Explore proven strategies to navigate the complex $600B employer healthcare market. Learn how to overcome challenges like vendor saturation, low engagement rates, and shifting employer preferences to accelerate revenue growth and build lasting partnerships with Fortune 1000 companies.
Lindsey Kratzer, Founder, Spark Health Advisors
Megan Antonelli, Chief Executive Officer, HealthIMPACT Live
Welcome 0:01 Music. Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't. As we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Janae sharp and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS, deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
Megan Antonelli 0:30 Hi. Welcome to Digital Health talks, where we explore cutting edge healthcare innovation. I'm your host. Megan Antonelli, founder and CEO of health impact. Today we're diving into a critical area of opportunity and challenges in the digital health landscape. My favorite the employer market, and with us is Lindsay Kratzer, CEO of Spark health advisors, an expert in helping healthcare companies navigate and succeed in this complex ecosystem. Whether you're a startup looking to break into the space, or established player seeking to optimize your approach. This conversation should provide valuable insights to drive your growth strategy. Let's jump in and uncover the ways to Winning the Employer healthcare market. Hi, Lindsay, how are you today?
Lindsey Kratzer 1:11 Doing great. How are you today? Megan,
Megan Antonelli 1:13 I'm great. You know, it's kind of a cloudy day here in in Hermosa Beach, which is, you know, supposed to be unusual, but we've had a bit of a cloudy summer, so hopefully my my listeners don't get sick of me complaining about my Southern California wedding. Yeah, exactly.
Lindsey Kratzer 1:28 You're still in for most of each so,
Megan Antonelli 1:32 you know, come January, it shouldn't be too bad. How, you know, how are things for you? You know, I think the, you know, I've always been so interested in, kind of the stakeholder piece and the incentives of healthcare. And so I'd love to hear kind of how you got, you know, into the healthcare innovation space and, and what's your, you know, what's your, what was your pathway to hear,
Lindsey Kratzer 1:56 yeah, absolutely. So I started off my career, you know more in the consulting space, but, you know, I've always been interested in healthcare. I, you know, I grew up like my mother's a registered dietitian. I benefited a lot from just having, like, healthy lifestyle for a long period of my career. And I lived in Nashville for a long time, which, you know, if you're not working in healthcare like that kind of drives that market, right? So got into the healthcare space and have spent most of my career really working with employers. So that's really kind of where I've ended up focusing my time and effort within the space, yeah,
Megan Antonelli 2:35 well, the employer market, it is such a it's such an interesting and, of course, diverse market in terms of, you know, how they get involved in healthcare, and how they they purchase it and and look at it, and, you know, I've always been interested in how it's ebbed and flowed, right? And I feel like there's certain points of of you know this, you know, last 30 years that I've been in healthcare, that employers have been super engaged, and it's been a very big polity, policy discussion around cost and what can we do? And I feel like, in some ways, that's coming back, and I think I've read somewhere, you know, it's, you know, for the digital health companies that the employers represent, you know, a $600 billion opportunity, it's very big, but it is also very complex. So tell us a little bit about, you know, what you see as the big challenges that the digital health companies should be thinking about when they're selling into the market and kind of, you know, maybe a little bit of the opportunities,
Lindsey Kratzer 3:33 yeah, yeah. I mean, I think you're right. It is complicated, especially for these digital health companies. You know, there's been an influx of vendors. I think everybody's heard the term vendor fatigue at this point, but these HR teams at these employers are kind of overwhelmed with different point solutions that don't necessarily integrate well into their ecosystem. So I think we're seeing more and more of a trend towards companies looking for more holistic solutions. They can solve a bigger chunk of their problem. And they also have small HR teams, typically. So, you know, even a large employer, you know, the expertise that they have in house to evaluate different benefit solutions and manage, you know, a ton of different point solutions. They just don't necessarily always have that in house ability to do all of that. So I think that's a challenge. But on the flip side, you know, there are more and more companies that are getting into the self insured space. You're seeing smaller and smaller companies starting to flip from fully insured to self insured. And you know, I think that there's just dramatically rising costs of healthcare for employers. And I think they are kind of reaching a breaking point where, you know, this is like, oftentimes, the second largest cost for an employer after labor, and they're looking for ways to mitigate those costs and bring those costs down. And then also, you know, I think that a lot of employers are looking to distinguish themselves as employers of choice. And. And offering, you know, best in class benefits is a really important way to do that. So while I think that there are a lot of challenges that employers face, I do think they're still looking for innovation as well.
Megan Antonelli 5:11 Yeah, absolutely. Tell us a little bit in terms of the self employed, self insured employers, and that growth in that in that space, like, how, how quickly is it growing? How much do you see that that change happening and and what do those what does the profile of those types of companies look like?
Lindsey Kratzer 5:30 Yeah. I mean, I think that the large organizations, like the fortune 1000 have obviously been self insured for a long time. As I mentioned, their costs are continuing to grow. So, you know, it's becoming more and more of a burden for those organizations. But as you move more like down market, more and more of those companies are starting to be self insured as well. I think, like the total self insured population, the US is over, like 100 million people that access care through kind of a self insured employer plan. So I mean, it's a ton of people in the United States, and we're seeing companies as small as 500 or less that are really, truly mid market, companies that are moving into the self insured space, but they don't necessarily have that in house talent or knowledge of how to navigate that space. So a lot of influencers like brokers and other aggregators play a really important role for those companies?
Megan Antonelli 6:24 Yeah, no, absolutely. And it is, I mean, as they are self insured, and you mentioned sort of the point solutions, and I think that's another thing that we're seeing across digital health, but not just from the employer perspective, but from the patient perspective, right? I mean, I'm going to go to one medical for my primary care, and I might go to hims and hers for my other things. And I might go to Winona for some other things. And there's, you know, I mean, it's starting to those digital solutions are, you know, and then I'm managing my, you know, sleep with my aura ring, and my fitness with my Apple Watch. There's a lot of sort of those different, you know, tools and applications. How are the employers kind of handling that, and what do you guys do to kind of help that?
Lindsey Kratzer 7:10 Yeah, I mean, I think that kind of the first step for any solution is really like figuring out, like, why are you here, and how are you going to add value for the ultimate consumer of healthcare, which would be the employee and their family. So kind of what we talk about is like the member. So you have to have a distinguished value proposition and differentiators and really think about like, why you're here, how you're creating value for them, because if they're not going to utilize your solution, you're never going to be successful with employers to begin with. So we work a lot with companies to really help them think through their differentiators, not just by the B to B buyer type, but really how they're going to operate in this B to B to C environment, and how they're going to engage, kind of the ultimate consumer of the health care and how they're going to create value for those people.
Megan Antonelli 7:58 Is it a lot of like, you know, more of a push pull, like, you know. Do you feel when it comes to the digital health solution? Does it? Does it matter that the employees are asking for it? You know, what is the what's the best way when you're talking to these employers, you know, sort of, what's, what are they looking for in those solutions, you know what? What gets their interest?
Lindsey Kratzer 8:22 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so there definitely have been a lot of companies, and we talk to them all the time. This started with more of a D to C approach, so more of a bottoms up approach, and they're trying to prove out kind of the value with kind of the health care consumer, and then kind of move into employers next. That certainly is one way to do this. But I think when you're thinking about the employer, you know, they're typically looking for outcomes, right? So outcomes could be cost, it could be quality, it could be, you know, the actual member utilization of the product. So they're looking for solutions that are going to be able to drive outcome and make an actual, meaningful impact for their organization. And I think one of the challenges with the point solutions is that, you know, oftentimes they may, you know, be great in one specific area, but you know, it's not necessarily bubbling up to one of those top concerns of employers, like cancer or musculoskeletal or something like that. And so how do they kind of navigate that ecosystem where they can still sell into the employer market, but they may need to go through other channels, rather than just going direct, necessarily after like the fortune 1000 if you are more of a narrow point solution, that's probably not going to work. You're probably going to need to take more of an integrated approach to that ecosystem and selling into them.
Megan Antonelli 9:39 Yeah. I mean, when I was was sort of in this it was like, you know, the variety of tools it was, you know, a lot of like, wellness, yoga, you know, all these sort of apps. And it's like, that stuff, of course, is incredibly important. But does it in, you know, is it going to affect the cost lover, you know? And that's, and that's where things are. So tell me a little bit, you know, what? You seeing out there that is, you know, really providing that value. What are the types of of tools that the the employers are really getting into? Yeah,
Lindsey Kratzer 10:09 I mean, I think to like, build off of what you're saying about wellness and yoga. Like, I mean, I love yoga. I think it's, like, fantastic, but, like, it's hard to, like, prove out an ROI on a solution like that for employers. So obviously, if you have a product that can deliver a hard dollar ROI, that's going to be, you know, kind of the ideal type of solution to bring to the employer market. But I think there's other ways, you know, to kind of prove out value to the employers too. So if it's something that there is demand for within the employee population that they're going to utilize, that can certainly be something super beneficial as well. So I think that there's just different ways to kind of tackle that, in terms of solutions that are, you know, picking up speed right now. I think everybody's concerned about like GLP ones and the increasing cost there. So lot of talk around weight loss. I've had a lot of conversations around that. I think pharmaceutical costs are, you know, increasingly becoming overbearing for employers. So they're looking for alternatives and different solutions and ways to bring down those costs. Cancer remains, you know, really top of mind for employers as well. So they're looking to invest in different, you know, solutions that are going to help manage kind of their cancer risk. I'm a big I'm passionate about women's health. I think that women's health is really exciting, and it seems to be picking up tremendous amount of steam. I think a lot of like, women, like, like, both of us are like, you know, at an age in the workforce where, you know, their employers really want to retain them. They're key decision makers in the organization. So, you know, providing resources that help women, family planning, things along those lines, I think are really picking up steam, but I think that the narrow point solutions can still deliver a lot of value. They just have to figure out the right way to work into that employer's ecosystem, and a lot of time that's maybe through partnerships and some of the aggregators that are out there. And
Megan Antonelli 12:03 what do you think? I mean, as these folks, the innovators, are kind of approaching those companies, obviously coming to you for help, but in general, I mean, how do you even engage that conversation? Because I do feel like there's a lot of middlemen, you know, whether it's brokers or, you know, the Mercers of the world. You know that, that, you know, you don't necessarily get those conversations, how do, how do you, you know, suggest the digital health companies go, go, you know, to the employers. Yeah. I
Lindsey Kratzer 12:33 mean, I think it depends on the individual company, and you know, what it is they are trying to achieve and what kind of value they can offer. So again, if you're, you know, tackling like a big category of spend for an employer, you know, maybe it makes more sense to go direct if, like you can have a more direct impact. But for a lot of companies that we work with, you know, they may have started off trying to go direct to employer, and they're not seeing a lot of success there. So a lot of time, we recommend kind of a two pronged approach, where it would be, you know, certainly there could be a direct outreach effort towards employers, but also, like engaging the ecosystem. So how are you going to kind of engage the brokers and consultants, which, you know, are influencers in that buying decision? You know, if you go to a broker consultant and you're an employer and you say, What about XYZ solution? They're like, I've never heard of it. I don't think this adds value that that can really impact that decision for the employer. Another way is really to work through, you know, TPAs and different aggregators in the space that can serve as like procurement vehicles, so strategic partnerships that can serve as procurement vehicles for employers. So easy ways for them to kind of add on the different point solutions that they need for their population. So oftentimes, you know, those guys are not necessarily going to go out there and actively sell on your behalf, but it does make the purchasing process easier for the employers. So we recommend, oftentimes, kind of a two pronged approach, but it also depends on what type of what type where you're a targeting employer. So are do you have a solution that's more focused on, like, mid market employers? Do you have more of an enterprise solution? You know? Where are you in terms of outcomes and case studies and what you've been able to deliver today? Like, we typically recommend, like, Don't go after like Disney like, day one, right? You know, probably not going to get very far with that approach. With that approach,
Megan Antonelli 14:23 right, right, yeah. And I always thought, I mean, you know, not to the conferences and, and sort of the the places that the employers do go. I mean, there's a number of those, those events that, and it they do, in some ways, I always felt like they divide them up very quick, you know very well, in terms of, you know, you have the self insured markets that go to certain events, and then there's certainly a number of healthcare benefits events too. I don't do any more of them myself, but I remember them being quite robust. And then even just the HR events themselves, and like the regional HR program. Programs. You know, it's very interesting to see like, who goes there and what they are talking about when it comes to healthcare, because it's often very different from what people are talking about at the digital health type conferences or at the Health IT conferences, certainly at HIMSS, you know. I mean, it's a really big chasm. I think,
Lindsey Kratzer 15:19 yeah, I agree. I mean, we work with a lot of clients that are looking for recommendations on which conferences they should invest in, because, like, it can get very, very expensive, right? And you need to have kind of an event strategy. You need to make sure that you're going to, like, make the most of those different events. So which ones would be kind of the most important for them based on their audience. You know, are they going after more brokers and consultants, then maybe saya makes sense. You know, they're going after large employers. Maybe more National Business Group on Health makes sense. So really kind of helping them to kind of understand what are the different options there, and what are some different avenues to kind of get in front of employers or kind of those decision makers within the ecosystem they need to work with. But, I mean, I think regardless, you need to have an event strategy, because you can pretty quickly spend, you know, in the six figures or more on events and and you may not really see the return on investment for that.
Megan Antonelli 16:12 Yeah, yeah, they don't. They go to their events, is the reality of it, right? I mean, and it's hard, I work for years trying to get it, you know, get them there, but it's hard to get them to come to an event that's about healthcare or it specifically, you know? I mean, that's not their, you know, that's not the angle that they're coming at this from, you know? Yeah,
Lindsey Kratzer 16:31 I think they oftentimes, especially like, if you're working with the employers, they oftentimes like to, like be at events where there's a lot of peers too, so that they can, like, learn from other organizations and how they've tackled things, and really do that networking and building those connections. We've got quite a few clients that have kind of put together their own events where they're bringing, like employers that were are within their ecosystem, so either existing clients or prospects, and trying to kind of pull them together into events. So those seem to be successful as well, because I think again, there could be like that, peer sharing, but even for companies, when they're looking to do webinars and things like that, we typically recommend, hey, like, you should bring a client on here and have them do most of the speaking, rather than, you know, you out there trying to, like, pitch what your company's doing without kind of the backing of the employer to validate that,
Megan Antonelli 17:22 right? Well, that is the universal truth, you know, across across all of the digital health vendors, whether you're selling into the employer or the payer or the hospital market. But I think, you know, I think with the employers, it's that much more important because they think that one, not only do they feel as though they come at it from a unique place, but they're also a very as, again, a very diverse group. So whether they are, as you said, you know, Fortune 1000 to mid market to small employers, their needs and how they look at healthcare is completely different. And I think it's very easy for digital health companies to make the mistake of just thinking of, you know, oh, it's the employer market. We're going to go after them. It's similar to the consumer market, but their employers, or it's similar to the payer market. We have to provide value. But you know, it's, you know, we're going to be talking to HR people instead of, you know, actuaries.
Lindsey Kratzer 18:19 Yeah, we see that all day long. We run into that pretty consistently where, you know, companies are taking the approach of, like, Oh, this is just like another, you know, market we're going after. Like, sure, we haven't done this before, but, like, how hard can it be? And what we find is that you can certainly take that approach, but it's probably going to take you quite a bit longer to see the results, rather than bringing in, you know, experts that understand the ecosystem. So whether it's somebody like us or bringing in in house talent, you know, I think that bringing in somebody that's worked in that employer specific space is really smart. You know, we do a lot. We spend a lot of time educating companies as well on the different types of buyers, within the employers, within the employer world, so certainly, kind of the influencers in the space and the procurement vehicles like I mentioned, but then also the different types of employers. So to your side, to your point, it matters, like the size of employer, but even within the fortune 1000 you know, a manufacturing company is going to care about very, very different things than a tech company that's in a major market, their employee populations and the people on their benefit plan are going to differ very, very much. So you don't want to go into a tech employer talking about diabetes and, you know, aging population, types of concerns, chronic conditions like, they're going to be like, we don't we don't see this in our organization that much. But you really need to have a tailored approach to what's going on in that population. So we work a lot with companies to identify, like, what should be, kind of their ideal client profile, and then how to navigate the world to get to them.
Megan Antonelli 19:51 Yeah, that's so important. I mean, it is. It's so different. And the the needs of each employer, it, you know, are different, which, which is what makes it as challenge. As it is, in addition to, you know, the number of other elements of of the fact that it's only here on their priority list versus here, depending on the type of organization, for sure, talk a little bit about, I mean, so we've heard, and I've seen a lot of discussion around PBMs lately, and there's certainly been new. There's a lot of competition in that space, and that's, as you said, one of the bigger drivers, you know, with the escalating costs and demands for GLP ones and everything else, what are you seeing any movement in that space? You know, there's always a call to sort of get rid of PBMs, you know. But whether or not that will, you know, ever materialize. But are you seeing any cool or interesting innovations in that space that are really controlling costs? Where would you say that's, you know, from, you know, innovation space. What's interesting there? Yeah.
Lindsey Kratzer 20:53 I mean, we talked to a lot of different companies that are working to innovate more typically, around cost in that space, I think there's been kind of the, you know, uptick in the transparent PBM type of approach, kind of piggybacking off of like Mark Cuban's company. So I think that there is demand for that. But it does seem like for most employers you're talking to, they're still kind of working with, like the large, you know, three PBMs that have kind of that historical, you know, footprint, but I do think that there is demand in different companies depending on kind of their risk profile, or maybe starting to look for alternative solutions and maybe being a little bit more demanding, either with the PBMs that they're existing, that They're contracting with, or looking for alternative solutions that can actually, you know, bring down those prices. Because I think that, to your point, like there's just not a ton of trust right now with the PBMs and so just again, depending on the organization type and what their risk profile is, I think that some companies are looking to do something different. But to your point, I feel like that may move somewhat slow.
Megan Antonelli 22:04 Yeah, no, it is. It's in, it's a tough one, you know, in that you've got a lot of just sort of, you know, incumbents, and that's just the way it's been to so to change it, you know. And even with, like, Lily direct, and some of the direct, you know, I mean, you for years, we've heard about, you know, sort of direct to primary care, and what could happen there. And now we have direct pharmacy, you know, happening and what might happen there. And, and so there's definitely, you know, sort of exciting innovations happening on the employer market. But it's almost like, you know, how, how does that go through the channels that currently exist to get to actually pass through to value. Yeah,
Lindsey Kratzer 22:43 I think, especially like a lot of the larger employers, they just, you know, they don't want to necessarily take a risk on things, so they're looking for proof that this is going to be something that they should invest in. So I again, I think that kind of starting down market and building that, you know, that body of evidence, those outcomes, building up the kind of the client logos and the social proof is important for companies before they maybe move upstream. Because I think that just some of the larger companies, it's going to be a little bit harder to make, though, to get them to make, you know, the bigger shift, because they probably do have a little bit more risk, right? They don't need, they can't handle having a program that's going to fail or create mass disruption across like a very large population of employees and their families?
Megan Antonelli 23:28 Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean the risk aversion and, you know, ensuring that it's a it's a valuable and worthwhile investment. Tell me when you think about sort of the employer market in the Digital Health Solutions marketplace right now specifically, are, what are the most, you know, if you had to pick a case study for what this, this digital health innovation, went to employers and, you know, they cracked it. They did a great job. And now, you know, look, everybody's getting it. What are, you know, are there? Are there a few, or one digital health technology that comes to mind? Yeah.
Lindsey Kratzer 24:05 I mean, I think, like in health, would be a great one, right? They have done a fantastic job breaking into the employer market. I've been watching MIDI health a lot lately. I just, again, I'm interested in women's health. I think it's really interesting. Some of the other you know, women's health companies have done a really strong job with employers as well. So, you know, but a lot of these companies, they are spending quite a lot of money on that kind of commercial function to build up within the employer market, like I saw that MIDI just, you know, closed on a pretty large raise again recently. So, you know, that's kind of an expensive proposition that not necessarily every company has. So we work a lot with companies on, you know, depending on kind of the resources that you have, you know, what would be the best way to maybe deploy those like this, right sized further for their organization? Because I think kind of the companies like the hinge health and people like that. They obviously have very large, you know, commercial organizations that are also very focused on the employer market, and have those people that have the rolodexes and the experience and really built out kind of these large commercial teams to go after those, those employers. And I think they also have, you know, kind of the strong story around ROI value. And, you know, you see them everywhere, like they're literally everywhere. They're at all the conferences. They're very active on LinkedIn. Everybody knows their names. You know, they are working very effectively through the consultants and the brokers. So, I mean, they're just, it's hard to miss them, right? They're kind of, they've created some of these categories, and then they've made a lot of chatter about it, and they've done very well as a result. But that's not always like an option for every company if they haven't raised that amount of money, right? Yeah,
Megan Antonelli 25:47 well, and that's it's like with the diversity of the of the market and the size of the market, it's expensive to actually, you know, break into it for sure. So we like to ask always, in terms of just big, big picture challenges and big picture technology challenges or healthcare challenges. You know, what's one, you know, as you're, you know, we all choose healthcare because we want to fix it and we want it to be better. What's, you know, your big sort of, if you could change one thing in healthcare or solve one challenge that you would, you would want to change? Yeah,
Lindsey Kratzer 26:19 so, as I mentioned, you know, I'm kind of a big person on nutrition. I've been, you know, following the food as medicine movement. I've been involved in that movement and worked with some companies in that space. So I would love to see more traction in that space. You know, I think that it would be really cool if some of those companies could really figure out how, in a scalable way to utilize technology to deliver access to higher quality food to, you know, kind of the broader population. So not just, you know, those people that can necessarily afford it, but how do you kind of integrate social determinants of health and everything else to kind of solve those problems for for you know, the the broader population that we have here, and then also, you know, educating people. But I think, you know, there's still so many food deserts in the country, so many people without access to knowledge. And then, you know, the actual healthy foods, like fruits, vegetables, fresh foods, you know, I think that that would be what I would choose to solve. And I think that movement's been picking up, but, you know, kind of like we were talking about, they struggle a little bit with proving out at that ROI, like everybody knows that, like, you know, health is like that. Your health is largely based on the things that you put in your body from a food perspective, but tying that back to the actual outcomes for ROI has been hard for that those groups as well. So would love to see that pick up more traction.
Megan Antonelli 27:43 Me too. That's one of my favorite areas. And, you know, I mean, I shouldn't be surprised that there's been growth in it, but I have to say that I you know, it was surprising to see the growth and to see, I mean, you know, we have examples and folks in in New York, and you know, the hospitals that are getting involved, and we did, you know, a long time ago, a series on Social Determinants of Health and, and you know, of course, that it's more, you know, it's broader, obviously, in the data there, and kind of the tools and, and the it's really just an extension of population health and public health and what's involved. But the food is medicine movement is getting traction, and it's super exciting to see, you know, because it does, it touches everything and everyone, and it'll be interesting to see how it intersects with GLP once, you know, because then it's like nobody's eating, but if you just ate healthy food, that would be great, right, right,
Lindsey Kratzer 28:34 right, yeah, yeah. It seems like all these things could come together, but, you know, it does,
Megan Antonelli 28:39 and there's certainly a digital, you know, a digital application for it. You know, in places of you know where the need is, and getting that, you know, food to the right people at the right time needed is certainly important. So tell us, when you look at the sort of digital health innovation space, what's one good thing that you see happening that you're super excited about?
Lindsey Kratzer 29:02 Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, point solutions get a lot of negative you know, a lot of people say negative things about point solutions, but the same time, there's all these companies that are trying to solve and create innovation around smaller challenges that have, like, a meaningful impact on people. So I've been getting excited just with the different types of companies that are approaching, you know, healthcare from a specific lens, where they're trying to solve maybe a specific problem, like we spoke to a company this week that is genomics for pediatrics. I was like, Oh yes, I would love to have more of that, you know. And they're like, but how do we get to kind of the employer space? So I think if there's you know, opportunities kind of bring these solutions together, make their procurement easier for employers, make that process easier, then I think that these companies that are tackling small pieces of health care could kind of add up to have, you know, meaningful change. So I think it's exciting just kind of seeing the different types. Companies that are going after specific challenges and just kind of the energy and passion there, yeah,
Megan Antonelli 30:05 I agree. I mean, you know, and it's funny, coming from a place where it was like, oh, it's all supposed to be, you know, connected and cohesive, and we want it to be, you know, to a point where it's like, I don't really care. I mean, I have 1000 apps on my phone, and I have 1000 you know, I mean, at some point, yeah, it's too much. But in reality, that need for it to be all in one place, I think has kind of gone away, maybe because it is all in one place. It's all on your phone, and
Lindsey Kratzer 30:34 what you care about is not necessarily, like, what, like my husband cares about, right? So, like, right? You know, like, everybody needs things that are personalized for them, right? It's
Megan Antonelli 30:42 a trade off between customization, personalization and a bit of convenience, you know? And I think, as things are becoming easier in terms of the tools talking to each other, that point solution problem isn't as big now from a procurement standpoint, it's still there, but maybe that's where, you know, there's a tool that could wrap it all together and make it easier, I mean, and one of the things I've always thought about is, you know, it's like, I look at my health insurance and, you know, through the employer, and you're, oh, well, I want the, you know, do I want the catalog plan? Do I want this? Do I want that? You know, but they're not really, actually offering other solutions that, you know, I could buy into, you know, I they could pass the cost through to me, but they just become almost a distribution mechanism, as opposed to the actual payer, you know, for some of these technology, yeah, so for some of these types of tools, you know that there's an opportunity there that I think is sometimes missed by probably more mid market. So as they, as they, as those tools become available, and the demand becomes higher, maybe we'll get there. Yeah,
Lindsey Kratzer 31:56 I hope so. I hope so.
Megan Antonelli 31:57 Well, tell the audience about how to kind of get in touch with you. You know, we have a lot of digital health innovators who are looking to sell into the employer market, and I can only imagine how you could help them. So awesome. Yeah.
Lindsey Kratzer 32:09 I mean, the easiest way you can find me on LinkedIn. My name is Lindsay Kratzer, or you can go to our website. It's spark health advisors.com, but, yeah, reach out. But like I said, I'm active on LinkedIn, and that's generally the easiest way to get a hold of me and kick off a conversation. Awesome.
Megan Antonelli 32:27 Well, thank you so much, Lindsay, it's been a pleasure to chat about this, and I, you know, I look forward to kind of seeing how this evolves, because I think, you know, there's so many organizations around now who are getting involved in, you know, quantifying the value for employers, you know, like the Peterson Health Institute in New York and, you know, doing a great job of just kind of getting, getting this also out there, right? The discussion of what, what digital health technology means to employers, and what they're looking for in value, and having that discussion at the same time that we're talking about what the hospital, you know, executives and leaderships, leadership and patients are looking for, because the end of the day, if we can't get it to them, then we can't solve, solve the problems. Absolutely
Lindsey Kratzer 33:12 agree. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me on Megan, it was a great discussion. Yeah, absolutely.
Megan Antonelli 33:16 And to our audience, thanks. We hope this conversation has been valuable. Remember to tune in and listen until next time. Keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible on healthcare. And this is Megan Antonelli signing off for health impact digital health talks. Thank you.
Thank you 33:36 Thank you for joining us on digital health talks, where we explore the intersection of healthcare and technology with leaders who are transforming patient care. This episode was brought to you by our valued program partners, automation anywhere, revolutionizing healthcare workflows through Intelligent Automation. Netera, advancing contactless, vital science monitoring, elite groups delivering strategic healthcare IT solutions, sell point, securing healthcare, identity management and access governance. Your engagement helps drive the future of healthcare innovation. Subscribe to digital health talks on your preferred podcast platform. Share these insights with your network and follow us on LinkedIn for exclusive content and updates. Ready to connect with healthcare technology leaders in person. Join us at the next health impact event. Visit Health Impact forum.com for date and registration. Until next time, this is digital health talks, where changemakers come together to fix healthcare. You.