In this episode of the Only Healthcare Podcast, Michael Navin and Randy Vogenberg welcome Lynn Hanessian, founder of Engager, for a wide-ranging discussion on why healthcare engagement has become a critical challenge for employers, providers, and consumers. Drawing on her background in economics, healthcare communications, and strategy, Lynn explains how rising costs, shifting information sources, and complex benefit designs are placing new demands on patients who are not equipped to navigate them.

The conversation explores transparency, trust, technology, AI, employer responsibility, and the growing need to teach consumers how to engage with healthcare decisions in real time.

Key Topics Discussed
• Why healthcare engagement has become a missing skill
• The shift of cost and decision-making to patients
• How employers have become the most trusted healthcare messenger
• Transparency gaps in pricing and plan design
• Changing information behaviors and the rise of generative search
• AI, technology, and their limits in improving care today
• Consumer confusion around access, urgency, and cost
• Public trust, misinformation, and the burden on providers
• What engagement must look like for the future of care

Episode Chapters with Time-Stamps
00:05 – Welcome and introduction
01:05 – Lynn Hannessian’s background and focus on engagement
03:32 – Defining engagement and identifying critical audiences
05:06 – Employers, patients, and the information gap
06:12 – Shifts in how people seek healthcare information
09:22 – Care management, stakeholders, and alignment challenges
12:13 – Transparency tools and pricing visibility
15:06 – Empowering consumers to question costs
16:07 – Building healthcare literacy and decision skills
18:02 – Trust, misinformation, and public health messaging
21:10 – AI, post-COVID acceleration, and system strain
24:58 – Access challenges in rural and underserved areas
26:37 – Expectations of consumers and providers
29:41 – Policy, JPMorgan conference insights, and what is coming
34:25 – Specialty care growth and employer readiness
36:11 – Multi-generational care complexity
37:51 – Closing thoughts and where engagement goes next

Michael's LinkedIn

Randy's LinkedIn

Sponsored by:
Peek: A game-changing prescription shopping solution that allows its members to view all their prescription cost options across cash discount programs and their insurance in one easy-to-use platform. Peek is currently being offered to organizations to help both employees and plan sponsors save money on their prescription spend. https://peekmeds.com/.

Institute for Integrated Health (IIH): Health care benefits, insurance coverage regulations, and doing business in the healthcare industry can be complicated. At IIH, Dr. Randy Vogenberg and his team understand these unique challenges and provides strategic guidance customized to every client. To help overcome your unique challenges, IIH delivers education, planning and advisory on market trends, and U.S. health care market intelligence. The firm’s decades of proven success are due to strategic collaboration with associates from the business, clinical, and scientific communities. https://iih-online.com/.