Shows / Self-Funded
Self-Funded
Self-Funded, hosted by Spencer Smith, is the definitive resource for benefits consultants and employers who are ready to challenge the broken healthcare status quo. Each week, you'll get an insider's playbook of actionable strategies from industry leaders that help make healthcare better, together.
Episodes
Self-FundedHow Content Can Solve Healthcare's Biggest Problems (with Matt & Megan Glaros)
"They have to understand the value. That’s how you get people to use it." - Megan Glaros “I had somebody who said once, why take a pill when you can get a…
Self-FundedAdvocating For A Better Healthcare System, with Tiffany Ryder
"I felt like I was putting $10,000 bandaids on someone's diabetic ketoacidosis instead of actually helping them to never be there in the first place." -…
Self-FundedNegotiating Fair Medical Bills, with Jenni Nolan
"I think that the general public thinks that health care is just expensive and this is just the way it has to be. It doesn't. And I think if more people knew…
Self-FundedMake Your Health Plan More Effective, with David Mallen
"Any time you can reward employees for doing the right thing, to me, it's benefiting the employer group, it’s benefitting everybody.” - David Mallen You can…
Self-FundedBeating Stage 4 Cancer, Against All Odds (with Dylan Slattery)
"Looking back now, cancer gave me something to fight for at a time when I felt like maybe life wasn't worth fighting for." - Dylan Slattery Dylan Slattery, VP…
Self-FundedThe Future Of Primary Care, with Danish Nagda
“I’m going to say something that people claim isn’t true, but it is. I’m an ear nose and throat doctor. I don't remember your eardrum from last year. I don't…
Self-FundedTracking Healthcare Quality Using Nurse Feedback with Kimberly Carleson & Linda Komisak
"In what other industry could a purveyor put out 99% bad bills and stay in business?" - Linda Komisak “They're diagnosing things for things that you don't even…
Self-FundedWhy We Need "Conscious Healthcare" (with Dr. Scott Conard)
"Quit tolerating mediocrity. Go get in action. Find the right broker consultant that will take you to a new place. Don't give up hope." - Scott Conard Dr…
Self-FundedThe Economics of Cell and Gene Therapy with Oscar Bronsther & Carolina Escobar
"It's progress we couldn't have envisioned decades ago." - Oscar “I felt interested in being part of something bigger than my practice and something that will…
Self-FundedEnding Pharmaceutical Price Gouging, with Jake Frenz
"If my child needs a gene therapy to live, they should get it and anyone's child should. So let's figure out how to pay for it." - Jake Frenz On the final of…
Self-FundedThe Average Person Doesn't Understand Healthcare, with Dan Cochran
"I would say a lot of it is education, helping both the member and the provider realize that it's okay for them to get healthcare in home." - Dan Cochran On…
Self-FundedThe Opportunity We Have To Fix Healthcare, with Shawn Sanford
"There can be a better path forward. We don't have to remain adherent to the system that is built against us. It's just going to take some rolling up of the…
Self-FundedBe A (Healthcare) Advocate, with Kristen Rivers
“There's a reason why every insurance carrier likely owns or is owned by a pharmacy benefit management company, that’s one of the ways that they can drive…
Self-FundedWho Is Spencer Smith? Q+A with Luke Aslesen
Luke Aslesen, founder of INFRMD, joined me a few weeks ago for the podcast, and we also filmed this extended interview after, in which Luke asks me about my…
Self-FundedGLP-1s: The PBM Perspective (with Justin Jasniewski)
“PBM is one of the most complicated concepts out there and it's incredibly difficult to understand. But it's not because the system itself is complicated. It's…
Self-Funded"Blind Spots" with Dr. Marty Makary
“You know, Africa has no peanut allergies.” - Dr. Marty Makary I was honored to be joined this week by Dr. Marty Makary to promote his new book “Blind Spots”…
Self-FundedHow Do You Stay Authentic And Creative In Insurance? (with Luke Aslesen)
“So many times these employers are like, ‘dude, I spend so much money on this, and my employees don't care at all.’ Or what's even worse is they go, ‘our…
Self-FundedPsychedelic Therapy As An Employee Benefit? (with Amil Patel)
“If we're facing a [mental health] crisis and we want radical change, we’ve got to think about radical solutions. If those radical solutions can show…
Self-FundedWhat's Stopping Patients From Embracing Virtual Care? (with Jon O'Toole)
“Utilization is key for virtual urgent care. Let us be your first line of defense, rather than like, ‘oh, I do have a telemedicine on the back of my insurance…
Self-FundedElevate Your Customer Service Game (with Heather Bowers)
“Life is short. In the meantime, your health is, at the end of the day, your health is all you have." - Heather Bowers Differentiating yourself through…
Self-FundedHow Do We Engage Members? (with Rob Gelb)
“We're simplifying the complexities of healthcare. We gotta declutter it, we've gotta demystify it, we've gotta make it more transparent and understandable in…
Self-FundedFixing Healthcare Now (with Brandon Weber in San Francisco)
“If you talk to almost anyone in this industry over a beer or something like that, I think they will all agree that we are operating in a pretty antiquated…
Self-FundedThe Social Determinants Of Health (with Justen Nestico)
"I think, not just in terms of the type of AI Verikai does, but AI in healthcare in general, I'm so optimistic about it, just because we are in such early…
Self-FundedWhy Tribal Healthcare Is So Unique (with Kevin Chambers)
"The best way I can explain it is the concept is like your house is on fire, and now you go get homeowners insurance." - Kevin Chambers Kevin Chambers (Lucent…
Self-FundedHow To Build Your Personal Brand From Scratch (with Madison Baker)
"I think we need to do a better job of understanding each other and plugging each other in where we can help our clients to solve for issues that may not…
Self-FundedSelf-Funding Drug Trials (with Public Good Pharma)
“I realize there's this massive disconnect in the business model whereby you've got governments and health insurers paying billions and billions of dollars for…
Self-FundedCan We Use AI To Fix Healthcare? (with Guy Benjamin)
"The US healthcare system is simple, easy to navigate and affordable. Said no one ever." - Guy Benjamin Guy Benjamin returns to the show a year after his…
Self-FundedInside the Life of a Children's Book Illustrator (with AG Ford)
"It's not always what you can do that makes you who you are. Sometimes the things that you don't do well create your style." - AG Ford We have a bit of a…
Self-FundedEpisode 150 - Talking RBP with ClaimDOC, Live From Des Moines!
“If you're going to be the fiduciary, you have to protect the members, you have to protect the plan, and you need to defend that allowable to make sure that…
Self-FundedReal Estate As An Employee Benefit? (with Dave and Tommy Shumway)
"You're talking about the number one creator of wealth and security for people and one of their most important purchases. And like, how is this not in the…
Self-FundedIncentivizing Employees To Stay Fit (with Chris Hamilton)
"Your fitness affects if you, even if you have a desk job. Your fitness is going to affect your performance over the long run, because it's your energy level."…
Self-FundedDesigning Better Healthcare Experiences (with Ben Callaghan)
“We need to solve for all of that, so that it's more rewarding, more enjoyable, because that's where the cost savings will come in. That's where the innovation…
Self-FundedHow To Stay Disciplined As A Consultant (with Nick Bellanca)
"If you do hard things now, your life will be easy in the future. If you do easy things now, your life will be hard in the future." - Nick Bellanca Nick…
Self-FundedBringing Capitalism Back To Healthcare (with Dr. K)
"When your brain is programmed that the only way it can be done is through submitting your insurance and when your brain has been for years and years and years…
Self-FundedThe Employer Perspective On Self-Funding (with Stephanie Koch)
“It's the second largest line item that a company has, but they will stroke a check every month for a fully insured program without having data to support what…
Self-FundedAvoiding Unnecessary Surgeries And Imaging (with Heidi Ojha)
“I realized that 95% of the scheduled surgeries, like shoulder/knee repairs, back fusions, even some pelvic floor surgeries, they're no more effective than…
Self-FundedCan Market-Based Pricing Save Healthcare? (with Dr. Keith Smith)
“In what other industry are you just not covered up with business if you're cheaper and better? This is America, for God's sake." - Keith Smith This is a…
Self-FundedFrom "Sickcare" to "Healthcare": The Future Of This Industry (with John Butler)
"No one wins alone. And you know what? You can't do it on your own." - John Butler John Butler, from JB Benefits Consulting, joined the show this week to talk…
Self-FundedModern Virtual Care With AI (with Chris Mathew)
"I don't believe that random doctors should treat random patients in ongoing continuity of care. I don't think that transactional care is good for patients…
- Self-Funded
The MSK Roundtable, with Chris Hamilton, Heidi Ojha, and Mark Testa
Does bone-on-bone contact always lead to pain? What's the best way to get good, new solutions in the hands of brokers? How many MSK surgeries are really…
Self-FundedWhy "HR" Became "People" (with Monica Panetta)
"I always knew there was more. I always knew there was a different dimension to what this personnel or HR thing was." - Monica Panetta Monica Panetta, Chief…
Self-FundedFounding A Healthcare Startup (with Russell Pekala)
"I think the more questions the employer asks, and just the deeper that they're willing to think about this and have already thought about it, the more they're…
Self-FundedActually Making Healthcare Affordable (with Taylor Rogers)
“To me, a private equity firm should never look at a healthcare vertical and say, God, there's opportunity there. That means that there's profit exploitation…
Self-FundedLeveling The Healthcare Playing Field (with Gentry Lynn)
“You can have the same provider, same treatment, two different locations, different outcomes.” - Gentry Lynn Gentry Lynn, VP at Healthcare Bluebook, joined me…
Self-FundedIs Ozempic A Sustainable Solution? (with Durrell Finch)
“It's like the Wizard of Oz, I think, or The Matrix. You have this veil that as the participant in it for so long, you just don't think about your benefits…
Self-FundedHow Adapting to Regulations Can Benefit Your Practice (with Jen Berman)
"Compliance does not have to be a burden. It doesn't have to be hard. It can be a value differentiator and an opportunity to really help people." - Jen Berman…
Self-FundedThe No Surprises Act and Consumer Protection In Healthcare (with Josh Schreiner & Michael Mather)
"When consumers understand that they can get the same level of care at half the price, they feel good about making that decision." - Josh Schreiner “We're…
Self-FundedDon't Get Sued: Compliance In The CAA Era (with Sarah Borders)
“The CAA was the most significant piece of healthcare legislation that we've had since the ACA.” - Sarah Borders Healthcare compliance, especially post-CAA…
Self-FundedDisrupting The Health Insurance Industry (with Jack Crotty)
"I think our industry is craving some disruption - and it needs it." - Jack Crotty What does it actually mean to disrupt the health insurance industry? Jack…
Self-FundedHow To Build Your Social Media Brand (with Jake Rushton)
"There's no reason you can't make content.There's no excuses. Just get started. Because it could open opportunities you don't even know." - Jake Rushton Jake…
Self-FundedClosing the Mental Health Gap (with Megan Rozanski)
“I think we're now at a point where we as a society are recognizing we can't wait until it gets bad enough. And how do we get people into care sooner?" - Megan…
Self-FundedDirect Primary Care: The Physician Perspective (with Dr. David Cameron)
"Whereas the current structure pits [employers, doctors, and patients] against each other, with Direct Primary Care, we all want the same thing." - Dr. David…
Self-FundedDemanding Healthcare Justice (with Emma Fox)
"The only thing that will fix healthcare is restoring the doctor patient relationship without anybody in between it." - Emma Fox Emma Fox joins me on this…
Self-FundedA Couple On A Healthcare Mission (With David Contorno & Emma Fox)
"If you show me the incentives, I'll show you the outcomes." - David Contorno "I want to fix the healthcare system. My mission ended up being to correct the…
Self-FundedThe Real Cost of Health Insurance (with David Contorno)
"Health insurance has been so perverted that it becomes the one insurance that we go bankrupt when we use." - David Contorno I was super grateful to have David…
Self-FundedSamaritan Fund - Medical Expense Relief That Changes Lives
"If we can take that [financial] anxiety away from them to where they can focus on their health, that's our mission, that's our cause. That's what we want to…
Self-FundedAsk Us Anything - LinkedIn Live with Seth Denson (12/20/23)
In this special episode of Self-Funded with Spencer, I am joined by my friend Seth Denson for my first ever live version of the podcast through LinkedIn Live…
Self-FundedAdvanced Medical Strategies - Stacy Borans - Founder of AMS
Advanced Medical Strategies - Stacy Borans - Founder of AMS Stacy Borans is a seasoned expert in healthcare technology and data analysis, with a robust…
Self-FundedA Benefit For Parents - ParentMD
Josh Honaker is a seasoned pediatrician from South Central Kentucky, renowned for his expertise in integrating telehealth and education in pediatric…
Self-FundedHow Should Brokers Get Paid - Jonathan Lopez
How Should Insurance Brokers Get Paid - Jonathan Lopez Jonathan Lopez's career journey is a testament to the power of hard work and continuous learning. From a…