Sunrise, sunset: Benefits advisors' challenges of 2022 & resolutions for 2023
Our readers share what their biggest challenges and greatest highlights of 2022 were, as well as their top resolutions for 2023.
Pressing forward
My #1 personal goal for the year was to hit a 200# bench press, and I did it on July 16th. I also published a book in February that became a #1 bestseller, and the audiobook will be out before the end of the year.
On the insurance side, we will have our best year on record and exceeded our 2021 revenue in September of this year. We also doubled our P&C book and have been working in more states for benefits and expert witnessing.
To say it’s been a great year would be an understatement! We look forward to kicking things up even more in 2023 by adding more clients and expanding our team.
Susan L Combs, CEO, Combs & Company
Back to the basics
The biggest challenge for my business in 2022 was learning to set ego aside and focus on sustainable services. While my team and I love projects where we develop creative strategies, simple and repetitive projects really do sustain the business. Simple projects fund the rest of our work and those clients deserve our brain power, too! Getting back to the basics may not feed the ego, but it funds the payroll!
The biggest highlight of 2022 was attaining a client that we’ve professionally admired for two decades. We’ve worked for the same company and then on opposing sides of the negotiating table as hired consultants. They are truly titans of the industry. To have someone that you’ve looked up to hire you to give them advice is the ultimate compliment. It has been a ton of fun to have the honor of working with them as they grow their business.
2023 comes with two resolutions. Our first is to remember that basic services fund our business and give us the freedom to spend time and money on more exciting ventures. Don’t turn down simple work while chasing the fascinating. The second is more personal and more of a stretch resolution: to maintain focus and give 110% to work during work hours, but keep non-work hours sacred. While I am generally efficient and organized, I do find myself having days where I “worked” all day, but didn’t really achieve anything. I want this to stop in 2023. When I am at my desk (or dining room table or conference room or patio) in front of my computer, I want it to be productive and meaningful. When I am “on,” I want it to be all in and knocking out tangible tasks. That way, when I’m “off,” I can really be off.
Amanda Brummitt, principal, Brummitt Group
Returning to form
As we look back on 2022, it was about getting back to the great pace we had set for ourselves pre-COVID. It was a year of renewing commitment to our mission, clients and prospects. Fortunately, mostly because of the awesome vendor/partners we choose to work with, 2022 was a record year for controlling costs and saving health care spend for our entire book. Many things slowed down, but claims were trending up, and the management of those claims was a joy to watch!
2023 will be a year where we look to work with and find more “WOW” clients and make their health care benefits richer while lowering costs. It’s a great time to get to work and give back in our industry!
Randy Hansen, president, PSG Washington
Now we’re cooking
2022 was like frying bacon — it’s always worth the wait.
Loss of Life Advocates (LOLA) started off 2022 knowing that the employers’ world was changing. They had the brutal challenge of convincing people to come back to the office and knowing that the in-office experience was going to be a whole new world.
We found ourselves on calls with HR professionals asking us to bridge the gap to their EAP or mental health plans. Simply put, they looked to us to listen.
Relationships that had been brewing for the past six years began to come to fruition and we found ourselves moving further outside of the “loss” box and into mental health, disability and cancer — helping employees after a stroke, heart attack, mental health crisis at home, or a major diagnosis.
The biggest struggle was making sure we had our own check-ins, as the stories we were dealing with were incredibly sad. The greatest highlight was employers reaching out directly and engaging with our services.
Our 2023 resolution is to provide growth through more partnerships, expand training and help employers with a confidential and safe life transition and loss program for employees.
Esther C Pipoly, Owner & Founder, Loss of Life Advocates, LLC
Getting real
Vulnerability moment here: My biggest challenge has been parenting since COVID. I have a 10-year-old and the two years of home school, gloom and doom, and missed social opportunities has caused some backlash in behavior. Sadly, it’s similar with a lot of our friends and their kids. We’re working through it but it has made 2022 a challenge for our daughter but also our family.
My highlights were spending time in the mountains and outdoors with family and friends. I went on a great hike with Niko Caparisos and Aaron Witwer during the Denver Health Rosetta Conference. It’s great to take business relationships to a personal level. I also got outside my comfort zone in the form of karaoke with Shawn Strash and Aaron Witwer, singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go” with a live band behind us. It was a blast!
My wife was out of town for almost three weeks this summer and I got to spend great one-on-one time with our daughter during that period. We went to the zoo, water parks, ate pizza and ice cream and dyed her hair blue. It was a great bonding experience for both of us and I got to see her as a beautiful individual in a different way than when we’re all together. Now I’m her go-to for hair coloring.
My top resolutions for 2023 are prioritizing time with family, exercise, sleep, and overall health. I want to dive into archery, get some chickens in our yard, and continue my lifelong mission of impacting health care in a meaningful way.
Mark Testa, executive vice president, Regenexx
Expansive plans
I’m very proud of Brightside’s accomplishments this year. We published multiple peer-reviewed studies that demonstrated Brightside’s outcomes; our research published in BMC Psychiatry showed the impact of our precision prescribing capabilities. We also committed to expanding our services to those who need them most and launched a program for virtually treating individuals who are actively suicidal and/or have had a recent suicide attempt. It’s based on the evidence-based Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) framework and is currently available in select states; we will be expanding it nationwide over the next several months.
We also increased access to our care. In Q3, we launched partnerships with both Optum/UnitedHealthcare and Anthem Blue Cross of California, and we are now in-network for over 60 million Americans. We were a launch partner in NeuroFlow’s specialized mental health referral network, and we are releasing a mobile app in the App Store.
Looking to 2023, we remain focused on bringing clinical-grade services to populations that have historically been left behind, including employees with conditions on the higher end of the clinical spectrum who require more robust, clinical-grade solutions than what’s usually offered by employers.
We will also work to strengthen trust and collaboration between digital health providers and health systems, many of which are hesitant to refer patients outside of their system. This requires recognizing that telehealth is not just an online visit between a patient and a provider, but rather technology-enabled health care, delivered virtually. Since health systems don’t typically do this effectively, there is an opportunity for them to provide unsurpassed whole-person care by partnering with technology-enabled digital health providers that are equipped to provide the clinical care that patients want, with more scalability than health systems will ever be able to offer on their own. This partnership is critical to improving patient outcomes and we look forward to driving a tighter health system–digital health provider collaboration in 2023.
Brad Kittredge, co-founder and CEO, Brightside Health
Updated toolbox
My biggest challenge in 2022 was retooling my agency staff. I had to make some very hard decisions and let people go so that they could find positions they were better suited for. As a result, we ran lean while we did an extensive talent search to find the right people for the right seats. This meant hiring people without any industry experience who had the basic skills required and, most importantly, had the right mindset and attitude. I have never been happier with our team.
There were many highlights this year, including hosting the YouPowered Awards Ceremony in January, speaking at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo BenTalks in August, and most importantly, truly finding my own voice in an industry that tends to be full of a lot of hot air! I don’t fit into a mold; I love to put together high-value health plans, but also know that for some of my small groups, fully-insured is still their best option. We also proudly help individuals and Medicare beneficiaries. This is not always popular, but I own who I am and how we serve our community and the industry.
Nancy Giacolone, president/owner, Olympic Crest Insurance
Multiple transformations
In 2022, we saw a sense of urgency from life insurers to modernize, replace legacy systems and overhaul back-office systems so they have the right foundation to develop new products faster and cheaper. The pandemic was a major accelerator for this, helping insurers realize that their legacy technology was holding them back from improving and modernizing customer onboarding and experience. Carriers are looking to make changes now, either through PAS replacement with a full data migration or surface-level changes such as adding digital portals.
One of my greatest highlights from this year was seeing our clients at ITC in Las Vegas in September. We had a chance to chat face-to-face and learn more about their current priorities and how they’re working to match the speed of customers, serve the next generation of agents, and improve processes to attract employees.
In 2023, I’m looking forward to continuing to help life insurers undergo digital transformation to reach the next generation of customers and agents, and to respond to changing expectations of what life insurance will look like over the next 10–20 years.
Brian Carey, Senior Director, Equisoft
Turning the page
2022 was probably the most challenging year of my career. Everything caught up with me from all the pandemic support. I’ve always been the person who just smiles and says, “I can do it” and will help everyone with whatever they need, but this year I hit burnout. We had difficult conversations that led to some adjustments, and it has been so worth it. Our team is incredible, and I thank them all the time for being such wonderful, supportive, creative people. I am privileged to work with them.
2023 is shaping up to be a very different year for us and the start of a cool new chapter. Our goal is to help benefits professionals create their own path to growth, and we’re expanding that opportunity to more people. We have been writing a book that will be released this year to help leaders and salespeople align their businesses with the right activities for growth. As a hands-on application of the principles in the book, we will be launching a subscription service with online training and networking for agencies and friendors alike.
Wendy Keneipp, partner and coach, Q4intelligence
Does my heart good
I am extremely proud of the work we’ve done at Hello Heart this past year. We’ve doubled our revenue and user base, raised our $70M series D and expanded our company to a whole heart health solution that includes not just hypertension management but also hyperlipidemia management, and irregular heartbeat detection. Looking to 2023 and beyond, we are building the future of heart health and are excited to continue to expand our product and AI team and double down on innovation.
Looking at the industry as a whole, 2022 was the year of talent competition. I think 2023 will be a year with a lot of ups and downs in the economy and all market leaders will be required to reinvent themselves and build new growth engines. Sometimes being forced to adapt can drive positive change and I think we’ll see a ton of innovation created in the world in 2023.
Maayan Cohen, co-founder and CEO, Hello Heart
Comfortable with being uncomfortable
My biggest challenge in 2022 was realizing, after hiring a professional coach, that I’ve been doing my clients a disservice by overserving their basic administrative needs, instead of referring them to carriers. It’s faster for them to get answers when I’m not in the middle of basic administrative tasks. While my intentions to be of service were good, I have been acting like a martyr and inadvertently preventing them from getting things done more quickly.
My top resolution for next year is to practice honesty in terms of working for clients that align with my purpose to grow and develop the businesses I serve. This means avoiding working with clients where my ability to help is limited by the nature of their business or situation; being willing to have difficult conversations with clients about the relationship even though it may result in my emotional discomfort.
Ezra Herzog, President/Owner, Integrative Insurance Solutions
Challenged to change
As I reflect on 2022 and look ahead to 2023, there’s one word that encompasses both my challenges and highlights: change. Looking back over this year, I was challenged to embrace change in client engagement and marketplace shifts. As the pandemic has created new shifts, so has the world in which we conduct business. There’s more conversation around mental health and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). With the decline in mental health, employees are looking to their employers to help support their mental and social wellbeing through benefits. Additionally, there’s more interest and conversation around overall wellbeing programs and virtual health care systems.
So, I have had to find the right balance of working with clients who still engage remotely with no physical contact as well as understanding when and where to engage my customers who are eager for a face-to-face non-Zoom meeting. Also, providing new and innovative solutions in the virtual care space, which also addresses this new norm of virtual engagement as a viable employee benefit. All of this while showing the client a new way of employee engagement in this space.
These same challenges of change have become my greatest highlights in 2022. Representing a company focused on mental health and wellbeing programs has been wonderful. I have had an amazing opportunity to be a part of the solutions that my clients are looking for today in the employee benefits marketplace. When it comes to DEI conversations that are intentional in nature, I have had the privilege of not only being a part of the conversations, but a disciple in the delivery of this message of change we are beginning to see in the industry.
Related: Infographic: 2022 year in review
In 2023, my hope and resolution is to continue evolving in the industry and stay relevant when it comes to what clients are requesting. To be an active participant in the changes we see happening both with our customers’ needs, but also the industry shifts we see taking place.
Lisa Hutcherson, National Account Director, SUMMUS Global
Maximize outcomes, minimize costs
In 2022, we continued to work toward helping our members find high quality, low cost providers, which is so critical when it comes to providing high value care that maximizes outcomes while minimizing unnecessary costs for both individuals and their organizations. While this effort has had its challenges, one of the highlights of this year was launching a new platform to help members search for providers to better meet their needs, available through both self-service and guided, expert support. Looking ahead to 2023, we plan to enhance and expand access to this and to our other programs, helping us meet people where they are and positively impacting their health and wellbeing.
Marcia Otto, vice president, Product Strategy Health Advocate