Handl Health adds Justin Cross as SVP of employer solutions

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Handl Health, a platform empowering employers to reduce healthcare costs while improving patient outcomes, has added 20-year industry veteran Justin Cross in the newly created role of senior vice president, employer solutions. 

In the new role, Cross will focus on delivering independent, third-party analysis that helps employers and their benefits consultants negotiate smarter renewals, optimize plan design, and document their fiduciary due diligence.

Cross has nearly 20 years of benefits industry experience, building and leading consulting, account management, underwriting and analytics teams serving mid-market and large employers.

Facing double-digit healthcare price increases, CFOs and HR leaders are under pressure to optimize employee benefits. Handl Health gives employers, in partnership with their benefits consultants, enhanced visibility and plan-design options, fueled by plan and member intelligence that completely changes how benefits are evaluated, designed and monitored.

"We have more access to healthcare pricing data than I've ever seen during my entire career. If interpreted correctly, this information demystifies the true cost of healthcare," Cross said. "I believe this data is the foundation for the next generation of employee benefits and will lead to better cost-effective plans for employers and more predictable pricing for employees."

Built on the foundation of healthcare price transparency machine-readable files, Handl's AI-enabled parallel intelligence platform ingests, normalizes and extracts critical healthcare intelligence. This information enables employers to identify in-network cost savings, tier providers based on cost, steer patients toward high-value care options, and continually monitor plan performance. All of this leads to better outcomes for employees while meeting employer fiduciary obligations.

With Handl, employers and their broker partners gain access to:

• Renewal negotiation support: Actuarial-grade network diagnostics using current data
• Plan design actuarial support: Identification of waste in existing plan design
• Quarterly plan analytics: Continuous claims monitoring and plan review

"We're seeing a once-in-a-lifetime shift in how employers purchase healthcare," said Ahmed Marmoush, Handl Health's co-founder and CEO. "That's why we're helping employers take control of their healthcare spend by connecting data insight to action in partnership with their broker. I'm pleased to welcome Justin to lead this effort." 

About Handl Health
Handl Health is a technology platform transforming how health plans are evaluated, designed and monitored. By unifying healthcare pricing, utilization, benefit and quality data into a single analytical and operational layer, Handl empowers employers, brokers and payers to build flexible, cost-effective health benefits that perform. Handl's technology also delivers the infrastructure, analytics and insights needed to power the next generation of alternative health plans.

Jon Ross, [email protected]

SOURCE Handl Health