Benefits Optimization Review
The centerpiece engagement — an executive-level review of your entire healthcare program, including medical and Rx claims analytics and an independent PBM contract review.
Employee Benefits Consultant · New Jersey, New York & National
Reduce Healthcare Costs Without Reducing Employee Benefits
Healthcare is often one of a company's largest operating expenses. With more than 25 years of experience, I help employers with 20 or more employees uncover hidden savings, improve employee benefits, and make better financial decisions.
25+ Years
Employee benefits consulting experience
Mercer · Aon · USI · CBIZ
Experience with leading advisory firms
20+ Employees
Serving employers of 20 or more employees
CFOs · Owners · HR · CPAs
Trusted by executives and their advisors
Why Brian Pinto
I don't start with insurance. I start with your business.
A trusted executive advisor with more than 25 years of experience — including leadership roles with Mercer, Aon, USI and CBIZ — helping employers with 20 or more employees improve healthcare costs, employee benefits and business performance.
Healthcare is one of your largest operating expenses. My role is to help employers understand where money is being spent, identify opportunities for improvement, reduce unnecessary costs, and build a long-term benefits strategy that supports employees while protecting the company's financial goals.
That means no product pitch, no carrier agenda and no assumption that the answer is a different insurance company. Sometimes the answer is a better contract. Sometimes it is a different funding structure. Sometimes it is confirming that what you have is already strong — and giving you the evidence to say so.
A Message From Brian
Ninety seconds before we ever meet.
Who I work with, why healthcare costs keep climbing, how this differs from a traditional brokerage relationship, and why a short conversation is worth your time.
Let's TalkWelcome video coming shortly. Send me the 60–90 second file and it will play here.
Why Work With Brian?
Six reasons employers keep the relationship.
25+ Years Experience
More than two decades advising employers on one of their largest operating expenses.
Executive-Level Guidance
Findings framed in dollars, timing and risk — the way finance evaluates any other decision.
Data-Driven Analysis
Every recommendation starts with your claims, contracts and invoices. No assumptions.
Independent Recommendations
No carrier agenda. If your current program is already competitive, you will hear that.
Year-Round Consulting
Work continues between renewals, not only in the 60 days before your effective date.
CPA Strategic Partnerships
A structured referral program that adds recurring revenue for accounting firms.
Who I Help
YOUR data. Different Conversation.
Employers
Rising costs, funding alternatives, compliance, claims analytics, pharmacy spend and renewal strategy.
CFOs & Finance
EBITDA impact, forecasting, fiduciary protection, healthcare purchasing strategy and vendor accountability.
HR Leaders
Employee satisfaction, easier renewals, better communication and far less administrative burden.
CPA Firms
Deliver more client value and create a recurring revenue line without becoming a benefits expert.
Common Problems We Solve
If any of these sound familiar, we should talk.
- Healthcare costs increasing every single year
- Renewal frustration and last-minute decisions
- Pharmacy benefit costs no one can explain
- Poor broker communication and unclear scope
- Fiduciary and CAA 2021 compliance concerns
- Captive program evaluation
- Self-funding feasibility analysis
- Alternative funding strategies
- Benchmarking against peers
- Claims analytics and high-cost claimant risk
- Employee contribution strategy
- Open enrollment improvements
The Benefits Optimization Review
Five steps from guesswork to a financial plan.
The review is the vehicle, not the destination. It exists to give you a factual picture of your healthcare spend so the decisions that follow are business decisions instead of renewal reactions.
- Step 01
Discovery Meeting
20 minutes on Teams. Your goals, your frustrations, your timeline. We confirm fit.
- Step 02
Data Collection
Census, claims, invoices, contracts and plan documents. NDA in place before anything moves.
- Step 03
Financial & Benefits Analysis
Two to three weeks. Costs, funding, pharmacy, compliance and benchmarking, quantified.
- Step 04
Executive Findings Presentation
60 minutes. One written report, plain language, dollars attached to every finding.
- Step 05
Implementation Roadmap
A prioritized multi-year plan. You decide what to act on — with or without me.
Schedule Your Benefits Optimization Review
A diagnostic of this scope would typically be a paid $2,500–$5,000 engagement. It is offered complimentary to qualified employers.
What to expect
Every question, answered up front.
- What is it?
- An independent, executive-level review of your entire healthcare and benefits program — funded by me, not billed to you.
- What will you learn?
- Where your healthcare dollars actually go, what is recoverable, how you compare to peers, and where your compliance exposure sits.
- What is reviewed?
- Medical and Rx claims, funding arrangement, stop-loss, PBM contract, plan design, contributions, broker scope of services, compliance file and renewal history.
- How long does it take?
- About three to four weeks from data delivery, and roughly 90 minutes of your time in total.
- What do you get?
- A written executive report, a quantified opportunity list and a multi-year implementation roadmap.
- What happens afterward?
- You decide. Act on it internally, take it to your current broker, or engage me. There is no obligation and no invoice.
Advisory Services
Not products. Advisory services.
Funding Strategy Evaluation
Fully insured, level, self-funded or captive — modeled against your risk tolerance.
Benchmarking
See how your plan design and spend compare to peers by size, industry and region.
Executive Benefits Roadmap
A multi-year plan aligning benefits with talent, finance and growth objectives.
Compliance Review
ACA, ERISA, CAA 2021 fiduciary governance — documented, calendared, defensible.
Renewal Strategy
Move from reactive renewals to a disciplined, data-led negotiation process — starting six months in advance of your renewal date.
Population Health
Use data and AI tools to predict the health of your employee population, then build wellness strategies that improve outcomes through true behavior change.
M&A Benefits Due Diligence Reports
Evaluate benefits liabilities, integration risks and cost exposures during mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
PEO Comparison & Marketing Analysis
Compare your current PEO to other CPEOs — or to a direct carrier relationship — measuring your medical rates against PEO master plan pricing. Certified PEOs only.
Representative Client Results
Challenge. Recommendation. Financial outcome.
Anonymized engagements. Figures are representative ranges drawn from real work; client names and exact numbers are confidential.
Manufacturing · 340 employees
12% → 4%
Renewal increase
Challenge
Four consecutive double-digit renewals with no explanation beyond trend, and no claims data in the employer's hands.
Recommendation
Full claims decomposition, a level-funded alternative modeled against two years of experience, and a rebuilt stop-loss specification.
Financial outcome
Renewal increase reduced to the low single digits and a repeatable multi-year cost model finance now owns.
Professional services · 120 employees
18–22%
Pharmacy spend reduction
Challenge
Pharmacy spend growing faster than medical, with rebate terms buried in a contract nobody had read since signing.
Recommendation
Independent PBM contract review, specialty carve-out analysis and a renegotiated definition set.
Financial outcome
Pharmacy cost reduction in the high teens with rebate dollars flowing back to the plan instead of the vendor.
Distribution · 620 employees
$310K
Annual cost avoided
Challenge
In a PEO for eight years with no market comparison, and leadership unsure whether the arrangement still made sense.
Recommendation
CPEO marketing analysis plus a direct-carrier comparison against the PEO master plan, normalized to total cost of employment.
Financial outcome
A board-ready side-by-side that settled the question with evidence and removed six figures of annual administrative load.
Construction · 210 employees
$96K
Claims audit recovery
Challenge
Eligibility and billing errors accumulating across two carriers with no reconciliation process in place.
Recommendation
Retrospective claims and eligibility audit, carrier invoice reconciliation and a monthly control process.
Financial outcome
Overpayments recovered and a reconciliation routine that keeps the leakage from returning.
Nonprofit · 85 employees
Audit ready
Fiduciary risk
Challenge
No documented fee disclosure, no vendor scorecard and no CAA 2021 governance file.
Recommendation
Fee transparency review, written broker scope of services and a documented compliance calendar with owners.
Financial outcome
A defensible fiduciary file the board can produce on request, built in under 60 days.
Technology · 145 employees
3-year model
Funding evaluation
Challenge
Fully insured with strong claims experience and no visibility into whether the premium reflected it.
Recommendation
Alternative funding evaluation across level-funded, self-funded and captive structures, stress-tested against cash flow.
Financial outcome
A funding decision leadership could defend, with downside modeled before a single dollar moved.
Industries Served
Different industries. The same expense problem.
Workforce demographics, turnover and claims patterns differ by sector. The analysis is built around yours.
- Manufacturing
- Professional Services
- Construction
- Distribution
- Nonprofits
- Healthcare
- Technology
- Financial Services
What Makes The Process Different
Four principles that shape every engagement.
Independent
No assumptions. Only Data. We represent you not the insurance company.
Strategic
Looking deeper than the renewal into data and a multi year strategy.
Collaborative
Brian is your trusted advisor working along side you to give you clarity.
Transparent
As a agnostic advisor your analysis is supported by your data.
CPA Strategic Alliances
Help your clients save money while creating a new revenue stream for your firm.
Your clients ask you about healthcare costs because they trust your judgment on money. Few firms want to become benefits experts to answer them. I work with independent CPA firms as an outsourced employee benefits consultant so the firm can answer the question, improve the client's profitability and share in recurring revenue.
The arrangement is collaborative and non-disruptive. You stay the primary advisor. I handle analysis, implementation and year-round servicing, and report back to you.
Let's discuss how a strategic partnership can benefit both your firm and your clients.
Schedule a 30-minute CPA Partnership Discussion- A new recurring revenue line through a documented revenue share
- Increased client value on a spend your clients already question
- Direct impact on client profitability and cash flow
- Stronger advisory relationships without added staffing
- Collaboration that never disrupts the CPA-client relationship
- No benefits expertise required — analysis and servicing are mine
About Brian
Healthcare is a business expense that deserves management.
For more than 25 years, Brian Pinto has helped employers make smarter decisions about one of their largest operating expenses — employee benefits.
That work includes leadership roles with Mercer, Aon, USI and CBIZ, advising employers across manufacturing, professional services, construction, distribution, nonprofits, healthcare, technology and financial services.
With organizations of 20 or more employees, the focus is practical: reduce healthcare spending, improve cash flow, evaluate alternative funding, strengthen fiduciary compliance and raise the value employees actually receive.
Rather than acting as a traditional insurance broker, Brian works as a strategic advisor measured on business outcomes and long-term partnership.
Away from the desk, I am a husband and a father of two young children in elementary school. In 2023 I crossed the finish line at Ironman Lake Placid — a milestone built on the same discipline, patience and long-term mindset I bring to every client engagement.
When should we evaluate our employee benefits?
Six to nine months before your renewal date. That is enough runway to analyze claims, test funding alternatives and negotiate from a position of information rather than deadline pressure.
Do you only work with companies changing brokers?
No. Most reviews begin with no decision made. Many employers use the findings with their existing broker. The analysis is yours either way.
Can you help if we're happy with our current broker?
Yes. A second set of eyes on claims, pharmacy contracts and funding costs nothing and often confirms you are in good shape — which is a useful thing to be able to prove to ownership.
What company size do you work with?
Employers with 20 or more employees, most commonly between 20 and 2,500. Below that scale there is usually not enough claims credibility to act on.
What happens during the Benefits Optimization Review?
A 20-minute call, an NDA and data exchange, two to three weeks of analysis, and a 60-minute findings presentation with a written report and a prioritized roadmap.
How are you compensated?
Through standard broker or consulting compensation only if you engage me, disclosed in writing before you decide. The review itself carries no invoice and no obligation.
Ready When You Are
Find out whether you are part of the 10–30%.
Whether you ultimately work with me or not, every employer deserves a clear understanding of how their healthcare strategy is performing. Let's start with the data.
Schedule Your Benefits Optimization ReviewComplimentary for qualified employers. No invoice. No obligation.
Start The Conversation
A short note is all it takes to begin.
Send a brief email — a few sentences about your organization and what you'd like to understand about your healthcare spend. Brian personally replies within one business day.
Direct Email
brian@brianpinto.comService Area
New Jersey · New York · National
Connect
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