Your Broker Sells Insurance.
A CHPA Teaches You to Buy Healthcare.

Certified Healthcare Purchasing Advisors show employers why they're overpaying for healthcare and how to stop. No carrier commissions. No renewal games. Just transparent pricing and measurable savings.

Get a free cost analysis → Learn what a CHPA does
CHPA Certified Healthcare Purchasing Advisor Badge
The Role
What Is a CHPA?

Most benefits advisors shop insurance carriers. A CHPA teaches employers how to stop buying insurance and start buying healthcare — directly, transparently, and at prices that actually make sense.

That means showing you why your employees are paying $3,000 for an MRI that costs $500 down the street. It means connecting you to primary care doctors who answer the phone, surgery centers that charge fair prices, and pharmacy plans that don't hide behind rebate games.

CHPAs come from diverse backgrounds — direct primary care practices, benefits consulting, risk management, finance. What unites them is a conviction that the traditional insurance model profits from complexity, and employers deserve someone who will cut through it.

Independent, not captive
CHPAs are not employees of an insurance company. They are independent professionals who work for the employer — not the carrier.
Paid by savings, not commissions
Flat advisory fee. No hidden carrier bonuses. Compensation is aligned to one thing: how much money they save you.
Year-round, not renewal-only
CHPAs educate employees, run open enrollment, host Medicare sessions, and review performance monthly — not just once a year.
CHPA Certification Badge
Certified Standard
The Certification
Not Just a Title. A Standard.
The CHPA designation is created, administered, and enforced by Self Fund Health. Every advisor is trained, evaluated, and held to ongoing performance standards.
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Formal training
Multi-module curriculum covering plan economics, transparent pricing, employer sales methodology, and competitive positioning
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Contractual obligations
Lead open enrollment. Host education sessions. Coordinate Medicare education. Monthly performance reviews with SFH
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Financial transparency
No carrier commissions. No referral fees. No hidden markups. All ancillary charges passed through at cost
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Performance accountability
CHPAs are measured on employer savings, not policies placed. Certification can be revoked for non-performance
The Difference
Not All Advisors Are the Same
The traditional broker model is built on carrier commissions and annual renewals. The CHPA model is built on employer outcomes.
Traditional Broker CHPA
Core job Sells insurance policies Teaches employers to buy healthcare
Compensated by Carrier commissions & bonuses Flat employer fee, aligned to savings
Success metric Policies placed Dollars saved for employers
Engagement Active at renewal, quiet otherwise Year-round education and monthly reviews
Incentive Complexity — more products, more revenue Simplicity — less waste, better outcomes
Transparency Hidden costs, opaque pricing Every dollar visible, every price known upfront
The MRI test Doesn't know what an MRI costs Knows it's $500 — and shows employees where to go
Where We Operate
CHPAs Are Active Across Wisconsin and Minnesota
Certified advisors are assigned to specific territories so employers get a local CHPA who knows their market, their providers, and their competition.

Wisconsin

Active
Madison Metro
Middleton, Fitchburg, Sun Prairie, Janesville, and surrounding Dane County communities
Beaver Dam / Fond du Lac / Fox Valley
Mayville, Fond du Lac, and the Fox Valley corridor
Chippewa Valley
River Falls, Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and western Wisconsin
Manitowoc / Lakeshore
Manitowoc and eastern Wisconsin lakeshore communities
La Crosse Corridor
Expanding coverage — actively recruiting CHPAs for this region

Minnesota

Active
Southeast Minnesota
Albert Lea, Austin, Rochester, and the southern Minnesota corridor
Additional territories
Expanding coverage — contact us about your market
Don't see your area? We're actively expanding the CHPA network. If you're an employer outside these territories, we can still run a free cost analysis for you.
The Belief System
What CHPAs Believe
  1. 1 Healthcare and health insurance are not the same thing. One keeps people healthy. The other is a financial product.
  2. 2 Employers should own their healthcare spend — not hand it to a carrier who profits from hiding the bill.
  3. 3 Transparent pricing is a right, not a feature. Every employee deserves to know what their care costs before they receive it.
  4. 4 The best advisor is measured by what they save you, not what they sell you.
  5. 5 Every employee deserves a doctor who knows their name — not a 1-800 number and a claims portal.
  6. 6 The system won't fix itself. Someone has to buy differently.
The Process
How a CHPA Works With You
No jargon. No renewal games. A straightforward process that puts your money where it belongs — on actual healthcare.
01

Show You What You're Really Paying

Your CHPA opens the hood on your current plan — where the money actually goes, what you're overpaying for, and why your employees are getting $3,000 MRIs when $500 ones exist 10 minutes away.

02

Build a Healthcare Purchasing Strategy

Replace the insurance product with a real strategy: direct primary care doctors who know your employees, preferred providers at transparent prices, and a pharmacy plan that isn't built on rebate games.

03

Educate Your Entire Team

The real unlock happens when employees understand the difference. CHPAs run open enrollment, education sessions, and Medicare workshops — and stay engaged year-round, not just at renewal.

The Transition
What Happens to My Current Plan?
The most common employer concern: disruption. The reality is that a CHPA gives you options — and you don't have to change anything until the numbers prove it makes sense.
Path A — The Numbers Work

Move to a Self-Funded Plan

Your CHPA runs the analysis, shops stop-loss carriers, and builds a proposal. If the math works, you transition to a plan where you own your healthcare spend and see every dollar.

  • Direct primary care at $0 to employees
  • Preferred surgery centers at transparent prices
  • Pharmacy plan without hidden rebates
  • CHPA replaces the traditional broker role
  • Savings participation for employer and CHPA
Path B — Not Yet Competitive

Keep Your Plan, Add a Foundation

Sometimes the incumbent carrier is subsidizing rates to keep you locked in. In that case, stay on your current plan and start building the foundation for a future transition.

  • Keep your current plan and broker
  • Add direct primary care to start managing costs
  • Build a healthier population before switching
  • CHPA re-quotes at next renewal with better data
  • Transition when the numbers clearly favor it
A CHPA always runs the numbers first. Nobody asks you to change until the savings are clear and proven.
The Impact
The Numbers Speak
20–30%
First-Year Savings
Employers using healthcare purchasing strategies save 20–30% in the first two years compared to fully insured plans
350%
What Hospitals Charge
The average hospital bills 350% of Medicare rates. CHPA-guided plans steer to preferred providers under 200%
$0
Employee Cost at Preferred Providers
Primary care, preferred surgeries, and imaging — all at $0 to employees when using the right providers
Common Questions
What Employers Ask
No. CHPA-guided plans use broad PPO networks, so employees keep access to virtually every doctor and hospital they use today. The difference is that they also gain access to a direct primary care physician who knows them by name, and a network of preferred providers where their out-of-pocket cost drops to $0. Nobody loses a doctor — employees gain better options.
Self-funded plans carry stop-loss insurance that caps your exposure on both individual claims and total plan costs. Your CHPA shops multiple stop-loss carriers to get the best rate. Employees face the same out-of-pocket maximums they'd have on a fully insured plan. The protection is identical — the pricing is just transparent.
CHPAs charge a flat per-employee-per-month (PEPM) advisory fee — typically $15 PEPM. There are no hidden carrier commissions, no bonuses from insurance companies, and no conflict of interest. Beyond the flat fee, CHPA compensation is tied to the savings they generate for your plan. If they don't save you money, they don't earn more. Compare that to a broker who gets paid the same whether your costs go up or down.
Honestly? In most cases, yes — and here's why. Traditional brokers earn carrier commissions, override bonuses, and downstream payments from PBMs, TPAs, and other vendors connected to your plan. Many will tell you they don't get paid by carriers, but overrides and indirect compensation are common and often undisclosed. Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (Section 202), your broker is legally required to provide a written compensation disclosure detailing every dollar they earn in connection with your plan. If you haven't received one, ask for it. A CHPA replaces this conflicted model entirely — flat advisory fee, no carrier commissions, no hidden payments. Your CHPA handles everything your broker did, plus year-round education, monthly performance reviews, and cost management most brokers never provide.
Yes. Self-funded plans are governed by federal ERISA law, not state insurance regulations. Employers of any size can self-fund. Stop-loss insurance protects against catastrophic claims, and a third-party administrator handles claims processing. The infrastructure is well-established — over 65% of covered workers in the US are already on self-funded plans. Most employers just don't know it's an option.
Most self-funded plans still operate like insurance — opaque pricing, PPO discounts that hide the real cost, pharmacy benefit managers that skim rebates. A CHPA-guided plan is built on actual transparent pricing: you see what every procedure costs, you know which providers charge fair prices, and your employees have a primary care doctor who manages their health proactively. It's the difference between self-funding with the same broken incentives and self-funding with someone who actually shows you where the money goes.
Broker Transparency
The Compensation Your Broker Isn't Telling You About

Many brokers will tell you they "don't get paid by the carrier." That's rarely the full story. Beyond direct commissions, brokers commonly receive:

  • Override commissions — volume bonuses from carriers for placing enough business
  • Downstream payments — referral fees from PBMs, TPAs, stop-loss carriers, and wellness vendors
  • Revenue sharing — indirect compensation from third parties connected to your plan
  • Incentive trips and bonuses — rewards for meeting placement targets with specific carriers

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (Section 202), your broker is legally required to disclose all of this to you in writing. If they haven't, they may be out of compliance with federal law.

Has your broker given you a written compensation disclosure?

Federal law requires it. Most employers have never received one. We created a guide explaining your rights and what to ask for.

View the disclosure guide →
The Platform
Built on Self Fund Health
CHPAs are independent advisors, but the plan infrastructure behind them is built and managed by Self Fund Health — a Madison, WI company that replaces traditional health insurance carriers with transparent, self-funded health plans.
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The plan
SFH designs and administers the self-funded health plan your CHPA recommends — including network access, preferred providers, pharmacy benefits, and stop-loss protection.
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The analytics
Real-time cost transparency, claims monitoring, and savings tracking. Your CHPA uses SFH tools to show you exactly where every dollar goes.
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The provider network
SFH negotiates directly with preferred providers — surgery centers, imaging facilities, and DPC practices — to get prices that are often 50-80% below what hospitals charge.
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The member experience
Navigation support, care coordination, and a member app. Employees get help finding the right provider at the right price, with $0 cost-sharing at preferred locations.
The plan behind the advisor
3,500+
Employee lives
7,000+
Total members
WI & MN
Markets served
$0
At preferred providers
Learn more about Self Fund Health →
For Advisors
Become a CHPA
If you believe employers deserve better than what the current system offers, the CHPA certification gives you the tools, training, and plan infrastructure to actually deliver it.
Who becomes a CHPA?
  • Direct primary care (DPC) practices
  • Benefits brokers ready to evolve their role
  • P&C agents entering healthcare through risk management
  • Accountants and financial advisors
  • HR leaders and employer advocates
  • Anyone committed to helping employers control healthcare spend

What you get as a CHPA

  • ✓ Formal training on self-funded plan economics, transparent pricing, and employer sales methodology
  • ✓ Access to the SFH plan infrastructure — network, analytics, pharmacy, stop-loss, and member navigation
  • ✓ Assigned territory with employer prospect data and outreach support
  • ✓ Flat PEPM advisory fee — set your own rate, no carrier dependency
  • ✓ Savings participation — earn a share of the claims fund savings you generate
  • ✓ CHPA community — shared sourcing channel with other certified advisors
Apply to become a CHPA →
Ready to See What You're Really Paying?
A CHPA will run a free, no-obligation cost analysis on your current plan. You'll see exactly where your money goes and what you could save.
Request a free cost analysis → Ask a question
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