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Employers with Claims Data Access Take More Action on Healthcare Costs, National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions Survey Finds

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Pulse of the Purchaser poll links claims visibility to more action on PBM transparency, hospital affordability and high-cost claims management

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Employers with full access to medical and pharmacy claims data are more likely to act on hospital affordability, high-cost claims and pharmacy benefit management transparency, according to the Pulse of the Purchaser survey conducted by the nonprofit National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance) and its members. The survey of 408 employers also finds that rising healthcare costs remain a workforce challenge, with employers identifying the high-value purchasing strategies they are using in response.

Nearly all employers surveyed say attracting and retaining employees is a top priority (97%) and that health and wellbeing benefits are crucial to that effort (98%). At the same time, 92% say healthcare costs hurt competitiveness, 83% say cost increases trade off with wage and salary increases, and 93% expect costs to shift to employees.

“Healthcare affordability is no longer just a benefits issue; it is a business issue, a workforce issue and a wage issue,” said Shawn Gremminger, National Alliance president and CEO. “Employers have the concern and the will to act, but too often lack the usable data, contractual rights and staff capacity to do so. When those barriers are removed, employers are better able to move from concern to action. In a challenging economic environment, healthcare costs continue to be a driving factor in inflation, the concern most often cited by Americans going into the pivotal 2026 midterm elections.”

The findings come as employers face another year of projected healthcare cost increases outstripping inflation and pressure to protect wages, benefits and competitiveness. For employers, the results point to a broader shift in benefits strategy: rising costs are no longer being treated only as an annual renewal challenge, but as a business issue tied to vendor accountability and usable data.

Key Findings

Affordability pressures remain concentrated in drug prices, high-cost claims and hospital prices. Employers cite drug prices (77%), high-cost claims (75%) and hospital prices (68%) as the top significant threats.Employers paying higher premiums expect sharper increases. Employers project an average 7.7% healthcare cost increase before plan design changes, and 33% of those providing an estimate expect increases of 9% or more. Fully insured employers were most likely to expect increases of 9% or more.Hospital/facility costs and prescription drugs are the largest shares of spending. Employers estimate hospital/facility costs represent 30.5% of total healthcare spend, followed by prescription drugs at 21.1% and professional fees at 19.1%.Data access helps employers move from intent to implementation. Employers with full claim-level access reported using nearly four more high-value purchasing strategies, on average, than employers with limited, no or uncertain access (11.9 versus 7.9). The two groups were considering similar strategies, suggesting that data access is a key factor separating concern from action.PBM transparency remains a major focus. Employers identify PBM reform as the most helpful policy reform tested in the survey, with 87.6% rating it very or somewhat helpful. In addition, 43% of respondents are considering a PBM change within the next one to three years.Hospital transparency and payment reforms are rising policy priorities. Employers rated hospital price transparency (84.6%), hospital rate regulation (82.6%) and hospital antitrust enforcement (72.2%) as very or somewhat helpful reforms.

Employers Moving from Concern to Action
The Pulse of the Purchaser study identifies the strategies employers are using or considering to address healthcare affordability, with usable claims data emerging as a key factor in moving from intent to implementation. Higher premiums or steeper expected increases do not predict strategy adoption as strongly as data access.

While data access alone does not automatically lower premiums, employers with better data rights are better positioned to evaluate networks, review hospital prices, manage vendors, audit claims and pursue strategies such as centers of excellence, site-of-care management, direct contracting and reference-based pricing.

PBM Market Pressure Continues
The 2026 survey also points to continued PBM market movement. Employers contracting with the Big Three fell from 63.4% in 2025 to 54.3% in 2026, driven largely by employers with fewer than 1,000 employees. Among current Big Three clients, 55.7% said they are considering a PBM change within the next one to three years, compared with 31.1% of employers using other PBMs. The largest employers — those with 10,000 or more employees — are slowest to move to alternative PBMs but show the greatest interest in changing vendors in the next three years.

Common PBM contract transparency features include 100% rebate pass-through, access to claims-level pharmacy data, disclosed administrative fees and full audit rights, including rebate audits. Nearly one in four Big Three clients (23.4%) answered “not sure” to what is in their contracts, nearly twice the ratio of those using other PBMs (11.7%).

Policy Priorities Reflect Market Frustration
Employers increasingly see transparency, pricing reform and stronger fiduciary oversight as part of the affordability solution. Support rose across every reform tested from 2023 to 2026, including PBM reform (68.0% to 87.6%), hospital rate regulation (65.6% to 82.6%), hospital price transparency (75% to 84.6%) and health savings account reforms (45.8% to 69.6%).

Employer policy engagement is also rising. Federal or state healthcare legislative engagement increased from 42.5% in 2025 to 51.3% in 2026. Employers with full pharmacy claims access were more likely to engage than those without full access (61.3% vs. 39.4%), linking data access to purchasing action and policy participation.

Beyond Cost: Emerging Priorities in GLP-1s, Mental Health, Equity and Women’s Health
The survey also finds employers moving toward more disciplined management, measurement and accountability in fast-evolving benefit areas. Employers covering or considering branded GLP-1 medications are more likely to use or consider vendor or point-solution management. Mental health strategies are moving beyond access and communications toward vendor accountability and behavioral health integration. In women’s health, maternity support and parental leave remain common, while menopause support and caregiving assistance are growing. In health equity, employers are increasingly focused on measurement and contractual accountability.

Pulse of the Purchaser is an annual survey of employers conducted by the National Alliance and its coalition members. The online survey of 408 employers was fielded in May and June 2026. The full Pulse of the Purchaser results are available here.

Webinar
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, at noon ET, the National Alliance will host a discussion of key findings and what they mean for employers and other healthcare purchasers. Register here.

About National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions
For more than 30 years, the National Alliance has brought together business coalitions and their employer and purchaser members to drive high-quality healthcare that enhances patient experience, promotes health equity, and improves outcomes while lowering costs. Its members represent public and private sectors, nonprofits, and labor unions that provide health benefits to more than 90 million Americans — more than half of the employer-sponsored insurance market — spending over $850 billion annually. To learn more, visit nationalalliancehealth.org and connect on LinkedIn.

The National Alliance will host its 2026 Annual Forum, Beyond Transparency – Seeing Clearly, Acting Boldly: Employers’ Moment of Truth, Nov. 16-18 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA.

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SOURCE National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions

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Zocdoc Brings Seamless, Real-Time Appointment Booking to Gemini

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August 12, 2026

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Zocdoc is the Gemini app’s first health appointments connected apps partner, marking the first time a leading AI platform has connected users directly to real-time, bookable care.

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Zocdoc, the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care, announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Gemini app to make agentic healthcare appointment booking a reality.

Google Gemini app users can now agentically find and book an appointment that meets their needs with Zocdoc’s nationwide network of more than 200,000 providers across 200+ specialties and 10,000+ insurance plans. The Zocdoc connected app in Gemini allows users to easily find real-time appointment availability and book with a provider without navigating directories, searching multiple sites, or waiting on hold.

“Patients are increasingly starting their health journeys with AI, and this collaboration makes it easier for Gemini app users to find the care that they need, when they need it,” said Oliver Kharraz, MD, Zocdoc founder and CEO. “We are proud to partner with Gemini as Zocdoc begins to power access to care everywhere.”

“Health isn’t only about knowledge, it’s about action and access. When you need to see a doctor, we want that to be easy. And today it’s not,” said Michael Howell, Chief Health Officer, Google. “We’re excited for this first-of-its-kind collaboration with Zocdoc that takes an important step toward realizing one of the promises of the agentic AI moment — where the technology helps you do the work so that you can focus on what’s important: your health.”

AI is rapidly becoming a starting point in the search for care. According to Zocdoc’s AI-Informed Patient Report, 26% of patients have already used AI to ask a health-related question, and 85% of providers say they’re seeing more AI-informed patients than they were a year ago. 

Finding care that matches personal preferences is now possible through Gemini app’s agentic capabilities and powered by Zocdoc’s extensive healthcare access infrastructure. For providers, this offers a new way for them to reach patients where they’re increasingly beginning their healthcare journey. Providers already on Zocdoc are automatically enabled on Google Gemini, with no additional integration required.

This partnership marks another step in Zocdoc’s evolution from a marketplace to healthcare access infrastructure. For nearly two decades, Zocdoc has unified healthcare’s fragmentation across insurance plans, EHRs and practice management systems, specialties, visit types, and provider organizations to power seamless access to care. While the national average wait time to see a doctor exceeds 31 days, with Zocdoc, the typical patient can be seen within 24-72 hours. Today, Zocdoc powers access to care not only on its website and app, but also across healthcare’s many front doors — including online search, insurance directories, providers’ websites, practice phone lines, and now AI platforms.

The Zocdoc connected app in the Gemini app is rolling out today to all 18+ US users, and coming to Gemini Spark in the coming weeks. To learn more about Gemini’s connected apps read the News from Google blog here.

About Zocdoc

Zocdoc is the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care. By powering access to care everywhere patients search, Zocdoc helps them move from being stuck to being seen. Each month, millions of patients find and book appointments with providers, powered by Zocdoc—on the company’s website and app, and across AI platforms, online search, insurance directories, providers’ websites, practice phone lines, and more—with the typical appointment happening within 24 to 72 hours from booking.

With nearly two decades of experience unifying healthcare’s fragmentation, Zocdoc is uniquely positioned to power access across insurance plans, PMS and EHR systems, specialties, visit types, and provider organizations of every size. By fixing healthcare at the start, Zocdoc empowers patients to get the care they need, when they need it, while helping providers be bookable everywhere patients search.

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SOURCE Zocdoc

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ketteQ Launches Quintus™, the Only Free-Range AI™ for Supply Chain

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August 12, 2026

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AI agent reasons over any question, executes any action, and deploys above any existing supply chain planning system in four to eight weeks.

ATLANTA, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ketteQ, the supply chain orchestration company, today announced the general availability of Quintus™, the only Free-Range AI™ for supply chain. Quintus™ reasons over any question, executes any task, learns skills, and runs missions to address any use case, unscripted and unconstrained. Within a fully governed and auditable framework, Quintus™ operates above any ERP or planning platform a company already runs, or as part of ketteQ’s own Planning Solutions and Execution Solutions.

Other supply chain solutions have AI bolted on as a sidecar to their legacy architectures, which greatly limits their questions, reasoning, answers, and value delivery capabilities.  It can handle only a predefined set of use cases. Quintus™ is built differently. It reasons through any questions and tasks in real time, using Python code that is generated and executed on the fly, along with PolymatiQ™, its patent-pending agentic solver, to test thousands of scenarios simultaneously rather than reporting on what has already been computed.

Ask Quintus™ Anything
Software engineering, customer support, and marketing content creation were each transformed within months once ChatGPT and Claude gave people direct, unscripted access to reasoning AI. Supply chain is having that moment now. A planner can ask Quintus™ a question the same way they would ask ChatGPT or Claude to draft something or debug code. For example, just ask “If our supplier’s plant in Vietnam goes down for two weeks, which customer commitments are at risk?” and get a fully reasoned answer in seconds, built on live data instead of a report generated days earlier. The same access reaches beyond the planning team: a CFO can ask what a disruption means for revenue at risk, and a sales rep can ask whether a customer commitment is still safe, each from email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, or wherever they already work.

“Every function that has given people direct access to reasoning AI has been transformed by it. Supply chain can have that same advantage. ketteQ customers now respond to a disruption with ‘ask Quintus™’ or Quintus™ can figure it out.’ Quintus™ does not just advise. It acts. And you do not have to replace a single system to get it,” said Mike Landry, founder and CEO, ketteQ

“The first morning Quintus™ told us exactly what needed attention before we’d even logged in, it felt like the first time I used ChatGPT. You immediately know you can’t go back to working the old way,” said Stephanie Larson, Director of Supply Chain, Alliance Consumer Group.

Running in Production, Not on a Roadmap
This is not a preview of something planned for the future. Quintus™ is running live in production today, across a growing list of companies in different industries, including Alliance Consumer Group, JCI, Mativ, NCR, and Zeus, with more going live over the next several months. At Alliance Consumer Group, inventory turns improved from 2.75 to 4.0, with real-time available-to-promise answers delivered inside Salesforce in under 15 seconds, live, on sales calls.

Four Requirements
Free-Range AI™ is not a positioning claim. It is an architectural standard. To qualify, a supply chain AI must have:

Built for Supply Chain. Quintus™ is trained on the complexity of supply chain data and decisions, not general-purpose AI retrofitted for the category.

Adaptive, End-to-End. Quintus™ reasons across the full data chain and rewires its logic in real time as conditions change, rather than working from a static, siloed snapshot.

Solves in Real Time. PolymatiQ™, ketteQ’s patent-pending agentic solver, runs thousands of constrained planning scenarios simultaneously and returns the optimal answer in seconds. Other planning engines run scenarios sequentially, in cycles measured in hours, which is why their AI can only report on what has already been computed rather than reasoning live.

Runs on Any Platform. Quintus™ deploys above SAP IBP, Kinaxis, o9, Blue Yonder, or any combination within four to eight weeks, with no rip-and-replace. Other vendors’ AI is free-range only within the cage of their own platform: it cannot become a neutral decisioning layer above a rival’s system without cannibalizing its own business model. ketteQ has no stack to protect.

The architecture behind these four requirements was not retrofitted. ketteQ designed its architecture to be open starting in 2019. That openness is what enabled it to become AI-native as the technology matured, well before the market called any of this agentic. Most supply chain planning vendors built their platforms in the 1990s and 2000s and are bolting AI on top of them today, which means that going back to fix them would require replacing the product entirely.

Free-Range AI™ travels with one companion phrase, everywhere, without exception: Fully Governed. Every decision Quintus™ makes is auditable, explainable, and subject to human override, because a scripted AI that cannot answer the question a supply chain leader is asking right now is not a safe AI. It is a failed one. Full audit and full human override are built into the foundation, not added later.

Availability
Quintus™ is generally available today. Deployments begin in four to eight weeks. Existing ERP and planning systems stay in place, and no rip-and-replace is required. Live demos are available for media and analysts on request. Visit www.ketteQ.com/Quintus for more details.

About ketteQ
ketteQ is the supply chain orchestration company powered by Free-Range AI™. Quintus™, its AI intelligence, is the only supply chain agent that reasons over any question, executes any action, and addresses any use case, unscripted, unconstrained, and fully governed, across Planning Solutions and Execution Solutions, above any ERP or planning platform the customer already runs. Powered by PolymatiQ™, ketteQ’s patent-pending agentic solver that runs thousands of constrained planning scenarios simultaneously and returns the optimal answer in seconds, Quintus™ deploys in four to eight weeks with no rip-and-replace. ketteQ was founded in 2018 and has been running AI-native supply chain planning and orchestration in production before the category had a name. For more information, visit ketteQ.com.

Media Contact:

Nicole Taylor 
nicole.taylor@ketteq.com
770.633.1754

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SOURCE ketteQ Holdings Inc.

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Artizent Partners with Insurity to Strengthen Insurance Modernization, Engineering Collaboration, and Delivery Capabilities

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August 12, 2026

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This partnership brings together Artizent’s insurance expertise, engineering, and delivery capabilities with Insurity’s cloud-based insurance software to help insurers modernize faster and scale with greater confidence.

EDISON, N.J., Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Artizent, a global enterprise engineering company focused on cloud, data, software, quality engineering, and AI-enabled transformation for enterprises, has announced a new strategic partnership with Insurity, a leading provider of cloud-based software for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs, to help insurers execute modernization initiatives more effectively and bring new capabilities to market faster.

The partnership brings together Artizent’s engineering, implementation, and insurance expertise and Insurity’s cloud-based insurance software, giving carriers, MGAs, and brokers access to the technical depth and delivery capabilities required to modernize core operations and deliver transformation initiatives with greater confidence. Backed by experience designing, building, and operating enterprise systems in complex, regulated industries, Artizent further strengthens Insurity’s global partner ecosystem.

“As P&C insurers mandate AI for total enterprise transformation, the challenge has shifted from technological strategy to operational execution, specifically, rewiring legacy operating models to unlock new value,” said Rajib Chatterjee, Senior Vice President – Insurance Practice at Artizent. “Insurity’s cloud platforms provide the essential digital foundation for this shift. By integrating our AI-led engineering discipline and P&C insurance domain depth with Insurity’s platform expertise, Artizent enables our joint clients worldwide to de-risk their modernization initiatives, accelerate time-to-impact, and establish operational resilience.”

“P&C insurers are under increasing pressure to modernize while delivering measurable business value from AI investments,” said Bilal Tak, Head – Catalyst Studio at Artizent. “Many organizations have the right vision but need the right combination of technology, industry expertise, and execution to turn that vision into results. Our partnership with Insurity brings those strengths together, bringing together Insurity’s trusted cloud platforms with Artizent’s insurance engineering expertise and AI capabilities to help insurers modernize faster, improve operational efficiency, and deliver better outcomes for their customers.”

Initially, the companies will focus on expanding engineering and implementation support for customer modernization initiatives. Over time, Artizent and Insurity expect to broaden their collaboration across larger enterprise transformation programs, scalable delivery models, and strategic market opportunities.

“Our customers are looking for partners that can combine practical delivery experience with real technical depth,” said Jeff Weiner, AVP, System Integrator Alliance Partnerships at Insurity. “Artizent brings a strong understanding of insurance operations, implementation execution, and engineering collaboration. This partnership expands our ability to help insurers move faster, modernize with less friction, and build for long-term growth.”

The partnership is designed to provide insurers with more than additional implementation capacity. By combining Artizent’s engineering and delivery capabilities with Insurity’s cloud insurance platform, the companies can help customers simplify complex transformation initiatives, accelerate time to value, and execute modernization programs with greater certainty.

To learn more about Insurity’s partnership with Artizent, please contact Elizabeth.Hutchinson@insurity.com or visit www.insurity.com.

About Artizent

Backed by TA Associates, a leading global private equity firm, Artizent is an enterprise engineering company built for mission-critical transformation. The company helps organizations modernize core platforms, engineer better software, unlock trusted data, strengthen cloud foundations, improve quality, and apply AI-enabled solutions where they create measurable business value. Focused on banking, financial services, insurance, and other regulated industries, Artizent works where technology must perform at scale, with precision, resilience, and accountability. With a global delivery model across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Serbia, and India, Artizent brings the engineering discipline and execution focus enterprises need to move faster and operate better. For more information, visit www.artizent.com.

About Insurity

Insurity is a leading provider of cloud-based software for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs. Insurity is trusted by 22 of the top 25 P&C carriers and 7 of the top 10 MGAs in the U.S. and has over 400 cloud-based deployments. Through its best-in-class digital platform, deep domain expertise, and robust analytics offerings, Insurity empowers customers to modernize their core systems, optimize operations, and deliver superior policyholder experiences. Insurity is a portfolio company of GI Partners and TA Associates. For more information, visit www.insurity.com.

Media contact:
Artizent Inc.
Public Relations
+1 (732) 985-9533
marketing@artizent.com

 

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SOURCE Artizent Inc.

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