In this episode of The Pulse in 15, Mary sits down with Heather Sundar, CEO of Archimedes, to explore one of the largest and least understood opportunities in healthcare cost management: medications covered under the medical benefit. While many employers focus heavily on pharmacy benefit management, some of the most expensive specialty medications are administered and reimbursed through the medical plan, often with far less visibility into cost variation and utilization patterns.

Heather explains why medical benefit drug spending has become an increasing area of focus for employers, what organizations hope to accomplish through medical pharmacy carve-out strategies, and how improved transparency can help identify reimbursement variation, overpayments, and opportunities for greater spend efficiency. The discussion provides practical guidance for employers seeking to balance financial stewardship, appropriate clinical oversight, and member access to necessary therapies.

Key Takeaways

• Understand the difference between traditional pharmacy benefits and medications covered under the medical benefit.
• Learn why specialty medications administered through the medical plan have become a growing cost concern for employers.
• Explore the goals and potential benefits of medical pharmacy carve-out and specialty drug management strategies.
• Identify the reporting, transparency, and reimbursement insights employers should expect to effectively manage this category of spend.
• Understand how organizations can improve cost efficiency while maintaining appropriate member access to necessary therapies.

In this episode of The Pulse in 15, Mary reconnects with Dr. Sean Hashmi, a leader in Lifestyle and Obesity Medicine at Kaiser Permanente, to explore how obesity treatment has evolved since their first discussion in 2022. At that time, GLP-1 medications were just beginning to gain attention. Today, they have transformed conversations around obesity management, healthcare costs, long-term outcomes, and employer health plan strategy. Dr. Hashmi shares what real-world experience has taught us about sustainable success, long-term use, and medication discontinuation, while providing practical insights for employers evaluating obesity care programs.

Key Takeaways

• Understand how obesity treatment has evolved since GLP-1 medications entered mainstream clinical practice.
• Explore what providers are seeing regarding long-term outcomes, sustainability, and measures of success beyond weight loss.
• Gain insight into whether patients can successfully transition off GLP-1 medications and maintain their results.
• Identify the key elements employers should consider when developing an obesity management strategy that extends beyond medication coverage alone.

In this episode of The Pulse in 15, Mary Delaney sits down with Teri Weber to talk about the growing complexity of absence management—and why so many employers are feeling the impact across their organizations.

From FMLA and ADA to evolving state leave laws, rising mental health–related absences, and hybrid work challenges, absence is hitting organizations from every direction. What used to be a compliance exercise is now directly impacting productivity, cost, manager effectiveness, and employee trust.

In this quick 15-minute conversation, Teri focuses on what matters most right now:

• Where employers are most at risk
• What’s changed in the absence landscape
• Practical steps leaders should be thinking about this year

If you’re navigating absence across your workforce, this is a conversation worth 15 minutes of your time.

In this podcast, Dr. Joshua Dowell, a private practice pioneer in radiology care, explores the future state of interventional radiology and why moving these services away from hospital‑based setting represents a critical opportunity for the healthcare system. He discusses how alternative care models can meaningfully reduce costs, lower patient risk, and improve quality—particularly in cancer care. The conversation highlights how rethinking site‑of‑care decisions in interventional radiology can unlock a more sustainable cost structure while delivering better outcomes for patients.

After listening to this podcast, participants will be able to:

• Explain the potential impact of shifting interventional radiology away from hospital‑based services, including implications for cost, access, and care delivery.
• Understand how alternative interventional radiology models can improve patient care and reduce risk, particularly through more appropriate care settings.
• Identify the drivers of improved cost structure when interventional radiology services move outside of traditional hospital environments.
• Recognize the path forward for improving cancer care through innovative interventional radiology delivery models.

In this episode of The Pulse in 15, Mary sits down with Bryan Trainor to discuss the value Kwik Trip has found in moving from separate, vendor-specific reports to having all their information in one place. Bryan shares how bringing data together into a single, transparent view has helped create clarity, reduce fragmentation, and better align goals and priorities across internal teams and vendor partners. The conversation highlights why data integration matters, how transparency changes the way partners work together, and how a unified view of information supports smarter, more coordinated strategy.

Key Takeaways

• Understand the value of moving from siloed, vendor-specific reports to a unified view of information, and how a single source of truth supports clearer, more consistent decision-making.
• Explain how greater data transparency helps align goals and priorities across vendor partners, shifting conversations from isolated metrics to shared outcomes.
• Recognize how integrated data enables organizations to identify patterns, gaps, and opportunities that are difficult to see when information is fragmented.
• Describe how a transparent, comprehensive data approach can strengthen collaboration and support more coordinated strategy execution.

Frontline Perspectives from Physicians & Benefits Leaders

Building on our Part 2 session where carriers discussed what’s working, what’s falling short, and how employers can influence the trend, we’re now turning to the people closest to care delivery and benefit design. In Part 3, practicing physicians and respected benefits leaders will share practical, employer-ready strategies to stabilize access, improve outcomes, and control costs.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why primary care is under pressure from administrative burdens and poor reimbursement to fragmented relationships and what it means for access and outcomes.
• How innovative models like direct primary care and team-based care are changing the game for both physicians and employers.
• What employers and benefits advisors can do to drive real change: from investing in primary care and reducing red tape, to building trusted partnerships with providers.
• The power of relationships in primary care and how continuity, trust, and a whole-person approach can lower costs and improve workforce health.

If you’re tired of quick fixes and want to hear what really works in primary care—from the voices on the front lines, this conversation is for you.

In this 15-minute episode, we’re joined by Roger McMichael, Associate Superintendent at Carmel Clay Schools, for a practical conversation on how objective, data driven strategy can create meaningful and sustainable change in a school system’s health plan.

Roger shares how his team focused on improving employee health and experience while also achieving significant savings for the plan—without sacrificing value or access. His insights offer a real-world example of what’s possible when strategy, transparency, and long-term thinking come together.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Carmel Clay Schools leveraged plan savings to reinvest in and expand service offerings
• How their members’ experience differs from others in the local community
• What success looks like for their organization—and the outcomes they’ve realized so far

This episode is a must listen for HR leaders, benefits professionals, and executives looking for sustainable healthcare strategies that work for both their people and their bottom line.

In this mini episode of The Pulse, Mary speaks with an employee communications expert about why benefits messages so often get lost and how employers can move from noise to real impact. The conversation highlights what effective benefits communication looks like today, common mistakes employers make, and how to measure whether messages are actually driving understanding and action. The episode wraps with practical advice on one high impact improvement employers can focus on this year, along with a brief look at how AI can strengthen benefits communication in realistic, meaningful ways.

4 Key Takeaways:

1. Cutting through noise requires strategy, not more messaging.
   Effective benefits communication isn’t about sending more emails—it’s about delivering the right message, at the right time, in a way employees can actually absorb and act on.
2. Impact matters more than activity.
   Open rates and clicks don’t tell the full story. Employers need to measure whether communication improves understanding, confidence, and decision making—not just whether messages were delivered.
3. Complexity is the enemy of engagement.
   Overly technical language, inconsistent messaging, and one size fits all approaches are some of the biggest reasons benefits communication fails. Simplicity and relevance drive impact.
4. Focus on one meaningful improvement—and do it well.
   Whether it’s simplifying content, improving timing, or better segmenting messages, one focused change can dramatically improve communication effectiveness when executed intentionally.