Serif Health Launches Network Benchmarking for Brokers, Consultants, and Self-Funded Employers

New module combines negotiated rates and claims data to compare networks before benefits decisions are made

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Serif Health (Serif) today announced the launch of Network Benchmarking, a new module that helps brokers, benefits consultants, TPAs, and self-funded employers answer a question that discount rates alone cannot: which network will actually perform for this client. Instead of a partial view, advisors can now see the full data behind the answers and explain exactly why it's the right decision.

The launch comes as employer healthcare costs continue to climb. According to Milliman's 2026 Medical Index, the average American on an employer health plan is projected to spend $8,460 on healthcare this year, up 7.9% from 2025 and the sharpest annual increase in more than a decade outside of pandemic-era swings. A typical family of four covered by employer-sponsored insurance is projected to incur nearly $38,000 in annual healthcare costs.

Network selection is one of the highest-stakes decisions in any benefits engagement, and the stakes are even higher as costs climb. Two networks with similar advertised discounts can produce very different cost outcomes because of differences in negotiated reimbursement, provider participation, referral patterns, and out-of-network utilization. Serif's Network Benchmarking module gives consultants the analysis to back up the recommendation.

Network Benchmarking makes complex pricing analysis easy to explore and explain. Built on the largest commercially available dataset of negotiated healthcare prices, it combines Serif's data stack of payer Transparency in Coverage files, hospital machine readable rate disclosures, and national claims data to evaluate both reimbursement levels and real-world network performance. Every comparison is benchmarked against CMS Medicare rates, allowing employers to compare networks consistently across markets and populations.

With just an any employer census or historical claims set, brokers and benefits consultants can easily generate:

• Side-by-side network comparisons across any payer in Serif's network library
• Percent of Medicare views, normalized for apples-to-apples analysis
• In-network capture rates by service line, so network breadth and price get evaluated together
• Disruption metrics that show provider continuity across network boundaries, so savings can be weighed against member impact
• Employer and member cost modeling based on the most current network rates that reflects real plan design, not just headline discounts

"For years, network recommendations have been built on average discounts," said Rafiq Ahmed, CEO and Co-founder of Serif Health. "That number can tell you what a carrier claims across its whole book of business, but not what a client will actually pay, at the facilities their employees use, based on where the market stands today. It's a partial, generic, backward-looking view. Network Benchmarking replaces that perspective with a more detailed, complete, data-driven analysis grounded in relevant, current negotiated rates. Advisors can finally show a client what a network will cost them for their employees, specifically, now."

Matt Robben, CTO and Co-founder of Serif Health added, "Network Benchmarking is only as good as the data behind it. We've spent years enriching and normalizing our transparency data, and that work now links claims to real negotiated rates at match rates of 80-90%, far above what raw transparency files deliver on their own. That's what lets advisors trust the numbers behind every recommendation."

Network Benchmarking is available immediately to brokers, benefits consultants, TPAs, and self-funded employers.

For more information or to schedule a demo, visit Serif Health or meet Serif at Booth #420 at RosettaFest July 29-31, 2026. Teams can request a sample report by contacting [email protected]

About Serif Health

Serif Health is the healthcare cost intelligence platform that turns price transparency data into answers. Powered by normalized data across 200+ commercial payers, 5,000+ hospitals, and billions of commercial claims, Serif's flagship platform Signal helps providers, payers, employers, and benefits teams benchmark rates, evaluate networks, and understand market dynamics in seconds. Serif cleans, validates, and structures data before it reaches the user, so every answer is grounded in reliable, decision-ready intelligence. Learn more at serifhealth.com.

SOURCE Serif Health