BIG NEWS: I'm Partnering with SHRM to Empower HR Leaders

SHRM members can now earn continuing education credit for competing The Never Pay Pathway health literacy videos.

I’m thrilled to announce that the Society for Human Resource Management, better known as SHRM, has approved my health literacy video curriculum, The Never Pay Pathway, for Professional Development Credits. 

HR people are on the front lines helping employees understand their health benefits. They may be called upon to explain benefit plans, assist workers with medical bills or navigate ordeals with insurance companies. The Never Pay Pathway will equip HR leaders to better serve their employees with these challenges and more.  

The Never Pay Pathway is an engaging video curriculum that’s based on my book, Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win. The book equips working Americans and employers to become savvy health care consumers. Check out the reviews - my readers are saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars per health care encounter by applying its tactics. 

The Never Pay Pathway videos bring the actionable knowledge in the book to life in a way that engages the masses. The SHRM version of the video curriculum is the same as the consumer version, but with quizzes added after each video to enhance the training.  

Kristen Spear, a 15-year HR veteran, watched The Never Pay Pathway videos in one sitting and called them “excellent.” The graphics are engaging, she said, and the videos were packed with applicable knowledge. At points she said she called her husband over to highlight tactics they could use to save their family money on health care. She said the length of the 16 videos - they are about 5 minutes each – make them easy for an HR person to tackle in a workday. Spear said they address a timely challenge for HR people – the burden of high health care costs. 

The Never Pay Pathway videos will equip and empower SHRM members to help employees:

• Understand insurance terminology.

• Make sense of their medical bills.

• Win health insurance appeals.

• Avoid unnecessary treatment.

• Apply for financial assistance at hospitals.

• Get out of medical debt.

• And much more!

HR people “will be equipped with knowledge that is new and that is really relevant in the market,” Spear said. “It will help their employees in ways they have not been helped before.” 

Spear said HR people are like a bridge between employers and employees, so she especially appreciated how the videos emphasize that employers and employees need to partner together to overcome the high cost of health care. “It was a refreshing perspective that portrays HR in a positive light,” Spear said. “The bad guy is not the employer. The bad guy is the hospital or health insurance company that’s profiteering.”

HR people wear a lot of hats: benefits, compliance, hiring, payroll, training and more. It’s hard for them to be experts in everything, and the health care system is layered with complexity. Jennifer Traglia, a consultant who’s worked in health benefits for six years, said The Never Pay Pathway videos make the complexity of health care “palatable” and “easy to digest.” 

“These videos give people confidence because they are so relatable,” Traglia said. 

Traglia said the video curriculum can have both direct and indirect benefits for HR people. “The direct benefit is that they will gain a whole new level of insight into the medical billing system and recognize how they can support their team members who have erroneous bills,” she said. 

The indirect benefits are many, she said. HR people could become increasingly curious about the way they provide health benefits, Traglia said. “Hopefully, they will start to realize that we don’t have to continue with the status quo.” 

Applying the principles in The Never Pay Pathway will also help organizations show they care about employees and are willing to help reduce employee stress and anxiety around medical bills and health care costs, Traglia said. And ultimately, changing the way employees and employers engage with the health care system could lead to reduced health care spending for both employers and employees, Traglia said. 

Yes - that’s the vision!

SHRM members earn 1.25 PDC credits for completing the SHRM version of The Never Pay Pathway. They also earn a certificate of completion. 

This exciting SHRM announcement comes on the heels of my recent announcement about partnering with NABIP to provide continuing education credit for health benefits brokers who complete The Never Pay Pathway. It’s exciting for me to assist the brokers and the HR people who are in the trenches working with employers and employees. Together we can make a difference!

Take action: 

1. SHRM members, sign up here for the SHRM-PDC version of The Never Pay Pathway, which has assessments and provides you with PDC credit. 

2. NABIP members, you can earn continuing education credit by signing up here for the NABIP version of The Never Pay Pathway. 

3. If you’re not a member of SHRM or NABIP, sign up here for the consumer version of The Never Pay Pathway (with no assessments).

I look forward to hearing from the SHRM and NABIP members and consumers who complete the curriculum. It’s exciting to see people getting empowered to navigate the health care system. Thank you for any help you can provide to get the word out!