The Granite List Live

This week, Sean Kelley, CEO and Founder, and Javier Lira, VP of Clinical Operations, of Texas Medical Management join Leigh on The Granite List.Live to discuss Texas Medical Management's focus on surgery quality and how its Quality Bundled Surgery model benefits employers and patients alike.

This week, Laura Carabello, Principal Owner and Chief Creative Officer of CPR Strategic Marketing Communications, joins The Granite List. Live to discuss recent trends in benefit communications and publishing. Specifically, Sally and Laura dive into the importance of content creation, the evolving role of AI in communications, and the impact of private equity in the industry. In a costly and complex healthcare landscape, Laura highlights the need for your plan to have an effective, patient-centric communications strategy.

This week Paul Fried, founder of I Made the Arrangements, joins Leigh on The Granite List.Live to talk about why end-of-life planning is one of the most overlooked, yet most human, benefits an employer can offer. Paul shares how his team has reimagined wills, advance directives, and funeral planning into a compassionate, easy-to-use platform that empowers employees and relieves families during life’s most difficult moments. This conversation will challenge how you think about benefits and leave you with practical ways to support the people who make your business possible.

On this week's episode of The Granite List. Live, Leigh is joined by Kevin Lee, CEO of MindClub America, as he explains the shift from sick to preventative care in the mental health space. Kevin also details how MindClub America delivers their mental health services to employers in a way that generates engagement, and he further lays out what differentiates MindClub from other mental health services providers.

This week, Stew Baskin, CEO of CannaPlan, joins the show to discuss the launch of CannaPlan, the first medical cannabis employee wellness program designed specifically for today’s workplace. Backed by emerging data from states with legalized medical cannabis, Stew dives into the real-world impacts on workplace productivity, claims reduction, and even bottom-line performance. If you're exploring innovative, compliant, and cost-effective benefit enhancements, this episode is a must-listen.

Pets are reshaping the concept of family - whether they are "starter children" or the substitute for those who decide not to have children at all, the pet at the center of the American home is a trend that's here to stay. Pets have officially graduated to the status of full-fledged family members, with budgets to match- and a someone with a sick pet at home can often mean a distracted, anxious, and disengaged employee. This week, we are joined by Aaron Oaks, CEO of United Pet Care, who explores how forward-thinking brokers can leverage pet benefits into more engaged employees, and happier, stickier clients.

In this episode, we explore the powerful impact of Five Wishes at Work, an innovative employee benefit that integrates end-of-life planning into workplace healthcare offerings. This week, Paul Malley, President of Aging with Dignity, joins the show to share how Five Wishes was inspired by the need for more compassionate and comprehensive healthcare benefits, addressing gaps in employee well-being that often go overlooked. In this episode, Leigh and Paul dive into: • the common pain points HR leaders face when it comes to end-of-life conversations and planning • why it’s critical for organizations to offer proactive solutions • real-world case studies that demonstrate the tangible benefits of implementing Five Wishes at Work With trends around mental health and holistic well-being on the rise, this episode offers valuable insights into enhancing benefits programs with a thoughtful, impactful solution that truly supports employees!

Brokers know the drill: Open Enrollment rolls around, and suddenly you're juggling tech questions, client confusion, and a whole lot of noise. This week, Joe Fernandez, Chief Strategy Officer of Selerix, joins the show to dig into the often overlooked strategies that help brokers provide true solutions to their clients during open enrollment season. From better processes to real talk on personalization and tech overload, Joe provides his insight on the gaps brokers wish vendors would finally fill. Whether you’re a benefits broker, HR pro, or just someone who’s been through a chaotic OE season, this episode includes some “finally someone said it” moments you’ll want to hear.

This week, Vinay Patel, Chief Pharmacy Officer for Proactive MD, joins the Granite List. Live to discuss Proactive MD's new product offering - Proactive Rx. Providing an enhanced quality of care and cost savings, the Proactive Rx program utilizes virtual pharmacists to collaborate with clinic staff. Join the conversation as Vinay details their innovative and proactive approach to pharmacy services.

This week, Bill Hepscher, Founder, and Casey McPherson, CEO, of RxManage join the show to discuss their international approach to pharmacy. With the increasing discussion about international pharmacy amid recent tariff talks, Bill and Casey help to answer some of the most frequently asked questions around international sourcing!

Join Will Foster, Vice President of Total Rewards at USRS, and Paul Richmond, Chief Commercial Officer for Wellnecity, as they dive into a conversation around how data-driven solutions can address health plan challenges. We'll also see how data-driven solutions can empower groups to reduce costs, streamline operations, and enhance outcomes.

Financial stress doesn’t always show up in obvious ways—but it’s quietly impacting your people, your productivity, and your retention. In this episode, Katie Rapley, Head of Marketing at BrightDime, shares why HR leaders should think of financial wellness as preventative care. We explore what financial stress really looks like at work, the ripple effects organizations often overlook, and how the right support can completely shift an employee’s experience. Katie shares a powerful comparison of one employee’s journey—with and without access to financial guidance—that highlights just how much is at stake. Katie also breaks down the key ingredients of a financial wellness program that actually gets used—and how HR teams can make progress even without a big budget. If you’re looking for practical, human-centered ways to support your employees’ financial well-being, this one’s for you.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have received a lot of bad press due to increasing pharmacy costs and the limited control held by plan sponsors. As an innovator in the PBM space, Marc Cohen, VP, Marketing and Sales for ProCare Rx, joins the show to delve into the pharmacy services offered by ProCare Rx and their EDGE program. Join us as Marc dives into how ProCare Rx's clear-sight transparency provides value by containing costs while maintaining the efficacy of the clinical program.

This week, Zach Fiedler, COO, and Jake Goll, PharmD, Clinical Consultant, of Prism Health join the show to dive into Prism's Spend and Trend Report. With a focus on plan sponsors, Prism provides this report to payers so that they can benchmark how their plan is doing, and it allows them to see if market trends are also seen in their patient population. Join us as Zach and Jake dive into the biggest insights from this year's report!

This week, Anthony Hartley, CEO of MedAdvisor, joins the show to discuss how regenerative medicine has truly transformed patient care. Opposed to treating autoimmune disorders with pricey specialty medications, MedAdvisor advocates for patients to seek alternative therapies that can provide the medical outcomes they are seeking. Join us as Anthony discusses the impact of regenerative medicine on member health, the financial costs of the plan, and the future of medicine overall.

Everyday employees come to work in pain. Their pain not only impacts their day to day, but their pain impacts the entire health plan as other conditions such as diabetes, weight, and stress, for example, get worse. As an alternative to traditional surgeries, Regenexx utilizes a needle-based approach using the patient's own cells from their blood. To tell us more about Regenexx's approach, Mark Testa, Executive Vice President; Regenexx, joins the show to display the impact Regenexx can have - including how they've been validated as generating 49% cost savings across the board by replacing up to 70% of elective orthopedic surgeries.

Over 60% of the workforce is made up of working parents. The challenge of navigating parenthood while managing work duties can lead to higher rates of presenteeism and absenteeism among the working parent population. As a working parent himself, Han Kulberg. Co-Founder and CEO of Avocado Health, joins the show to discuss how he was inspired to create this solution and the benefit it provides to working parents by providing them with a reliable source of information and support.

On this week's episode, PJ Rescigno, AVP, Specialty Products for Planned Administrators, joins the show to discuss PAI's limited benefit and ACA-compliant plans offered on their specialty side. These plans provide significant benefits to members and employers alike, reducing costs and significantly improving retention.

Long-term care, skilled nursing, and health and human service employers are facing a serious crisis at this current moment. These employers have been faced with significant challenges such as: On the heels of their recent white paper addressing this crisis, Andy McMillan, Executive Vice President, National Head of Sales & Marketing for Homestead, joins the show this week to dive into the crisis and how Homestead's reference-based pricing approach can serve as a potential solution for employers!

Benefits leaders are tasked with providing solutions to the needs of their employees. Joining us this week with years of benefits administration experience, Jenny Spring, Employee Benefits Manager for US Radiology Specialists, discusses the innovative solutions she's brought to her employees at US Radiology. Additionally, with the importance benefits play during times of need, Jenny displays the benefits that high-touch solutions with a human element provide employees.