Employers aren’t short on benefits. They’re short on connection.

In this episode of Margin of Care, Kirk sits down with Chad Cruse, VP of Ecosystem at Benefitfocus, to unpack why utilization remains one of the biggest failures in employer healthcare. Despite an explosion of digital health tools and point solutions, most employees still struggle to understand what’s available to them—or how to use it when they actually need care.

Chad explains how rapid growth and capital inflows have fragmented the healthcare landscape, creating plenty of aggregators but very few true curators. He shares why benefits administration platforms are uniquely positioned to serve as year-round engagement partners, not just open-enrollment destinations, and how real-time data, smarter routing, and ecosystem design can drive meaningful behavior change.

The conversation also explores what separates effective digital health partnerships from shelfware, why efficacy and long-term commitment matter more than flashy features, and how employers can move from offering benefits to actually helping employees use them. If utilization is the real ROI problem in healthcare, this episode lays out what it takes to fix it.

Margin of Care is presented by Garner Health. Learn more at getgarner.com