Matthew Hall, benefits strategy manager at Koch Industries, is tackling some of the biggest issues in healthcare today: musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, high overall costs, and lack of employee engagement. In the last year he has made progress by teaming up with vendors that support empowering workers in their health and wellness journey.
Contending with approximately 10,000 MSK-related claims per year, many of them surgery-related, Hall utilized MSK digital physical therapy platform Hinge Health to direct employees to more conservative care. Less than 10% of those with MSK pain were taking part in physical therapy before seeking more costly solutions. Hall worked with Hinge to develop HingeSelect — a program that includes digital exercise therapy, virtual orthopedic specialist visits, and in-person care through a single platform.
Early data from HingeSelect shows 97% of those eligible for the program opted for first-line conservative care, physical therapy utilization reached 52%, and surgery was at 1%. Koch's estimates put its cumulative program net savings since launching in 2021 at $13.2 million.
In 2025, Hall helped implement a pilot program with Sidecar Health, an ACA-compliant medical health insurance company that allows members to choose any provider or facility with no network limitations, and see the cost of care before they receive it.
The alternative health plan presents the opportunity for members to make informed decisions and have "increased ownership in their health care services," Hall said. "What began as a successful pilot in one state has grown into a program we now offer to Koch members in multiple states, with consideration of additional expansion in the future."
Hall credits the work of several teams within Koch for the success of these benefits, and is particularly excited about the potential impact of Sidecar Health on the workforce.
"This project brought together several capabilities — change management and communications, compliance, data analytics, legal — into a cohesive effort to significantly impact our members and plan outcomes. This has been the most substantial project I've contributed to in my career thus far, and it's extremely rewarding to see the positive results it is creating for members and Koch."
Matthew will be honored at EBN's Benefits at Work conference in September, which you can
