Why CHRO Brian Arnds chose Amino as PhyNet's new HSA provider

PhyNet is a fast growing company. Headquartered in Nashville, it has doubled in size since February, growing from about 300 employees to more than 600 employees in 50 locations across the US.

Heading up their HR operations is Brian Arnds, a benefits veteran with more than 20 years of experience in the space. As a team of one, he has a lot on his plate — but there's one less thing to worry about since October, when PhyNet introduced Amino HSA to their employees.

Two months after the launch, we sat down with Brian to discuss his vision for consumer-driven healthcare and why he chose Amino as PhyNet's new HSA provider.

Why are you offering an HSA to your employees this year?

We are on a consumer-driven health plan, so we have a high deductible. (It's a PPO with HSA eligibility.)

In my view, HSAs are definitely the wave of the future. I think this is where healthcare is going from an employee standpoint and an employer standpoint.

You can't pick up a newspaper or watch the news without hearing that healthcare is getting more and more expensive. Our goal is to change that trend by offering a HDHP and getting employees more involved in their healthcare spending and choices.

The Amino HSA is a huge benefit. Not only does it offer tax savings, but it gives employees the ability to set money aside and designate it for healthcare spending. Everybody's going to experience that need at some point in their lives, no matter what age they are now.

Being able to have a permanent account that's tax-deferred is a huge savings opportunity for employees. I think it will cause them to think about how they're spending their money.

Why did you choose Amino as your HSA provider?

I like what Amino provides in terms of additional benefits. With Amino, we have the ability to offer an HSA — but it really complements our consumer-driven plan, too. Employees can search for providers in the local area. I think that's a huge advantage over other HSA providers.

“With Amino, we have the ability to offer an HSA — but it really complements our consumer-driven plan, too.”

Brian Arnds
CHRO

I find other HSA providers to be kind of antiquated. I've worked with some of the big ones in the space, and they're just very process-oriented. There's nothing creative about it. I think Amino is a completely different model from your standard HSA platform.

How easy was it to implement Amino HSA?

I think we implemented Amino in less than 30 days. As far as implementations go, this was one of the easiest I've ever experienced with any vendor.

Our employees didn't know who or what Amino was, but we were able to include it in all of our communications as we rolled out our plans, and people just adapted to it right away.

We haven't marketed the other benefits that Amino brings beyond HSA yet, but some employees have told me that they've found them just going through their account on the website, and people are thinking it's pretty cool.

That makes me happy, because I think when we start to market everything Amino can do, it will be a game changer. It really complements the consumer-driven elements of our plans.

If you were to recommend Amino to a colleague in your industry, what would you say?

Amino is a unique offering that complements our consumer-driven idea of healthcare. It makes things easier for our employees when they're looking for healthcare services.

I'm happy to see that there is an alternative HSA provider out there — especially one like Amino that is creative and adds value for our employees.