Podcast Summary

Overview

Episode: Building Trust Through Transparency in Healthcare Finance with Amanda Eisel of Zelis
Host: Lucas Voss (A), Becker's Healthcare
Guest: Amanda Eisel (B), CEO of Zelis
Date: October 17, 2025

In this episode, Lucas Voss sits down with Amanda Eisel, CEO of Zelis, to explore the findings of a new research report on the state of healthcare financial experience. The conversation focuses on the challenges and opportunities facing payers, employers, and consumers—including cost pressures, transparency, and the promise of new technologies like AI. Amanda shares insights from a comprehensive study while offering her perspective on how integration, innovation, and empathy can modernize the healthcare financial system and enhance trust.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Amanda Eisel’s Background and Mission

• Amanda has built her career scaling technology-driven companies to solve complex problems, with a special focus on healthcare since 2021 as CEO of Zelis.
• Zelis aims to modernize the healthcare financial experience by tackling fragmentation, outdated payment processes, and inefficiencies.
• Amanda’s previous experience includes leadership roles at Bain Capital and McKinsey & Co., providing her a strong foundation in strategic transformation.

"At the end of the day, our goal is to make care flow more easily by solving the inefficiencies and the fragmentation that plague the system."
(B, 00:57)

Current Financial Challenges in Healthcare

Cost Pressures & Stakeholder Impact

• The State of Healthcare Financial Experience study includes input from over 2,200 stakeholders, revealing a system strained by disjointed platforms and friction among payers, employers, and consumers.
• Cost pressures are intensifying:
  • 90% of employers expect premium increases.
  • 68% of members have experienced cost hikes in the past 2–3 years.

Transparency as a Solution

• Transparency is crucial, serving as the “connective tissue” that bridges cost, quality, and trust.
• Nearly half of employers cite rising costs as their top challenge; 35% now consider price transparency their primary strategy for savings.
• Payers who embed transparency (cost estimates, provider search, care navigation) move beyond regulatory compliance and actually build trust and competitive advantage.

"Payers who embed technology and transparency… are not just meeting regulatory requirements. They’re also rebuilding trust and creating competitive advantage."
(B, 03:44)

Opportunities for Meaningful Impact

Integration and Platform Interoperability

• Only 47% of employers rate their transparency tools as excellent—a notable gap between importance and performance.
• Amanda highlights integration as a "game changer," allowing for a seamless, navigable experience that reduces friction and simplifies care journeys.

Generational Engagement

• Generational preferences matter:
  • 73% of Gen Z and 69% of millennials use transparency tools.
  • Only 49% of Baby Boomers do.
• Solutions must be mobile-first for younger users, while being simplified for older populations.

"Designing for generational preferences… can boost engagement. Care doesn’t flow in silos."
(B, 05:51)

Enhancing the Member Experience

• Members today are not just seeking answers but navigating deeply personal “care journeys.”
• Only 39% of consumers report positive billing experiences.
• Surprisingly, 71% of consumers are willing to pay for price transparency tools.
• Amanda notes that integrating provider ratings, quality data, and outcomes into tools empowers members to balance cost with care quality, reducing frustration and increasing loyalty.

"Transparency isn't just about cost. It is about trust."
(B, 07:33)

Innovations and the Future of Healthcare Finance

Unified Platforms & AI Integration

• The future lies in “unified platforms” that blend transparency, analytics, engagement, and digital enablement.
• AI is set to automate administrative tasks, personalize member experiences, and aid decision-making.
  • Currently, only 10% of payers use AI across all functions, but 78% believe AI will improve processes within two years.

Ethical Considerations

• Amanda insists the success of AI rests on ethical governance, transparency, and explainability to build adoption and close the perception gap.

"The future is about unified platforms… AI will play a growing role in automating administrative tasks… The key will be ethical governance, transparency and explainability."
(B, 08:36–09:14)

Memorable Quotes

• "Transparency is the connective tissue of the healthcare experience, bridging cost, quality and trust in ways that allow care to move with clarity and purpose."
  (B, 03:31)
• "Care doesn't flow in silos. Payers who co-create with employers and providers build ecosystems where financial clarity and clinical quality reinforce each other."
  (B, 06:24)
• "Members aren’t just seeking answers. They are navigating a journey. A care journey, which is deeply personal."
  (B, 07:04)
• "The future of healthcare finance isn't just about systems, it is about synergy."
  (B, 10:06)
• "Tools are evolving, expectations are rising, and our study shows that the appetite for change is stronger than ever."
  (B, 10:30)

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 00:57–02:08 – Amanda’s background and Zelis’s focus
• 02:34–04:55 – Findings on financial challenges, cost pressures, and the value of transparency
• 05:29–06:41 – Integration as a transformative opportunity and generational engagement trends
• 07:02–07:56 – Impact of transparency and integration on the member experience
• 08:33–09:34 – Innovations ahead: unified platforms and the growing role of AI
• 10:04–11:10 – Optimism about healthcare modernization and alignment among payers, employers, and members

Closing Thoughts

Amanda ends on a note of optimism, emphasizing the synergy of alignment among all stakeholders as the foundational shift needed to modernize healthcare finance. She points to rising momentum, growing optimism among employers and consumers, and a clear commitment to progress despite persistent challenges.

"The challenges are complex, but the commitment to progress is clear and we are excited to be part of it."
(B, 11:02)

For more insights, listeners are encouraged to review the full State of Healthcare Financial Experience report from Zelis.