
Self-Funded With Spencer
Self-funded with Spencer shares inspiring conversations with the most successful and influential people in healthcare - company founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, doctors, sales leaders, and more - to help educate and inspire YOU to become the best version of yourself.
Latest episodes

Nov 29, 2022 • 52min
Patient Advocacy with Graith Care CEO Priscilla Romans
I sat down with the CEO and Founder, Priscilla Romans to discuss the origin story of Graith Care, and how they are fighting every single day on behalf of Americans to ensure they are getting the best possible care for their unique situation.
Patient Advocacy is all about empowering patients to regain control of their healthcare decisions. When they have informed consent, and are presented with all of their options, the patient should ultimately be able to make the decision that is best for them.
"Graith Care’s mission is to bring back control and transparency to the consumer.
Graith Care breaks down healthcare barriers and provides a holistic view of the patient journey. This care model ultimately improves outcomes and efficiency along with saving time and money.
As your Independent Patient Advocate, we provide medical advocacy, consultation, advice and recommendations in US and Internationally."
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:57 Who is Priscilla Romans
11:30 Graith Care Origin Story
17:40 What is "Patient Advocacy"
22:00 How Graith Care Works
31:28 The Story of "Molly & Jim"
37:30 Going Viral on Tik Tok
43:05 The Future of Advocacy
49:00 Closing Thoughts

Nov 17, 2022 • 45min
A Fiduciary's Guide to Data Analytics with Agility Innovation Partners (CAA Part 2)
A Fiduciary's Guide to Data Analytics with Agility Innovation Partners.
This episode is a follow-up to my video "The Consolidated Appropriations Act 101 - Comply or Die?"
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, otherwise known as the CAA, established protections for consumers related to surprise billing and transparency in health care. Upcoming fines can and will be heavy, amounting to $100/day PER EMPLOYEE, which is substantially greater than the fines hospitals receiving for being non-compliant, which was only $300 total day.
In this Episode - Part 2 - we focus on an employer's fiduciary responsibility now that they have access to claims and pricing data due to the CAA regulation, and the power of using an innovative Data Analytics platform to make sense of it.
Agility Innovation Partners helps offer a data analytics platform with "at-scale pricing" to small-to-mid-market brokers who may not have the leverage on their own. They also offer consulting after the decision to purchase a data analytics platform called Innovu, so that consultants can make sure they maximize the ROI on their investment. Innovu also offers a CAA fiduciary tool stack with benchmarking against 4 million lives for plan design, claims cost, plan design etc, so that an employer can determine if they are paying reasonable cost for care and are compliant. If not, now they know and can take action!
Here is a recent article covering the CAA in greater detail, and outlining the employer obligation to be compliant. Hat's off to Dave Chase, co-founder and CEO of Health Rosetta for bringing it to my attention!
https://docket.acc.com/erisa-covered-companies-must-disclose-health-plan-costs

Nov 15, 2022 • 42min
The CAA - Consolidated Appropriations Act 101 - Drew Kalestad & Tony Sorrentino
The Consolidated Appropriations Act 101 - Comply or Die?
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, otherwise known as the CAA, established protections for consumers related to surprise billing and transparency in health care.
Upcoming fines can and will be heavy, amounting to $100/day PER EMPLOYEE, which is substantially greater than the fines hospitals receiving for being non-compliant, which was only $300 total day. The goal for employers immediately is not to be perfect by 12/27/22, but to at least show that they made a good faith effort to be compliant.
The price transparency component is where the opportunity lies for employee benefits brokers and their employers to uncover the source of their high cost claims, and then take appropriate fiduciary responsibility in order to pay more appropriate unit costs for healthcare. While there is a cost associated with ensuring you are compliant, the opportunity to retain and win new business for consultants is massive.
Right now, opaque network contracts make it difficult for healthcare consumers to know the cost of care prior to receiving it, and it is nearly impossible to make an informed decision as a patient. The CAA will have a dramatic impact on Americans' ability to price shop on where to go for care, as well as their ability to plan for their out of pocket expense(s).
The goal of the CAA is simple: People should be able to know the price ahead of time, shop using that price as well as quality of care metrics, and then they shouldn't be slapped with a giant, surprise balance bill afterward. At the end of the day, the goal is to allow people to have the tools to shop for healthcare the way that they do so for any other product or service.
Here is a recent article covering the CAA in greater detail, and outlining the employer obligation to be compliant. Hat's off to Dave Chase, co-founder and CEO of Health Rosetta for bringing it to my attention!
https://docket.acc.com/erisa-covered-companies-must-disclose-health-plan-costs

Nov 8, 2022 • 57min
How to Pick the Best Health Insurance Plan - Sarah Michalczuk - Predictabill
Sarah is the Founder and CEO of Predictabill, a company that allows you to "compare the health insurance you have with what you could get, and see what’s different since last year." With Predictabill you can analyze options from your employer (including COBRA), your spouse’s employer, healthcare.gov, and more.
Sarah spent 8 years in investment banking, and her area of expertise during this time was evaluating the impact that an organization's insurance expenses had on the valuation of the business.
She jokes that insurance company is "a pile of cash and a bunch of promises", and I am not sure I have heard a better definition than that!
A personal experience with high deductible health plans soon after moving to New York on her own, where she was hit with a $400 out of pocket expense she didn't expect, led to an epiphany about the complexity of health insurance plan design that ultimately sent her down the path of creating Predictabill.

Nov 3, 2022 • 53min
Caregiver Support with Cariloop - Michael Walsh - CEO
Cariloop provides coaching and support for the caregiver.
Cariloop has been recently recognized as number 40 in the "Dallas 100", which means they are the 40th fastest growing company in Dallas/Fort Worth!
In this episode, I sat down with their co-founder and CEO, Michael Walsh to learn more about Cariloop, as well as to hear his personal story of entrepreneurship.
The Cariloop tagline is "take care of your loved ones with an experienced Care Coach in your corner." and they consider themselves the "World's First Human-Powered Caregiver Support Platform"
Anyone who has ever found themselves tasked with taking care of a loved one, be it an ailing parent, or a child that needs continual mental or physical care, knows just how emotionally difficult that role can be.
Cariloop seeks to provide coaching and support for anyone who finds themselves in that position.
Whether you need logistical support to coordinate care, assistance navigating the complex healthcare world, or simply just someone to talk to, Cariloop is there to help.

Nov 1, 2022 • 1h 14min
Sales Mastery - Part 3 - Ryan Miller
Sales Mastery - Part 3 - Ryan Miller - Sales Performance Coach
Ryan Miller is a highly sought after sales performance coach, and I am grateful that he helped me close out the 3-part miniseries of my podcast on "Sales Mastery"
Ryan started off selling high-end wheels/rims for custom cars, and didn't discover the world of benefits until later in life. He also has overcome numerous personal challenges, from having a strained relationship with his father, developing bad habits in his teens and 20's that nearly lead to jail time, and even being present with his wife at the infamous Las Vegas mass shooting where a bullet went straight through his wife's trucker hat without hitting her!
Ryan eventually found his way to God, was able to salvage a marriage on the brinks, and to eventually building a successful sales and performance coaching business infused with his faith in Christ.
He is a master of real authenticity, and this episode is absolutely loaded with great advice.

Oct 25, 2022 • 1h 5min
Sales Mastery - Part 2 - Chris Hamilton - Hotchkiss Insurance
Chris Hamilton is a Partner at Hotchkiss Insurance. He is also one of the best sales consultants I have met in the employee benefits industry, for which many of his peers agree.
Chris, like me, didn't get into sales until his 30's, having spent the bulk of his career before that in investment banking. His ability to discuss financials, coupled with his experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, helped prepare Chris to have very complex conversations with business owners.
Chris is the antithesis of your "stereotypical" salesperson. He doesn't speak so fast you can't follow his words. He doesn't use sales tricks or focus on always closing the deal. He simple brings expertise, along with a deep level of integrity, to his prospects to build rapport and trust.
In short, Chris is a modern benefits consultant, and our entire industry could learn from the example he has set!

Oct 18, 2022 • 49min
Sales Mastery - Part 1 - Jennifer Bryson - Mercer
Sales Mastery - Part 1 - Jennifer Bryson - Mercer
This is the first installment of a 3-part series dedicated to sales mastery.
Not only is Jennifer Bryson an absolutely lovely human being, she is always a killer producer!
She had a career-defining year in 2021 for Mercer and we talked about everything from how she builds long standing relationships, to her keen recognition of when to pull in other rockstars on her team to help solve big problems for her clients.
Although Jennifer and my next two guests come from the employee benefits industry, each of the 3 conversations is focused on universal sales best practices.
Enjoy

Oct 12, 2022 • 58min
How to Manage Your Healthcare Spend - Paul Carter - HMA
Paul Carter is the Chairman/CFO of HMA.
Hawaii Mainland Administrators (HMA) is a full service TPA that seeks to be one of the premier managed healthcare organizations in the country through technology and information-based managed care. We covered a ton of info in an hour, and this episode will be especially for my self-funded gurus out there.

Oct 4, 2022 • 46min
The Metaverse for Business - John Beaman - Elevare Club
The Metaverse for Business with John Beaman of the Elevare Club.
In this episode we cover the Elevare Club, the Metaverse, digital transformation, digital real estate, the blockchain, NFT's and more!
John not only has a undergraduate degree and an MBA, but he is also certified in something called "Digital Transformation". What that means is he can help small business owners digitize their business, moving from the analog world of paper documents and wet signatures, into the digital world of websites, computerization, machine learning, and having a presence in the Metaverse.
His business, Elevare Club, specifically helps SMB's build out their backend processes and take many of the operational tasks of the owner's plate. They help with putting together a business plan, a marketing strategy, and hone in on their product-market fit.