The Granite List Live

Continuing our YouPowered series from Miami! In this episode, Wendell Potter, President of the Center for Health and Democracy, stops by to join us. As a keynote speaker for the conference, he discusses his three C's from his speech: Cigna, cost shifting, and consumerism and how they impact the healthcare industry. He also discusses his journey through healthcare and why he stepped away from Cigna to try to affect change in the healthcare industry, primarily by taking control of the narrative. Be sure to check out his newsletter - Healthcare Uncovered - to learn more!

For the next few episodes, we'll be coming to you LIVE from this year's YouPowered Symposium in Miami. We will kick it off with Dr. Mary O'Connor, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vori Health. O'Connor dives deep by discussing why it's difficult for the US healthcare system to adopt change. Looking at unnecessary surgeries and procedures, O'Connor gets to the root of the problem when it comes to the US healthcare system.

To close out our ASCEND series, Jay Hoffman, Director of Sales at Walmart Health & Wellness, stops by to talk with Sally about how Walmart got into health and wellness along with the services that they provide. He also discusses how Walmart is looking into non-traditional solutions to better serve their people.

Continuing our ASCEND Conference Series, Ed Ligonde, Executive Vice President of Nielson Benefits Group, stops by to talk with Sally about trend he's picked up while attending the conference such as a push for transparency and the second opinion process. He also discusses how the Mastermind ecosystem has helped him and his career through collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Continuing our ASCEND Conference series, Dan LaBroad, CEO of Ovation Health & Life Services, discusses his journey to where he ended up now. Attending the ASCEND and Mastermind conferences are a major factor in his successes by connecting him with like-minded people who help find solutions, support each other, and want the best for their people. Dan shares 2023 trends into giving his clients and partners better quality care, better access to care while providing lower costs.

Continuing our ASCEND Conference series, Doug Geinzer stops by tell us how Coral is utilizing cost-containment in a way that still provides high quality surgeries for their clients. He also discusses how the ASCEND Conference has allowed him and other advisors to come together to talk bounce ideas off of each other and learn more about what it takes to get win more business.

We're still live from the ASCEND Conference in New Orleans. Mastermind Tammera Hollerich comes to talk with us about trends in the industry she's noticed through the conference and how the ASCEND program is helping brokers stay updated on top of these trends and strategies in the industry.

We're coming to you LIVE from this year's ASCEND Conference in New Orleans. To kick the series off, we sit down with Nelson Griswold to discuss the purpose of the conference and how it plays into his mission to reform and preserve the private health care system.

On the heels of the second annual DEI Summit, Leigh and Sally sit down with the Detroit Pistons' VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Stefen Welch, to explore lessons learned about the role DEI plays in growing a team....of employees. Stefen shares his personal story of growth as he rose in the corporate ranks. Today, he leans into his past challenges to drive future results for the team of employees around him.

Balance billing, out of network claims, and unbundled networks. These are just a few of the terms that are explored during this episode of The Granite List Live. Leigh and Sally sit down with Clay McCormack and Arthur Chapman to learn how Reliant Health Partners' fair market pricing method delivers superior results with minimum disruption to employees.

In this episode, Ty Gilmore of Work Right and Kevin Courtain of Fortis Construction join Leigh and Sally to dig into the topic of workplace safety. Ty brings experience from helping employers identify where there may be holes in a plan to identify unnecessary work comp claims, and Kevin shares the importance of getting buy in from the leadership team and what success looks like with a solid safety plan.

How is Advanced Primary Care different than traditional primary care? Joined by guest Kaley Wilkinson, SVP, Strategic Relationships for Proactive Md, we explore how advanced primary care means a provider is equipped to care for the whole person – mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially – and that person is at the center of the care model. For employers and advisors alike, this is truly a cost containment strategy built around each employer’s unique employee population and claims data. Listen as Leigh and Sally guide the conversation around this important topic.

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our special guest Jeff Kelly, President at Buckingham Self-Funded Solutions. During this visit with host, Sally Pace, Jeff explains how gene therapy crosses over into stop loss. "Gene therapy translating into stop loss is the equivalent of profitability versus loss. As a stop loss carrier retaining a set threshold of risk and these gene therapy drugs coming out with the names that we have all heard, these million dollar price tags and such. I mean these are almost automatic claims to a stop so that these gene therapy drugs and the advanced biosimilar companies bringing in these cancer therapies and J codes, G codes, and every other code that we're about to become aware of. So bringing in cost contain measures stop-loss carriers are already acutely aware of this and they're already putting together solutions. So gene therapy is unfortunately here to stay. It will be evolving throughout the future." Learn more in this episode of The Granite List Live.

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our special guest Mary Kay Puckett, Vice President of Employee Benefits at Alliant Insurance Services. She told our host, Sally Pace that friction with TPA partners is healthy. She says, "if there's friction, that's healthier because we represent the clients and we have to make sure that it is always within the client's best interest, whatever the decisions are." Her predictions for the near future include more emphasis on controlling the high dollar drug costs. Also, the focus on transparency helps control costs and make better decisions on health plans as companies consider working with us. Sally asked Mary Kay about the trend in smaller groups seeking self-funding. Mary Kay says, " Any group size can be self-funded. You just have to make sure you have the right reinsurance levels." Listen to this full episode of The Granite List Live, "

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our special guest Monique Burke, Director of Stop Loss Center of Excellence at OneDigital. She told host Sally Pace that they are seeing a lot of new things in pharmacy services. Employers are now wanting options that the largest employers only used to have. They are looking at self-funding and carving out their pharmacies. Most of the buzz she's hearing is about captives, and repricing direct to the consumer. Sally asked Monique about a success story. Monique told her, "We've been able to lower their rates, same coverage, and actually a better contract by just getting additional quotes. So taking it out to market each year. We've also been able to successfully help clients get their 1 million plan repaid in 48 hours."

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our host Sally Pace from The Granite List Live with special guests Jeff Toewe, CEO of Medxoom, and Julian Lago, President of Benezon.

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our host Sally Pace from The Granite List Live with our special guest Mike Ferguson, President & CEO of SIIA.

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our host Sally Pace from The Granite List Live with our special guest Tim Callender, Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Business Development at The Phia Group, LLC.

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our special guest Susan Euteneuer, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Oxford Risk Management Group. Host Sally Pace asked Susan what people should be looking for when considering a captive. Susan says that first they focus on the formation and operation is in a compliant manner. Oxfod does this by guiding their clients to carefully document their file so there's a lot that goes into make sure the file is built up so that regulators can review it and do a thorough vetting and can approve yoru captive.  Oxford is able to offer an AM Best A-Rated insurance product.  Susan talked about one of their new programs they started offering in the past year, their Limited Lines Program. She says, "...that is particularly to address these hard market challenges around certain business auto coverages, directors and officers, certain property coverages, really expanding that offering with some great clients and great strategic partners." The Oxford Risk Management Group is the leading provider of captive insurance services.

Live at the SIIA 2022 Engage Conference, we have our special guest Lindsay Harris, President, and CEO of Healthcare Management Administrators (HMA). They are backed by Cambia Health Solutions giving them access to the blue network across the country. HMA has been a member and partner of SIAA for over 20 years. She attended to focus on learning more about transparency, settlement process and resolution processes to see what is new in these areas that she can take back to benefit their clients. Sally asked Lindsay her take on where the industry is, she says, " I think our industry's been in a state of flux and change for a long time, and I think that's going to continue. First, I would say I think increasingly what we're seeing is the industry is no longer about pain claims and just being a partner in that regard. Increasingly, we have to do more and engage numbers earlier in their healthcare journey to affect change and helping them to make the best choices in their healthcare. (this is done by) Helping them to find the best places so that they can get the best outcome possible for themselves, as well as really ensure that the plans that we're administering are sustainable financially long term."