Side Affects 150 | The Power of Data Guiding Your Benefits Strategy

·29 min·1 clip

Employers can identify what employees truly need instead of using a one-size-fits-all benefits approach.

1. McGohan Brabender Side Affects: Disrupting Health Care focuses on the power of data guiding employee benefits strategy. 2. Kenzie McEvely hosts, Dave Homan co-hosts, and Shelly Cherry joins as MB’s population health and data strategist. 3. The episode asks how raw health data becomes a practical plan for employers trying to reduce cost and support employee well-being. 4. Shelly describes her path from studying kinesiology and exercise science at Indiana University in 2005 to a role built around population health and data strategy. 5. She says her job works with internal account teams and clients to collect, process, and analyze health data. 6. Dave says outcomes-based population health programming became more common about 12 to 14 years ago around the ACA. 7. Shelly adds that carriers had the data, but employers often were not seeing it in a usable way until the last 10 to 12 years. 8. She lists biometrics from her earlier health-coaching work, including weight, height, waist circumference, and blood pressure. 9. She says her current role includes preventive-care screenings, age- and gender-based cancer screenings, and mental health behavior trends. 10. Dave says predictive analysis can show a likely increase in diabetics or undiagnosed cancers over the next 24 months. 11. Shelly explains that the data is protected by HIPAA and is shared without identifying individual employees. 12. She says the employer sees population-level patterns such as chronic conditions, cancer, and mental health behavior instead of names. 13. Dave says the value comes from using reporting to answer what to do next, not from collecting numbers alone. 14. Shelly says mental and behavioral health is a clear place where data shows employee need and supports stronger programs. 15. She argues that age- and gender-based cancer screenings can surface risk earlier and help employers see who is and is not compliant. 16. Shelly says communication matters because employees respond better when the message is framed as support rather than surveillance. 17. Dave says the conversation feels practical and numbers-driven, especially for CFOs and controllers. 18. The style is a conversational interview with back-and-forth examples, workplace scenarios, and repeated emphasis on strategy. 19. Best for HR leaders, brokers, and benefits buyers seeking practical data use. 20. Skip if you want broad health talk without employer-benefits detail.

As heard by us

Data shapes employer benefit strategy by linking mental wellbeing, screening compliance, and cost pressure.

This Side Effects episode looks at employee benefits through a data lens. Shelly Cherry walks through how population health work can inform benefit strategy, support mental wellbeing, and flag age and gender based cancer screening gaps, all while keeping healthcare costs in…

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You want benefits data to point to real employee action, not just prettier reports.

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