Episodes

Join me as I sat down with Ahmed Marmoush, Founder and CEO of Handl Health to hear his story, and learn more about Handl Health.Ahmed was born in Egypt but grew up in New Zealand, where he studied at the University of Auckland and received a Bachelor of Pharmacy. He then went to work at a Hospital in New Zealand as a clinical pharmacist where he got to experience everything from primary care in the field to geriatric care in a hospital setting. This gave him a ton of exposure to healthcare o...

This episode is focused on the topic of Direct Primary Care, also known as "DPC". The DPC model transforms primary care into a membership-based model, rather than the traditional fee-for-service model. The goal is to provide all of the same routine services that patients receive from their primary care physician but eliminate the incentive for fast patient turnover, which often leads to a decrease in the quality of care provided. Our guest, Andy Bonner, the President & CEO of Healthcare2U, share...

This episode is all about entrepreneurship. The highs and the lows, and everything in between. Gabe knew he was going to be an entrepreneur from an early age, recalling that he didn't get the best grades, didn't love to follow rules, and even recounts knowing at the age of 14 he was going to build his own businesses. He studied entrepreneurship in college at Baylor University, but outside of making friends and meeting his wife there, his belief that he would have been better off taking the $150...

Josh Sullivan is a Territory Manager for Morgan White Group, which creates and delivers innovative insurance products to the marketplace. Even though they have a full suite of solutions, for today's episode, we specifically focused on their Gap Supplemental Health Plan called the "Premium Saver Plan".I have always been intrigued by the financials of a Gap Health Plan, which aims to lower the overall cost of an employer-sponsored health plan by providing a way to bridge the "gap" between the f...

There is a better way to construct a healthcare plan, and that is why I had Chris Hamilton, Partner at Hotchkiss Insurance back on the @SelfFunded with Spencer podcast after spending the last episode discussing Sales Best Practices only. You can view Chris' episode on Sales mastery here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrdbOgRxYis&t=1205s Chris came from the finance world before coming to benefits, and what drew him to our industry was that he kept seeing very sophisticated employers with hug...

Entrepreneurship in Autism Therapy - Derek Barrows of Belay On Autism ServicesDerek is the Founder and CEO of Belay On Autism Services, which offers Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for children diagnosed with autism in North Texas.In this episode, Derek shares information about applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, a widely used approach that focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors and teaching new skills. While ABA has been shown to be effective for many children with autism,...

Brian is an AVP of Business Development at Goodroot. "Goodroot is a community of companies committed to reinventing healthcare one system at a time." In this episode, we specifically focus on two of the solutions that Brian represents: 1. AlignRx, which is their pharmacy consulting arm for larger employers who need individualized expertise for their unique situations. 2. CoeoRx, which has prenegotiated Pharmacy benefit contracts and custom pharmacy benefit solutions for employers that offers "ch...

How to Become Unstoppable in SaaS with TK KaderTK Kader is my latest guest on the @SelfFunded with Spencer podcast, where we discussed his successful track record as a SaaS entrepreneur, his company called "Unstoppable" where he helps other early-stage SaaS business owners scale their companies, as well as the outstanding YouTube channel that has over 36k+ subscribers, 1M+ views, 100k+ hours of watch time.TK is also an incredibly cool and down-to-earth guy, even gracious enough to come on my...

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...

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,...

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 l...

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 busi...

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 t...

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...

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 o...

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...

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.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/spencer-harlan-smith/support

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 web...

Your Network is Your Net Worth - Scott Smith - TRUE Network Advisors. I took the podcast on the road to Guntersville, Alabama, home of Scott Smith and his company - TRUE Network Advisors. TRUE is a coalition of employee benefits brokers, seeking to enhance their network and collaborate with other strategic benefits advisors to grow their practices. TRUE is unique in that they have created an extraordinary engaging member experience, with both virtual and in-person events that are all the b...

NavMD is a Data Analytics Platform for Brokers in the Employee Benefits space. Glenn Fisher is the Managing Partner of NavMD and acquired the company back in 2018. He is also one of the flat out coolest guys I know! Glenn is also a serial entrepreneur, having built businesses in the waste management space, FinTech, and now in Data Analytics at NavMD. The focus of episode 62 is the power of having a data analytics platform for your employers. If you want to know what is driving your claims cos...

Can you warranty spine surgery? Jamie Rindler, CEO of Marvel Group believes you can, and that is exactly what his company does! Marvel Group offers a Surgical Outcome Warranty for Spine patients. The warranty itself is actually supported by the medical device manufacturer, which augments their own product warranty. In exchange, the device providers get data in return that helps them improve their products, and understand what is, and is not, working. The revolutionary part is that the ...

Modernizing Benefits Consulting at Genesys Health, with Chief Strategy Officer Matt Monahan. Genesys puts a large emphasis on Population Health Management in their practice, helping members navigate their healthcare journey with actionable data, guidance, and support. Matt has an extensive background from the carrier world with Aetna, having spent a 12 year period as a large group rep. He started at GE/Genworth as a group rep as well, after a short period of time playing semi-pro rugby. Matt br...

What is a High Performance Healthcare Network, and how does it improve the quality of care, while delivering lower costs? Blake is a native Texan, with a history of working on the "supply-side" of healthcare within hospital systems. This gives him a unique perspective on the problem of controlling the costs of healthcare delivery. Blake spent time in the Navy, with his inspiration to enlist coming as a result of 9/11. EHN's purpose is to "Provide quality health benefits for your employees while...

Emergency Medical Transport 101. Everything you need to know about Emergency Medical Transportation, and how MASA MTS is helping control the insanely high cost of ground, and air transportation. Will Winters is Vice President, Broker and Strategic Partnership Sales, and is also an ex-Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). He learned a lot on the job as an EMT, was exposed to some very traumatic events, and ultimately decided he was better suited outside of the system selling a solution to employer...