EKMH Innovators Interview Series
An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Last week PeopleKeep, a leader in personalized benefits for small businesses, launched its anticipated individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA) product.
The ICHRA, created this summer through federal regulation, offers a new way for employers to offer health benefits to employees. The ICHRA also allows employers to reimburse employees for personal health policies at a monthly rate they set themselves. In offering an ICHRA product, Salt Lake City, Utah-based PeopleKeep plans to expand the flexibility and use of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and other reimbursement plans to provide more employees with additional options to obtain high-quality, affordable health care.
“As the original provider of automated health reimbursement arrangements, PeopleKeep is uniquely positioned to offer the new individual coverage HRA benefit,” commented PeopleKeep CEO Victoria Hodgkins. “We’re thrilled to see the continued expansion of health benefit options for employers who want to take care of their people while tailoring their benefits to their business needs.”
This past summer, LIG Solutions, a division of Lighthouse Insurance Group, and PeopleKeep, Inc., announced a partnership to provide complementary health benefits options to the members of associations, societies, and other affinity groups across the United States. If employers decide to provide a Qualified Small Employer HRA (QSEHRA) or an Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA) through PeopleKeep, their employees can then work directly with Lighthouse Insurance Group to access cost effective individual health insurance policies that fit their needs both from a health standpoint and financially with one easy to use turn-key solution.
As the job market grows more competitive, businesses need a more flexible benefits solution to hire and keep talented employees. PeopleKeep offers that solution. Clients include Zaniac, SimpleSolution, Cameo, Cargo, University Tickets, Pinch of Yum and ISO Talent.
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Hodgkins via email to learn more about her new role at PeopleKeep, ICHRA, HRA benefits, personalized benefits automation software, the importance of community involvement and her book and podcast recommendations. Our interview follows:
EKMH: Congratulations on your new position as CEO. What’s your vision for PeopleKeep?
Victoria Hodgkins: We’d like to contribute to a world in which small businesses succeed and take care of their people with benefits that are compelling and easy to use.
EKMH: How have your past C-Level jobs prepared you for this new role?
Victoria Hodgkins: It’s been helpful that my background is fairly eclectic. I’ve led sales, business development and marketing teams in small, medium and large companies. While I’ve always been focused on B2B software, I’ve worked across different industries and geographic markets. I find that diversity of experience gets applied more now that my role is a constant mix, moving from strategic to operational, from short term to long term, from quantitative to qualitative discussions across functional areas throughout the day. Being a generalist prepared me well for a CEO role.
EKMH: More than 11,500 people use PeopleKeep to participate in benefits that help them live better lives. What is your vision for growth and new partnerships? How will you make your ideas come to fruition?
Victoria Hodgkins: We’ve recently rolled out our new Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) benefit and are excited to help employers of all sizes support their employees and families with a health reimbursement arrangement. Our vision includes further expanding our product offerings, and partnering with other software companies to help provide our customers with the most seamlessly integrated benefits possible.
EKMH: What problems do you anticipate as PeopleKeep grows and how will you address them?
Victoria Hodgkins: I don’t see PeopleKeep being unique in the challenges we face as we grow. Right now, we’re small enough that everyone in the company is close to our customers and really gets to see the impact we make. We can easily share in each other’s success -- when our new salesperson closes his first account or a customer support colleague is mentioned and thanked by her name by a satisfied customer. As we grow, that sense of community and connectedness to our customers is going to get stretched and we will need to find new ways -- probably through more structured programs -- to share successes and insights.
EKMH: How do you and your team personally use the software? What have you discovered firsthand that led and continues to innovate PeopleKeep?
Victoria Hodgkins: We use the PeopleKeep software to administer a QSEHRA (qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement) for ourselves. I am not the plan administrator, however! We offer the maximum QSEHRA allowance. Some of our team members use their tax free money towards out of pocket medical expenses and some of them use it to purchase an individual health insurance policy based on their healthcare needs. We also use the software to request, track, and approve our employees’ paid time off and keep track of work anniversaries and birthdays.
EKMH: How does PeopleKeep help small businesses offer affordable and competitive benefits?
Victoria Hodgkins: PeopleKeep helps small businesses offer a health reimbursement arrangement or HRA as an alternative or a complement to traditional employer-sponsored group health insurance. The great thing about this type of health benefit for employers is that they can customize their budget based on what they can afford while letting employees customize their healthcare benefit. Employees select the level of coverage they want while ensuring that their preferred provider is in their network.
EKMH: How has PeopleKeep’s personalized benefits automation software disrupted the sector? How has and can PeopleKeep continue to disrupt and innovate health insurance coverage options? How can available membership benefits be broadened?
Victoria Hodgkins: I would say that our benefits administration software has not necessarily disrupted the sector. I’d actually argue that PeopleKeep has helped small businesses that otherwise couldn’t afford or didn’t have enough participation to offer a traditional group health insurance policy.
Most small to medium sized employers are not aware of their benefit options, which is understandable but also regrettable. Having been an early provider of health reimbursement arrangements, PeopleKeep has provided needed expertise and raised awareness, but we still have a long way to go. More benefit options are good for employers and their people! We need added variants – tailored to the specific challenges of smaller organizations – in healthcare benefits and other types of benefits as well. For instance, we support an open Multiple Employer Plan 401K option as included in the proposed SECURE Act and we think that employer-sponsored student loan repayment should be tax-free, up to a limit, just like an HRA, which is under consideration as part of the Employer Participation in Repayment Act. I personally find it frustrating that Congress is so slow to address these concerns, which are basically bi-partisan.
EKMH: How will PeopleKeep take advantage of the Individual Coverage HRA due to go live on January 1, 2020?
Victoria Hodgkins: We’re expanding our product offering and launching our new ICHRA benefit on September 26th. We hope to be able to help more businesses provide health benefits to their employees. Given that the final rules on the new individual coverage HRA were announced on June 13, we’ve made a lot of progress in a short amount of time!
EKMH: What are the most challenging problems in the US healthcare system? What steps can be taken to remedy these issues? How does PeopleKeep help address some of these concerns?
Victoria Hodgkins: Affordability is a huge challenge in the US healthcare system -- both for employers and employees. PeopleKeep allows employers to select a benefits allowance that works with their own budget while also giving employees the chance to select a plan that works with their individual budgets and healthcare needs.
EKMH: As a leader and innovator, when do you prefer to work solo versus work on a team? What personal qualities have enabled you to lead and collaborate well?
Victoria Hodgkins: If I have some new thinking to do -- a fresh market to learn or a new strategic direction to consider -- I like to start on my own and sort of let my ideas marinate, but when it comes to problem solving and defining what we are going to do and when, I think it’s important to work as a team. I suspect I’ll always be working on my collaboration and trying to become a better multiplier of each person’s talents and strengths.
EKMH: Why did you opt to volunteer on the Board of Advisors at the Natural History Museum of Utah? What unforgettable museum- sponsored adventures have you experienced offsite?
Victoria Hodgkins: I love and care deeply about the mission of the Natural History Museum of Utah, which is to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it. Museums play a critical role in our communities and for me, personally, they are among my favorite places. The advisory board is a wonderful group of interesting, committed people who have become friends. I don’t really do much offsite -- the museum’s building is modern and beautiful, set up against the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains and the galleries are amazing, so you really don’t have to go offsite to have a great adventure.
EKMH: How would you encourage more business leaders to become involved in their communities?
Victoria Hodgkins: I’d suggest thinking about community involvement less as an altruistic endeavor, although communities and non-profit organizations certainly benefit from greater involvement by business leaders, and instead think more about it from a selfish perspective. Context switching can be creative and rejuvenating -- I often find I get a fresh perspective and new ideas after a meeting at the museum. Plus, you get to meet a lot of different people who aren’t in your field or industry and that can lead to interesting connections. You get out more than what you put in!
EKMH: Which books are on your nightstand and which podcasts are lined up on your smartphone?
Victoria Hodgkins: I just finished and loved She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer about heredity and genetics -- it’s fascinating -- and enjoyed Michelle Obama’s Becoming autobiography as an audiobook since she’s the narrator. I am not a podcast regular but, depending on the topic, I listen to “Exchanges” by Goldman Sachs and I just discovered Mo Rocca’s “Mobituaries.” I love him on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” show.