ON THE PULSE with IMA

About ON THE PULSE with IMA

On the Pulse with IMA gives HR leaders clarity and confidence to navigate the rapidly evolving employee benefits landscape by staying ahead of what’s next before it hits their desk. Each episode features IMA experts and industry innovators who translate data, trends, and emerging ideas into clear, actionable strategies that help employers make meaningful decisions for their people.

Publisher

IMA / tentwentytwo

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Jan 2026

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

28 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Oct 2026

   Rethinking What Employee Benefits Can Accomplish: Insights from Colleen Savoie

   If rising healthcare costs, leaner HR teams, and financial pressure are forcing a harder look at benefits, this episode shows how employers can use those programs more strategically to manage risk, support their people, and reinforce the culture they are trying to build. Resources Mentioned: • 2026 On the Pulse Report: Insights on Employee Benefits Trends – Download this free report for forward-looking trends in employee benefits, including healthcare cost management, specialty strategy, workforce risk, and employee experience. https://imacorp.com/insights/hr- insights-on-the-pulse-report-2026 • Visit imacorp.com to connect with the IMA team and learn more about building smarter employee benefits. Listen and Subscribe: Share this episode with a fellow HR leader and subscribe to On the Pulse with IMA on your favorite podcast platform for more practical insights. Have questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out via imacorp.com. Episode Description: Kelly Bowman sits down with Colleen Savoie, National Specialty Practice Leader at IMA Financial Group, to discuss why employee benefits can no longer stop at placing coverage. Colleen explains the pressures hitting employers and employees at the same time, including faster cost increases, multimillion-dollar claims, leaner HR teams, and shifting reimbursement that pushes more cost onto employer plans. She also points to the openings inside that disruption: AI that turns data into earlier action, clients more willing to leave the status quo, and benefit programs that can mitigate risk and reinforce culture. They cover why specialization matters in pharmacy, stop loss, captives, and industry practices, how that expertise should still feel seamless to the client, and how advisors should decide what deserves attention. Whether you are trying to understand what is driving cost, align HR and finance, or decide if your advisor is still leading the work, Colleen offers a practical place to start. Guest Bio: Colleen Savoie is National Specialty Practice Leader at IMA Financial Group. Based in Anchorage, Alaska, she has spent nearly 30 years working with complex employee benefit strategies, including self-funded health plans, purchasing coalitions, specialty practices, and legislative issues. Her work focuses on helping employers connect benefits to people strategy, manage emerging risk, and use specialized expertise in areas such as pharmacy, stop loss, captives, and industry practices. She also serves on the board of Alaska PAWS, formerly the Alaska SPCA. Host: Kelly Bowman Key Timestamps: 00:00 – 00:49: Introduction to rising costs, stretched HR teams, and the chance to rethink what benefits can accomplish. 00:49 – 01:19: Show intro and welcome. 01:19 – 02:42: Getting to know Colleen: Anchorage, travel, cooking, the outdoors, and board service with Alaska PAWS. 02:42 – 06:55: The biggest client challenges: faster cost growth, multimillion-dollar claims, access issues, leaner HR teams, and employee financial pressure. 06:55 – 09:29: Reasons for optimism: AI that turns data into action, guided enrollment, and tools that help employees find the right coverage and providers. 09:29 – 10:37: Why financial pressure is opening the door to new funding, specialty pharmacy, and communication approaches. 10:37 – 11:59: How Colleen’s view of benefits has shifted from coverage in place to programs that reinforce culture and business goals. 11:59 – 14:47: What clients should be thinking about: connecting benefits to compensation, retirement, workers’ comp, future workforce needs, and culture. 14:47 – 17:51: Why specialization matters, from industry practices to stop loss, captives, pharmacy, and data. 17:51 – 18:50: How specialist work stays connected and still feels seamless from the client’s side. 18:50 – 21:51: How to decide what deserves attention: business goals, affordability, HR capacity, and the people who rely on the plan. 21:51 – 23:18: What good guidance looks like, red flags to watch for, and why the consultant should drive the process. 23:18 – 24:19: What the most successful employers will be doing differently three years from now. 24:19 – 26:11: What to stop doing, and the first step: tell your advisor what you want, then understand what is driving cost and behavior. 26:11 – 28:11: What gives Colleen the most optimism, and her hope that employers will look at people strategy as a whole. 28:11 – End: Closing thanks and show outro. Resources Mentioned (Repeated for Convenience): • 2026 On the Pulse Report: Insights on Employee Benefits Trends – Download this free report for forward-looking trends in employee benefits, including healthcare cost management, specialty strategy, workforce risk, and employee experience. https://imacorp.com/insights/hr- insights-on-the-pulse-report-2026 • Visit imacorp.com to connect with the IMA team and learn more about building smarter employee benefits. Listen and Subscribe (Repeated for Convenience): If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a fellow HR leader and subscribe to On the Pulse with IMA on your favorite podcast platform for more practical insights. Have questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out via imacorp.com.

2. 

   9 Oct 2026

   More Options Do Not Make a Better Benefits Strategy: Insights from Nick Holdbrooks

   If the list of benefit solutions keeps growing and it is getting harder to tell which ones actually matter, this episode shows how employers can step back, find the gaps worth closing, and decide what to do now, later, or not at all. Resources Mentioned: • 2026 On the Pulse Report: Insights on Employee Benefits Trends – Download this free report for forward-looking trends in employee benefits, including point solutions, workforce strategy, and how employers decide what deserves attention. https://imacorp.com/insights/hr- insights-on-the-pulse-report-2026 • Visit imacorp.com to connect with the IMA team and learn more about building smarter employee benefits. Listen and Subscribe: Share this episode with a fellow HR leader and subscribe to On the Pulse with IMA on your favorite podcast platform for more practical insights. Have questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out via imacorp.com. Episode Description: Kelly Bowman sits down with Nick Holdbrooks, Senior Vice President and Colorado Market Leader at IMA Financial Group, to talk about why more benefit options do not automatically create a better strategy. Nick explains how one-at-a-time decisions can lead to vendor fatigue, duplicated services, and spend that is disconnected from what the organization is trying to do. He walks through the IMA Gap Analysis, a way to start with the employer rather than a vendor list: what the program already provides, where employees feel friction, and which opportunities deserve attention now, later, or not at all. A missing benefit is not automatically a gap. They cover how cost, administrative capacity, and company size shape what is realistic, why two similar employers can have completely different gaps, and how an in-house strategy assistant can surface options without replacing human judgment. Whether you are heading into a strategy meeting, trying not to copy the competition, or unsure which conversations are worth continuing, Nick offers a practical first question: what do you want the benefit program to do? Guest Bio: Nick Holdbrooks is Senior Vice President and Colorado Market Leader at IMA Financial Group, based in Denver. He works with employers navigating complex benefits decisions, from cost pressure and pharmacy spend to point solutions and total rewards. His team developed the IMA Gap Analysis to help clients see what they already have, identify meaningful gaps, and prioritize a manageable set of actions aligned with people and business goals. In 2026, Risk & Insurance named him an Employee Benefits Power Broker. Host: Kelly Bowman Key Timestamps: 00:00 – 00:41: Introduction to why more benefit options do not automatically create a better strategy. 00:41 – 01:11: Show intro and welcome. 01:11 – 02:12: Getting to know Nick: Denver, hiking, skiing, and time outdoors. 02:12 – 04:17: Why employers needed a better way to evaluate options, and how one-at-a-time decisions fragment the program. 04:17 – 05:51: What counts as a meaningful gap, and why employers need a way to separate interesting ideas from ideas that will matter. 05:51 – 09:25: How cost, capacity, demographics, and feedback shape what is realistic, and why a missing benefit is not automatically a gap. 09:25 – 11:47: Why two similar employers can have different gaps, and how benchmarking differs from deciding what to do next. 11:47 – 12:31: How to avoid copying the competition, and when peer comparison still belongs in the strategy. 12:31 – 14:45: A client example: narrowing a long list to two or three conversations worth continuing. 14:45 – 17:13: How a broad list of solutions becomes a manageable set of decisions: why it matters, what already exists, and when to act. 17:13 – 19:57: Four lessons from using the analysis: the conversation, using what you already have, timing, and consulting discipline. 19:57 – 21:27: Where the tool helps, and where human judgment still has to take over. 21:27 – 25:35: Where benefit strategy is headed: cost, affordability, pharmacy, employee feedback, and a multi-year roadmap. 25:35 – 26:37: The first question to ask: what do you want the benefit program to do, and do you have what you need to deliver it? 26:37 – End: Closing thanks and show outro. Resources Mentioned (Repeated for Convenience): • 2026 On the Pulse Report: Insights on Employee Benefits Trends – Download this free report for forward-looking trends in employee benefits, including point solutions, workforce strategy, and how employers decide what deserves attention. https://imacorp.com/insights/hr- insights-on-the-pulse-report-2026 • Visit imacorp.com to connect with the IMA team and learn more about building smarter employee benefits. Listen and Subscribe (Repeated for Convenience): If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a fellow HR leader and subscribe to On the Pulse with IMA on your favorite podcast platform for more practical insights. Have questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out via imacorp.com.

3. 

   9 Oct 2026

   A Richer Health Plan Is Not Always a Better One: Insights from Dalton Drumm

   If richer coverage still feels like the safest way to support employees, this episode shows why that assumption can miss the mark, and how employers can use data to see whether people are paying for benefits they do not need or value. Resources Mentioned: • 2026 On the Pulse Report: Insights on Employee Benefits Trends – Download this free report for forward-looking trends in employee benefits, including healthcare cost management, plan design, data, and total rewards. https://imacorp.com/insights/hr-insights-on-the-pulse- report-2026 • Visit imacorp.com to connect with the IMA team and learn more about building smarter employee benefits. Listen and Subscribe: Share this episode with a fellow HR leader and subscribe to On the Pulse with IMA on your favorite podcast platform for more practical insights. Have questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out via imacorp.com. Episode Description: Kelly Bowman sits down with Dalton Drumm of IMA’s Data and Analytics team to challenge a common assumption: that the richest health plan automatically creates the best employee experience. Dalton explains why employers still default to richer coverage, and why that is no longer the main reason people join or stay. He walks through actuarial value in plain terms, shares a client example where three very rich plans looked almost the same on a dartboard, and shows how a younger workforce was paying for coverage it rarely used. They discuss the difference between a rich plan and a good plan, the trade-off between healthcare spend and compensation, and how social determinants of health can help employers see what a workforce can actually use. Whether you are heading into another renewal, wondering if employees are over-insured, or trying to explain a plan change without it sounding like a takeaway, Dalton offers a practical first question: are employees getting the most value from the plans you offer? Guest Bio: Dalton Drumm is part of IMA Financial Group’s Data and Analytics team. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he helps employers look past premiums, deductibles, and co-pays to understand plan richness, utilization, and workforce fit. His work focuses on actuarial value, demographic and social determinants analysis, and plan design that matches how employees actually use coverage, so benefit dollars can be redirected where they create more value. Host: Kelly Bowman Key Timestamps: 00:00 – 00:42: Introduction to the assumption that richer health plans are automatically better. 00:42 – 01:12: Show intro and welcome. 01:12 – 02:27: Getting to know Dalton: Grand Rapids and recharging on Michigan lakes. 02:27 – 04:28: Why employers assume richer coverage creates a better experience, and why benefits are no longer the main hiring or retention tool. 04:28 – 06:36: A client example: very rich plans, a younger workforce, and three options that looked almost the same. 06:36 – 08:25: What actuarial value means, metallic tiers, and where richer coverage starts producing diminishing returns. 08:25 – 09:58: What employers miss if they only compare premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, and the difference between a rich plan and a good plan. 09:58 – 11:48: How demographics and behavior should shape plan design, and when employees can be over-insured. 11:48 – 13:21: The trade-off between healthcare spend and compensation, HSA funding, and retirement. 13:21 – 14:56: How a social determinants of health analysis helps employers see what the workforce values, and why this is a total rewards conversation. 14:56 – 16:36: What to analyze before changing plan richness: utilization, and how generations often fall into different plan levels. 16:36 – 18:20: What employers are doing differently than five years ago, and how cost pressure is pushing them to be more proactive. 18:20 – 20:04: How to talk about plan value so employees do not only hear that benefits are being taken away. 20:04 – 22:55: The shift from richer plans to smarter plans, and what a high-value strategy may look like in five years. 22:55 – 24:15: How data and AI can surface savings, and where those dollars can be reinvested. 24:15 – 26:52: The question to ask now, what to look at before the next renewal, and the first step: understand the workforce. 26:52 – End: Closing thanks and show outro. Resources Mentioned (Repeated for Convenience): • 2026 On the Pulse Report: Insights on Employee Benefits Trends – Download this free report for forward-looking trends in employee benefits, including healthcare cost management, plan design, data, and total rewards. https://imacorp.com/insights/hr-insights-on-the-pulse- report-2026 • Visit imacorp.com to connect with the IMA team and learn more about building smarter employee benefits. Listen and Subscribe (Repeated for Convenience): If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a fellow HR leader and subscribe to On the Pulse with IMA on your favorite podcast platform for more practical insights. Have questions or topics you’d like covered? Reach out via imacorp.com.

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