TOTAL REWARDS

Morning Brew Inc, Photos: Unsplash

In recent years, escalating hospital-insurer disputes have left many patients, providers, and employers feeling powerless.

A dispute between New York’s Mount Sinai and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of the latest examples of these squabbles cutting off healthcare access. About 9,000 Mount Sinai physicians went out of network for about 200,000 Anthem patients after the two sides couldn’t agree on pricing. That disruption lasted from March 1 until April 13, when they finally signed a contract.

Add insurer-hospital tension to rising healthcare costs from both hospitals and payers, sprinkle in frustration with third parties like pharmacy benefit managers—healthcare continues to be a complicated headache, particularly for self-funded employers that have their own money on the line.

So, some employers are taking health insurance into their own hands, bypassing carriers and inking contracts directly with providers. The specifics of direct contracts can vary, but typically refer to arrangements in which employers negotiate prices for procedures and medications directly with healthcare systems. The arrangements also typically allow access to healthcare data that employers can use to plan and manage costs.

For more on what’s in it for employers, and the challenges worth considering, keep reading here.—CV, CC

      

Sponsored By Ashby

Looking to stay current on recruiting operations, hiring strategies, and AI adoption? Great news: Ashby is making that a whole lot easier.

They opened up access to their on-demand sessions library from Ashby One 2026 San Francisco. You can listen to all the speakers and keynotes from the event as they share insights, product launches, and experiences.

Simply head over to the library and choose between three learning tracks: TA, RecOps, or Ashby Labs. From there, you’ll find sessions that focus on topics like:

• fighting candidate fraud
• leveraging data as a solo TA leader
• using AI in outbound sourcing

Tune in and start learning.

TECH

John Lamparski/Getty Images

Late last week, we heard from former Labor Secretary (and more recently, former transportation secretary) Elaine Chao—not about her ailing husband, the former Senate majority leader and senior senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, but instead about the hottest topic in global business: AI.

Chao joined a policy discussion Thursday morning hosted by global payroll and HR platform Deel along with wonks from across the pond: Irish MEP Michael McNamara and Max Uebe, a deputy for the VP of the European Commission. The group explored policy priorities and workforce implications as the role AI plays in the world of work rapidly expands.

“With every technological change and every trend or phenomenon, there is always bound to be a lot of attention, and also anxiety,” Chao said on the policy panel just days after returning home from a weeks-long trip to China on Tuesday.

Chao drew some scrutiny in recent weeks after it was discovered she’d been absent amid the early days of McConnell’s hospitalization. That scrutiny didn’t stop her from seizing the discussion on AI this week, articulating the responsibilities of both the private and public sectors to protect working people across the globe displaced by this rapidly emerging tech.

For more on Chao’s perspective on AI and workforce displacement, keep reading here.—AD

      

HR STRATEGY

Morning Brew

June brought record-breaking heat to the UK and much of Europe. In a region known for being largely AC-free, JPMorgan allowed its employees to work from home, but few obliged.

The UK has a minimum temperature requirement for offices (55 degrees fahrenheit), but it does not have a maximum; employers are encouraged to maintain a “reasonable” temperature, according to the Guardian. During this latest heat wave, some workers had a difficult time even getting to offices, amid government guidance to travel only if “absolutely essential” and canceled some trains. Those running often lacked AC.

JPMorgan, known for its strict in-office attendance policies, told managers at its London offices that some staff could work from home as the heat wave raged on, according to Bloomberg. In-office attendance dipped just 15% after the advisement. Worth noting is that the company’s offices are air conditioned, while less than 20% of UK homes have AC.

For more on how this latest heat wave affected employers, keep reading here.—KP

      

work perks

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: More than half (52%) of Americans believe that immigration has helped increase the number of science and technology workers. (Gallup)

Quote: “It’s so opaque. Candidates in general don’t feel like anybody cares about them as individuals.”—JR Keller, human resources professor at Cornell University, on why job applicants don’t like AI-led job interviews (Business Insider)

Read: OpenAI launched ChatGPT Work, a tool that pulls information from across companies’ platforms to create work including spreadsheets and presentations. (Axios)