By Barry Volin, MCRA Co-Founder and CEO

Not so many years ago, selling a product and/or a service into a health plan was simple:

1. Targeted buyer was easily identified by their job title,

2. Sales rep presented the product/service,

3. Targeted buyer was a key decision maker,

4. Sale was made.

Sales cycles were relatively short, internal processing was limited to being incorporated into the A/P ledger, and finance terms were straightforward. The world described here has changed radically since the onset of COVID in early 2020. Several factors that have contributed to these changes include:

• Medicaid unwinding and the challenges of recertification at the end of the Public Health Emergency Period.

• Increased regulation and an ever-changing regulatory environment.

• Health plans experiencing vendor fatigue.

• New and evolving job titles including the increased responsibilities of the procurement officer.

• A movement toward pay-for-performance/value-based contracting.

• Increased scrutiny on payment integrity and FWA.

• Annual changes is Star measures.

As Barry Volin and Gary Bolnick, co-founders of the Managed Care Resource Alliance (MCRA) began discussions around forming an organization focused on the needs and challenges that solution vendors faced, they established the following broad goals:

• Provide a venue to facilitate collaborative discussions.

• Help MCRA Member organizations differentiate themselves through demonstration of expertise, articles, roundtables, etc.

• Provide industry insight and guidance through a panel of Strategic Advisors.

• Facilitate the leveraging of each MCRA Member’s industry contacts.

• Develop a messaging platform to reach out to industry leaders.

May 2025 marks the end of MCRA’s fourth year of operations and the onset of the fifth year. Within the first six months of 2025, The Alliance has created a long list of accomplishments that address the five original goals described above.

In 2025 Q1-Q2,MCRA has:

• Onboarded five new Member organizations

• Welcomed two Strategic Advisors

• Hosted 9 workgroups, each focused on a different relevant industry topic, involving 16 MCRA Member companies

• Facilitated the publication of three articles authored by MCRA Members in Managed Healthcare Executive (MHE, a MCRA partner organization)

• Expanded industry reach (13+% new followers on LinkedIn)

MCRA is a unique organization—one that is constantly evolving to better serve the needs of its membership while adapting to the ever-changing managed care industry. MCRA’s commitment to its Members is to continue listening to their needs, hearing the challenges they are facing, and facilitating discussions among members, advisors and industry experts to gain greater insights into new approaches to problem solving and business development. Members must make the same commitment to each other—they must listen to each other, share industry insights and support each other’s sales strategies/efforts.

2025 will continue to be a challenging year as the current Administration introduces its reform initiatives that focus on cost, eligibility and fraud. MCRA is confident its unique, vendor-focused ecosystem will prepare all participants to operate and grow in the coming years.

Interested in learning more about MCRA Membership?

The first step is our 5-minute Inquiry Form.