Join us for another episode of Digital Health Heavyweights hosted by Norm Volsky, where we sit down with Matt Harmon, a longtime employee benefits leader with nearly three decades of experience across the employer, consultant, and vendor sides of healthcare, to discuss why employers have more power to change healthcare than they may realize.
Throughout his career, Matt has seen the benefits industry from nearly every angle. That experience has shaped a practical philosophy for creating sustainable change: understand where you are, know where you want to go, take action, measure the results, and never accept that rising healthcare costs are simply something employers have to live with.
Matt and Norm explore why the traditional benefits playbook is becoming less effective, how employers can separate true partners from great marketers, and why choosing a familiar or popular vendor does not necessarily mean choosing the right one. Matt also breaks down the importance of aligned incentives, performance guarantees, transparency, and being willing to walk away from solutions that aren't producing meaningful results.
The conversation also dives into one of the most overlooked pieces of benefits strategy: employee engagement. Matt explains why simply communicating that a benefit exists isn't enough, why employers should focus on helping people actually navigate and use their benefits, and how technology can create a more accessible and sustainable experience without requiring organizations to rebuild everything from scratch.
“If you do nothing, and then you put in something that's half the solution, you're solving it 50% better than you were yesterday.”
In this episode, you'll uncover: 🚫 Why “there's nothing we can do” may be one of the most damaging mindsets in employer healthcare 🎯 How employers can move from their current benefits strategy toward a clearly defined future state 💡 Why an imperfect solution today can be more valuable than waiting indefinitely for the perfect one 🤝 How to determine whether a healthcare vendor is truly aligned with your definition of success 📊 Why employers need to measure outcomes and be willing to change or remove solutions that aren't working 📣 Why communication alone doesn't create engagement or meaningful behavior change ⚖️ How misaligned incentives can influence the recommendations employers receive 🗺️ Why benefits leaders should think in multi year roadmaps instead of annual resets 🔍 The question Matt believes every employer should ask a potential partner: “Why you?”
About Matt Harmon: Matt Harmon is an employee benefits leader with nearly three decades of experience spanning corporate benefits, consulting, and the vendor side of healthcare. His experience across the benefits ecosystem has given him a unique perspective on healthcare purchasing, vendor accountability, employee engagement, and what it takes to build benefits strategies that produce sustainable results over time.
Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Matt Harmon and His Benefits Perspective 01:45 How Finance and Problem Solving Led Matt to Employee Benefits 03:12 Four Realities Employers Need to Stop Ignoring 06:04 Why Matt Returned to Consulting 07:24 Finding a Customer First Model at Higginbotham 09:34 How Benefits Consulting Evolved from Playbooks to Outcomes 11:29 Lessons from Early Adoption of Verda and Hinge 16:19 The Advantage of Bending the Trend Early 17:52 Building a Sustainable Benefits Strategy 21:29 What Separates a True Partner from Good Marketing 23:30 The Risk of Choosing Vendors by Popularity 25:07 The Question Every Employer Should Ask: “Why You?” 26:55 Engagement, Optimization, and Root Causes 29:16 Why “There's Nothing We Can Do” Is the Wrong Answer 30:32 Addressing Perverse Incentives in Healthcare 32:00 What Employers Should Change Over the Next Five Years 33:38 Consultant Steering and Misaligned Incentives 34:37 Why Engagement Is About Teaching People to Fish 35:57 A Better Approach to Care Navigation 38:45 Using Technology to Modernize Benefits Sustainably 41:37 Why Benefits Leaders Need a Multi Year Plan 45:58 Cars, Systems, and Matt's Approach to Staying Healthy 47:02 Healthy Eating as a Family Test Kitchen 49:13 The Human Impact Behind Employee Benefits
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