The Granite List Live

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.