This is the second installment in this series.
Becoming a published book author has often been described as the ultimate calling card in business, especially at a time when self-publishing has equalized opportunities for anyone who is determined to share their story. Benefits advising is no exception.
Asked to what extent becoming a published author earned him instant street credibility and became a competitive differentiator, Matt Ohrt explains that his passion first and foremost is to help people and fix U.S. healthcare.
"I've spoken now in about 35 cities," says the vice president of healthcare innovation with Health Admins and author of "
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The topic Ohrt chose to write about in long form took root in 2016 when he was hired to transform the culture at Merrill Steel. The company's employee health benefit costs posted 9% to 10% increases associated with more than a $5 million spend, which had become unsustainable. This was before he knew much about misaligned incentives in the U.S. healthcare system, which sparked a curiosity to learn more.
So, he searched terms like "employer healthcare success stories" on Amazon and ended up buying a book on the topic, which seeded his passion and turned into a new professional calling.
The book, which has sold nearly 6,000 books copies and is dedicated to his late father who battled an 11-year bout with cancer, was published in July 2023. It features a foreword penned by Kevin Smith, M.D., co-founder of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, one of the nation's most well-known centers of excellence. He self-published paperback and Kindle versions under an LLC called River Bluff Publishing Company, while an audio book is currently in the works.
Traumatic experiences
The book, which features eight chapters, opens with a gripping story about Ohrt being run over by a 4,000-pound restored tractor on a warm summer day in Wisconsin — the result of a parking brake that popped loose. Having endured a traumatic experience during which his life hung in the balance, he then faced "an equally traumatic healthcare experience," which motivated him to try
Ohrt recalls how his message about the need to reform U.S. healthcare struck a nerve at an industry conference in Michigan where he delivered a keynote address and shared the stage with Terry Shook, a former Big Insurance executive turned whistleblower who's now a healthcare adviser.
"What ended up was the premier sponsor for the event, which was at a college, plus the broker for that college, got mad and walked out," he says. But the fact is that employers are driving toward a cliff when it comes to managing their employee health benefit costs and aren't even pumping the brakes, according to Ohrt.
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"Someday someone will fix this," he hopes. "Well, who's that? That's one of the messages I preach. Even if you're on the winning side here, this is a win-lose game. Your winning isn't sustainable, so maybe you should be looking ahead and trying to find some kind of a win-win because employers and their employees are going broke."
Ohrt, who also created a health care best-practice group in 2018 that has grown to more than 18,000 members, believes many people find the process of writing and publishing a book intimidating. While always glad to offer advice on finding an editor and graphic designer, he says it's important not to rush a book to market and be methodical about the final product. "I really poured my heart and soul into the book, and was very adamant about the quality of it," he explains.
