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Relentless Health Value: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Stacey Richter
Welcome to Relentless Health Value, the podcast for those working in the belly of the beast to fix our fundamentally broken healthcare system. If you are a self-insured employer, plan sponsor, benefits consultant, clinician, a C-suite executive or anyone in the business of healthcare tired of the "transformational theater" and marketing fluff, you have found your tribe. The U.S. healthcare system isn't a rational market; it's a game of Pachinko where perverse incentives reign, and as we always say, where there's mystery, there's margin. Hosted by Stacey Richter, we relentlessly hunt down the administrative "inches" of waste and expose the hidden fees draining the $5.6 trillion healthcare sector. We transform wonky healthcare theory into ruthlessly practical, actionable insights. Whether it's demanding radical transparency, navigating complex PBM contracts, or buying actual healthcare instead of illusory discounts, our mandate is simple: If it results in a net positive for patients, we do it.
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- 6 days ago43 min
Self-Insured Employers: SNF Fraud or Perverse Incentives? Understaffing, Gamed STAR Ratings, and Medicare Dollars at Skilled Nursing Facilities
Is it fraud — or is it just a perverse incentive? That question sits at the center of Hunterbrook Media's latest investigation into skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and the answer, as Stacey Richter puts it, matters to self-insured employers and anyone else paying for healthcare. In this episode, Stacey speaks with Michelle Cera, PhD, investigative reporter at Hunterbrook Media, whose investigation — triggered by a tip from an overwhelmed elder abuse attorney — uncovered a pattern of systematic understaffing, self-reported CMS STAR rating manipulation, executive bonuses tied to expense-cutting, and related-party financial engineering that funnels Medicare and Medicaid dollars straight back to corporate, while the most vulnerable patients pay with their health and their lives. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ How for-profit SNF chains systematically recruit the sickest patients to maximize Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, then staff below what those patients actually need — keeping the difference as profit and, in some cases, doubling executive bonuses in a single year ✅ How Hunterbrook analyzed millions of publicly available CMS data points across roughly 14,000 skilled nursing facilities, applying a UCSF-developed expected-hours formula tied to patient acuity, to quantify the gap between staffing hours billed and care hours actually provided ✅ Why CMS STAR ratings — the primary tool consumers use to choose nursing homes for loved ones — are largely informed by self-reported, unaudited facility data, and how former employees described manipulation of those ratings as rampant ✅ How related-party transactions allow SNF chains to route Medicare and Medicaid dollars through owned subsidiaries for goods and services like pharmacy, equipment, and insurance — with CMS flagging the overcharges as disallowed costs but lacking any mechanism to recoup them ✅ How a 2024 CMS final rule establishing a federal minimum of 3.48 HPRD (hours per resident day) and a 24/7 on-site registered nurse requirement was ultimately rescinded after industry lobbying — and what that rescission reveals about regulatory capture in the SNF sector ✅ Four concrete policy fixes: codify federal minimum staffing hours adjusted for patient acuity, strengthen reporting standards and auditing so no quality metric is entirely self-reported, create a recoupment mechanism for flagged related-party overcharges, and reform STAR ratings so consumers can distinguish independently verified data from self-reported data WHY THIS MATTERS Right now, Stacey argues, we are endlessly trying to keep up with thousands of profit-extracting geniuses and creating mazes of complexity to regulate actors who have no societal construct keeping them in check. The SNF sector is a case study in what happens when there is no agreed-upon definition of harm — when perverse incentives are just incentives. These are taxpayer, employer, and patient co-insurance dollars potentially going into someone's pocket while a patient is simultaneously being hurt. The 65-plus population is growing, the market is expanding, and — as Hunterbrook's research shows — the model that works from a profit perspective is to take sicker patients, cut the highest-paid staff first, and grade your own homework so no one notices. That playbook, once proven, spreads fast. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links and link to the Hunterbrook article: https://cc-lnk.com/EP515 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls=1 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 00:40 Fixing the root cause problems with the American healthcare system. 01:40 EP511 with Dr. Siva and Monica Lypson, MD, MHPE. 01:50 Today's root problem topic. 05:12 Introducing today's guest and her latest investigation. 07:43 The conversation
- 1 weeks ago43 min
Successfully Suing a Health System for Their Anticompetitive Contracts and Also Collecting Damages for Plan Sponsors and Members, With Matt Cantor
How the Sutter Health Antitrust Case Opened the Door for Employers and Members to Recover Hospital Overcharge Damages What happens when a self-insured employer or health plan member finally says enough is enough and takes a consolidated hospital system to court over anticompetitive contracting practices? That's exactly what antitrust attorney Matthew Cantor did — and after 13 years of litigation, three trips to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a first trial, he and his team secured a landmark $228.5 million settlement in Sidibe v. Sutter Health. In this episode, Stacey Richter speaks with Matthew Cantor, founding partner of Shinder Cantor Lerner LLP, about one of the most significant antitrust victories in healthcare history — and what it means for self-insured employers, plan sponsors, and everyday members who have been paying inflated premiums because of hospital market power. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ How all-or-nothing clauses and anti-steering/anti-tiering provisions allow dominant hospital systems to lock up local geographies and block members from accessing lower-cost, higher-quality care ✅ Why holding large, consolidated health systems legally accountable is so difficult — including the halo effect, the FTC's lack of jurisdiction over nonprofits, and the challenges of unsympathetic witnesses ✅ How Sidibe v. Sutter Health established a groundbreaking precedent allowing indirect purchasers — employers and plan members paying inflated premiums — to recover damages from hospital overcharges ✅ Why the DOJ is already pursuing similar anti-steering litigation against health systems like OhioHealth and NewYork-Presbyterian ✅ Four concrete options for employers ready to stop being passive price takers: federal legislation, state legislation, engaging the DOJ and state attorneys general, and direct litigation WHY THIS MATTERS Hospital charges make up roughly 50% of underlying medical costs, which in turn represent 80–85% of health insurance premiums. When consolidated systems operate in local markets with little competition, everyone — employers and members alike — pays more. Sidibe v. Sutter Health shows that accountability is possible. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP514 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls=1 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Episode Setup 03:06 Why Hospitals Drive Premiums 05:47 Sutter Case Overview 09:36 Matt Cantor Background 12:57 Local Market Power 17:50 Why Litigation Matters 22:03 Indirect Purchaser Breakthrough 28:11 Why Sutter And Winning Evidence 35:53 What Employers Can Do Now 41:46 Closing And Resources
- 2 weeks ago36 min
Revisiting Cunning Anticompetitive Hospital Contracts, With Brennan Bilberry
Stacey Richter introduces Episode 513 of Relentless Health Value as a primer on anti-competitive hospital contracting with Brennan Bilberry of Fairmark Partners, setting up next week's interview with Matt Cantor, lead litigator in the Sutter Health antitrust class action that led to a $575 million settlement over alleged price inflation using market power. Bilberry explains how hospital consolidation enables higher commercial rates and outlines a four-part contracting playbook: all-or-nothing contracting requiring inclusion of all system facilities at high prices; anti-steering and anti-tiering clauses blocking lower-cost benefit designs; price gag clauses limiting disclosure of negotiated rates despite transparency rules; and pressure on ostensibly independent providers to sell or align pricing with the dominant system. The episode links these patterns to DOJ actions against OhioHealth and New York Presbyterian and emphasizes collective action, regulation, and litigation to address them. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP513 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls=1 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Episode Setup 00:38 Why This Matters 04:41 Hospital Playbook 06:59 Consolidation Effects 11:41 All Or Nothing 15:24 Anti Steering Tiers 22:12 Price Gag Clauses 26:22 Squeezing Independents 31:15 Fixing The System 35:15 Wrap Up Sponsors
- 2 weeks ago36 min
3 Kinds of Broker/EBC Rent-Seeking Payment Models—A Lawyer's Perspective, With Doug Aldeen
What does it look like when a broker or employee benefit consultant is circling your plan like it's a gold mine? Doug Aldeen, a well-known attorney who has spent many years in the self-insured space, has seen exactly what falls all the way down to the level of legal action — and in this episode he breaks down the top categories of broker and EBC compensation arrangements that wind up costing plans millions. In one documented example, a balance-billing vendor collected $2.2 million in fees over three plan years to cover a risk of just $94,320 — for a service the plan didn't even need. In this episode, Stacey Richter speaks with Doug Aldeen, JD, a self-insured space attorney, about how rent-seeking broker and EBC payment models work, how they hide in plain sight, and what plan sponsors can do right now to find out if they're the ones holding the bag. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ How reference-based pricing vendors using a "cost of savings" fee model — where broker and vendor fees both increase as hospital charges rise — can result in the vendor and broker combined getting paid more than the hospital itself ✅ Why a plan paid $2.2 million to a balance-billing vendor over three plan years to address only $94,320 in actual risk — and why the Texas District Hospital statute made that service completely unnecessary in the first place ✅ How voluntary benefits with first-year commission structures running 70 to 90% function as a near-direct pass-through to the broker, not a benefit to plan members ✅ How undisclosed vendor-to-broker payments — structured as "marketing services" or "discounts" at the book-of-business level, including per-script PBM payments — can legally avoid Consolidated Appropriations Act disclosure requirements while still biasing plan recommendations ✅ Why complexity in a compensation agreement is itself a red flag — and what the CAA actually requires in terms of a plan sponsor being able to "reasonably conclude" what a broker fee is ✅ A six-step roadmap for plan sponsors: ask why five times, calculate ROI, assess downstream risk, demystify the commission structure, run an independent broker RFP, and audit your plan documents and stop-loss agreements for gaps WHY THIS MATTERS Where there's mystery, there is margin — and broker and EBC compensation arrangements can be layered in ways that make the math nearly impossible to follow without a NASA scientist, as Doug puts it. The Consolidated Appropriations Act was supposed to bring transparency to these arrangements, but enforcement is spotty and the gray areas are real. Plans that have had the same broker for years may trust them precisely because of the long relationship — but as this episode makes clear, long tenure is not the same as trustworthy, and the dollars at stake are in the millions. The honest brokers and EBCs are out there, and they're adding real value. Telling the difference just takes some diligence. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP512 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls= 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 00:59 A caveat for the record on this episode. 02:11 The first problematic payment model discussed in this week's episode. 03:27 The second problematic payment model discussed in this week's episode. 06:16 The conversation with Doug Aldeen. 06:27 Why is reviewing broker/EBC compensation so important? 08:05 The Ohio Potato Company ane
- May 14, 202629 min
EP511: The Tension When Clinical Teams Take On Risk for Policymakers and Others Looking to Rustle Up Future Perverse Incentives, With Dr. Siva and Monica Lypson, MD, MHPE
In this episode, Dr. Monica Lypson and Dr. Ahilan Sivaganesan join the conversation to dissect the complexities of value-based payment models and the "perverse incentives" that often follow. By examining the parallels between Medicare Advantage upcoding and sliding-scale bundled payments, Dr. Lypson and Dr. Sivaganesan provide a masterclass on the systemic friction between financial risk and clinical equity. Key Discussion Themes - The Upcoding/Downcoding Tug-of-War: An analysis of how Medicare Advantage plans and health systems navigate risk adjustment, and why current models often incentivize "grading your own homework." - The TDABC Solution: Dr. Sivaganesan explains why physicians cannot truly manage risk without Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) to identify condition-specific costs. - Selection Bias in Care: A deep dive into the "cherry picking" (selecting low-risk patients) and "lemon dropping" (avoiding high-risk patients) dilemmas that threaten healthcare's moral compass. - Equity vs. Efficiency: Dr. Lypson explores how value-based care can either bridge the gap for underserved populations or inadvertently widen disparities through structural barriers. - The Path Forward: Why "whole-person health"—including non-clinical factors like housing—is the ultimate cost-saver, and the necessity of neutral, third-party risk scoring. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP511 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls=1 === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 01:53 Upcoding problems: a previously unpublished clip from EP505 with Dr. Siva. 05:22 What is the minimum requirement for physicians to go at risk? 07:22 How sliding scale bundle payments can reduce risk for physicians. 10:43 The question covered in the upcoming episode. 13:19 Is value-based care good for underserved communities? 15:01 "If you create perverse incentives, you actually might make known healthcare disparities worse … to meet the demand's value." —Dr. Lypson 16:18 "There actually might be systematic and structural ways that the healthcare system might say … we're not interested in taking care of you." —Dr. Lypson 16:51 "The incentive to have a good outcome is not there; the incentive to have another visit is there." —Dr. Lypson 17:15 EP485 with Cristin Dickerson, MD. 17:49 "The only indictment I have on the fee-for-service system is that it's gotten us to where we are right now." —Dr. Lypson 18:41 "If you don't have any connection in that system, even the provider trying to … provide a good outcome might be disconnected because the system is not in place to … connect the dots." —Dr. Lypson 19:15 EP436, <a href= "https://relentlesshealthvalue.co
- May 7, 202635 min
EP510: The Impact on You of Medicare Advantage Goings-on (2026 Edition), With Betsy Seals
Medicare Advantage 2026: Stabilization, Retrenchment, and a Back-to-Basics Playbook with Betsy Seals In Episode 510, Stacey Richter interviews Medicare Advantage (MA) consultant Betsy Seals about the 2026 state of MA and its broader impact, including taxpayer value, seniors' access to care, and cost shifting to commercial employers when vertically integrated carriers negotiate MA rates while employers pay higher ASO rates. Seals describes MA as in a stabilization/retraction phase with market exits, regulatory and administration shifts, and benefit pullbacks that can affect beneficiaries depending on whether plans cut "flashy" enrollment perks versus outcome-focused care. Her "back to basics" guidance emphasizes avoiding profiteering and compliance risks (e.g., upcoding, problematic AI-driven prior authorization), focusing on populations a plan can truly serve well (including chronic SNP strategies), and improving STARS through real health outcomes rather than box-checking. They discuss high prior-authorization denial overturn rates on appeal, downstream provider incentives, and the need for stronger process reform and regulatory "teeth," while noting confidence in MA's long-term viability. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP510 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls=1 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 00:43 Past episodes on profiteering: EP481 with Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA, and EP495 with Mick Connors, MD. 01:25 How Medicare Advantage is relevant to everyone. 06:15 A preview of today's conversation. 07:49 The "state of the state" of Medicare Advantage plans. 08:49 Video by Eric Bricker, MD, on the financial performance of the U.S. healthcare system. 09:32 Does Medicare Advantage's losses matter to the patients? 10:29 A recap of Betsy's insights so far. 11:19 The underlying strategic through line that needs to be considered. 13:04 The impact of Goodhart's Law. 14:12 What the players that are succeeding right now are doing. 14:22 The first pillar of a back-to-basics strategy: Don't get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. 16:07 EP463 with Betsy Seals. 16:50 Why short-term strategies don't work. 18:26 Stats report on prior authorizations serving the beneficiary. 19:32 <a href= "https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/episode/ep482-3-surprising-ways-carriers-make-lots-of-money-what-d
- Apr 30, 202637 min
EP509: The 7.7% Wake-Up Call: A Roadmap to Align Finance Teams With Non-complacent Benefit Design, With Patrick Nelli
In Episode 509 of Relentless Health Value, Stacey Richter interviews former CFO and Aligned Marketplace CEO Patrick Nelli about why executives don't take bolder action on health benefits and offers a seven-step roadmap to align finance teams with non-complacent benefit design. Key steps include ongoing CFO-benefits engagement, forecasting medical trend accurately at 7.7%+ (two to three points above CPI) as the status-quo baseline, and presenting win-win alternatives to bend the cost curve. Nelli explains employer medical inflation drivers including Baumol's Cost Disease and cost shifting from Medicare to commercial, and argues proven strategies like independent advanced primary care can reduce unit prices, downstream utilization, and future high-cost claimants. Additional steps cover aligning incentives with safeguards, optimizing contracting (including direct contracting), and steering/tiering via risk stratification to focus engagement on high and rising-risk members. Nelli describes Aligned Marketplace's national value-based advanced primary care and specialty marketplace. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP509 ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls=1 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 02:48 Roadmap Step 1 highlights. 03:07 Roadmap Step 2 highlights. 03:49 Roadmap Step 3 highlights. 04:15 Roadmap Step 4 highlights. 04:27 Roadmap Step 5 highlights. 04:58 Roadmap Step 6 highlights. 05:19 EP504 with Ryan Jacobs. 05:37 Roadmap Step 7 highlights. 06:28 Introduction to the conversation with Patrick Nelli. 06:36 Step 1 to Patrick's roadmap: Open the conversation. 07:57 What Patrick thinks is sometimes missing in health benefits. 09:07 What finance teams need in order to change their behaviors. 09:53 What Baumol's cost disease is. 10:58 EP341 with Gary Campbell. 11:14 EP492 with Sam Flanders, MD, and Shane Cerone. 12:18 The second item stacked against employers: Being price "takers." 13:49 The percent inflation employers should expect if they follow the status quo. 15:39 INBW46 with Stacey. 16:54 Proven strategies to bend the health benefits finance curve. 18:42 <a href= "https://relentlesshe
- Apr 23, 202644 min
EP508: Why Don't More Self-insured CEOs Take Bold Action in Health Benefits Strategy? With Lee Lewis
Episode 508 is the first Ask Me Anything installment of Relentless Health Value, where Stacey Richter and Lee Lewis (Chief Strategy Officer and GM Medical Solutions at the Health Transformation Alliance and host of Broken Benefits) address a question from benefits procurement leader Sarah Monroe about why executives rarely take bold action on health benefits despite large opportunity. Lewis describes three false C-suite "dogmas" that lead to "stay in the herd and keep it quiet": health benefits are a fixed expense, saving money hurts people (via cost shifting, low quality, or narrow networks), and fixing healthcare isn't worth the risk or disruption. They also discuss external deterrents including CEOs' proximity to health system leaders, "balance of trade" retaliation threats, vendor-provided personal incentives, and executives' limited empathy for deductibles/costs faced by lower-wage employees. Lewis offers de-risking tactics (same-network TPAs, carrier-enabled vendor changes, narrow pilots, mid-year tests) and advises CEOs to encourage bold action, tie bonuses to plan performance, and staff benefits teams with diverse skills. === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: https://cc-lnk.com/EP508 📺 Visit Lee's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@brokenbenefits ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls= 🎤 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 00:43 Ask Me Anything Question 1: Why don't more self-insured executives take bold action toward their benefits strategy? 03:09 A summary of the three dogmas covered in the following conversation. 05:53 A look ahead at next week's episode. 06:36 An introduction to today's guest, Lee Lewis. 08:23 Why there is an aversion to digging into health benefits for some executives. 09:43 The first dogma: Healthcare costs are fixed expenses. 09:56 The second dogma: Saving money in healthcare hurts people. 12:01 The third dogma: Fixing healthcare is never worth the effort. 12:26 How these dogmas trickle down to HR teams. 13:47 Anecdote: One company that turned down saving $50 million and why. 16:28 A quick reminder about the context behind where CEOs' mindsets are. 17:10 The kinds of employers HTA seeks out. 19:20 EP500 with Stacey. 20:03 The power of C-suites in health systems. 21:33 EP466 with Vivian Ho, PhD. 21:36 EP404 with Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA. 21:42 Why a CEO may pull the plug on health plan/health benefit improvements. 22:37 An anecdote abou
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About Relentless Health Value
Welcome to Relentless Health Value, the podcast for those working in the belly of the beast to fix our fundamentally broken healthcare system. If you are a self-insured employer, plan sponsor, benefits consultant, clinician, a C-suite executive or anyone in the business of healthcare tired of the "transformational theater" and marketing fluff, you have found your tribe. The U.S. healthcare system isn't a rational market; it's a game of Pachinko where perverse incentives reign, and as we always say, where there's mystery, there's margin. Hosted by Stacey Richter, we relentlessly hunt down the administrative "inches" of waste and expose the hidden fees draining the $5.6 trillion healthcare sector. We transform wonky healthcare theory into ruthlessly practical, actionable insights. Whether it's demanding radical transparency, navigating complex PBM contracts, or buying actual healthcare instead of illusory discounts, our mandate is simple: If it results in a net positive for patients, we do it.
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Relentless Health Value covers topics including News, Business, Medicine, Fitness, Health & Fitness. Our AI identifies the specific themes in each episode and highlights what matters most to you.
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Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.