nearly 1.9 million new consumers. We've increased operating revenues by 17% and delivered an approximate 16% increase in annualized adjusted EPS. As we focus on the future, our values, mission and purpose of improving the health of humanity continues to fuel our strategy to become a lifetime trusted health partner. Looking ahead, we see opportunities to deliver exceptional experiences and drive organic and inorganic growth across all of the Anthem businesses. Through our broad range of products and services, we were able to create significant value and address the full range of consumer needs: medical, behavioral, pharmaceutical and social, in an integrated approach. Our innovative digital solutions will also continue to drive growth, enable us to drive health beyond health care, to deliver data-driven, personalized solutions that address whole person health, improve outcomes and lower overall medical costs. For example, our Sydney Health application for consumers makes health care easier by giving them access to personalized health and wellness information when they need it. They have a one-app access to benefit details, member services, virtual care and wellness resources. Our provider collaboration platform, HealthOS, connects disparate data, fuels insights and ensure care providers have the full picture they need to deliver more meaningful patient interactions and higher quality care. We also continue to pursue acquisitions of strategic assets that align with our focus on creating value for consumers. Last year, we completed our acquisition of Beacon Health Options, which expanded our strategic footprint in the behavioral health space, creating one of the most comprehensive behavioral health networks and care models in the country. We also recently completed our acquisition of myNEXUS, a comprehensive home-based nursing management company, which enhances the capabilities of our diversified business group aimed at addressing the needs of people with chronic and complex conditions. Additionally, we look forward to serving over 570,000 Medicare and Medicaid members through our pending acquisition of MMM in Puerto Rico, the ninth largest Medicare Advantage plan in the United States. Overall, our strategy for growth, combined with the solid results we've delivered last year and in the first quarter of 2021, gives us confidence we will maintain our momentum throughout the balance of the year and beyond. The impact we made this past year and the care and support we were able to deliver during the pandemic has only been possible thanks to our dedicated associates. They have adapted seamlessly and worked diligently to deliver on our promises. Additionally, they generously gave their time in 2021 -- in 2020, delivering more than 100,000 volunteer hours to support their communities. I'm incredibly grateful for their contributions. As a wonderful reflection of our culture and our efforts to create a workplace that engages and values each of our associates, we were named a Fortune Great Places To Work in April. We are also proud to once again be named to Forbes' annual list of the top 100 most just companies as well as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for our work to empower communities, improve the sustainability of our business, operate with integrity and advance an inclusive workplace. As we continue to confront the challenges of COVID-19 and social injustices, Anthem will remain focused on our mission and purpose, continually growing and adapting to find innovative ways to improve the health of individuals, families and the health care system as a whole. Thank you for being here, and thank you for your continued interest and support of Anthem. Now we'll open it up for questions. Kathy, are there any questions?

Yes, Gail, there are some questions. Thank you. This first question I'll direct to Liz Tallett, Chair of the Board. Ms. Chairwoman, the Carpenter Pension Funds hold a total of 211,804 shares of the company's stock. Executive compensation plans should drive the successful execution of the Board's long-term strategic business plan. As long-term shareholders, we are concerned that today's public company executive compensation plans are largely formulaic peer-related plans with simplistic annual say-on-pay voting reinforcing planned homogeneity. We support the company's compensation plans but could you or the Compensation Committee Chair speak to whether the company might be better served by a plan tailored specifically to the company's particular circumstances and its unique long-term strategic business plan?

Thank you for the question. I believe that our plan is indeed linked directly to our strategy. The compensation earned by Anthem leadership is a direct reflection of the operating performance of the company, which was very solid in 2020, as Gail just alluded to. Over 90% of our executive compensation is performance-based, and that performance relies on targets, which are in line with our long-term strategy and is certainly unique to answer. So thank you for the question.

Thank you, Liz. This next question, I'll ask Gail Boudreaux to answer. Ms. Chairwoman, the topic of stakeholder capitalism as an alternative to shareholder capitalism and sustainability issues have received considerable attention recently. As long-term pension fund investors, the Carpenters Funds appreciate the sentiments embodied in the stakeholder capitalism perspective, but feel that execution could be complicated. Could you discuss the Board's perspective on the concept of stakeholder capitalism and what principles the Board would use to balance the interest of varied stakeholders as it develops and implements the company's long-term business strategy?

Well, thank you very much for the question. As I shared in my comments just a few moments ago, really, this starts with our purpose and the alignment of our pillars. Our community health pillar is indeed focused on our ability to achieve goals of a broad range of stakeholders. So beginning with our purpose to improve the health of humanity, we also take a balanced approach to ensuring that we're thinking about all of our stakeholders in that. And again, as I shared in my opening comments, specific examples of how we do balance that across our business. So thank you very much for the question.

Thank you. The next question, I will ask Liz Tallett to address. The question is, does Anthem follow the compensation tradition that the CEO makes 7x the salary of the lowest paid associates?

As I alluded to in my previous comments, the CEO's compensation is more than 90% performance-based. And so the exact amount that our CEO is paid varies from year-to-year with our performance. And therefore, that ratio is not a defining factor. It is as a result directly of the performance of the CEO during the preceding year.

Thank you, Liz. And our last question, I'll ask Gail Boudreaux to answer. The question is, how much profit does Anthem realize from the COVID vaccination effort?

Thank you. In terms of the overall question around COVID, as I shared again in my opening remarks, our goal was to ensure that we played a positive role in helping all of our constituents across COVID. In 2020, we addressed the many needs of our various constituents, including, as I shared, $3 billion in financial assistance that cut across our own associates, the members we support, our communities, as well as other stakeholders to ensure that we could balance the severe issues that they were facing. So again, we were very pleased to be able to play a very positive and productive role in that, and again, trying to ensure that we could help those constituents as part of COVID-19 and the things that we are facing across our business. So thank you again for that question.

Thank you. There are no more questions at this time. Thank you for attending Anthem's shareholder meeting, and have a nice day.

That concludes the meeting. You may disconnect.