How Bundled Surgeries Are Helping Employers Save — and Patients Heal With Dignity

For many patients, facing surgery is one of the most stressful experiences of their lives. The fear of the procedure itself is often matched, if not exceeded, by the anxiety around cost, logistics, and navigating a system that feels complicated and impersonal.

At Hinkapin Health, we’ve witnessed this struggle up close. And we asked ourselves: What if surgery could be different? What if it could be simpler, more transparent, and more humane?

That question is what led us to build a program of bundled surgeries combined with patient navigation.

Walking Beside Patients, Every Step of the Way

The journey begins when we receive a referral. Immediately, our navigation team takes the lead — not just scheduling appointments, but ensuring that the patient is matched with the right surgeon in a location that makes sense for them and their family.

From there, we coordinate everything: communication with the surgeon’s office, the surgical center or hospital, the anesthesia team, and even hardware vendors when needed. Each detail is handled so the patient doesn’t have to carry the weight alone.

Most importantly, our navigators keep in constant touch with both the patient and the employer’s HR team or TPA. Whether through a dashboard or a personal call, everyone involved knows exactly where things stand.

Surgery Without the Usual Burden

When the time comes for surgery, the patient steps in with less fear and fewer unanswered questions. And because the bundled model allows employers to cover nearly all costs, most patients have no co-pay or only a minimal one.

After the operation, our navigators stay present — making sure the employer is updated, ensuring the patient makes it to follow-up visits, and checking in regularly. What is often a lonely, stressful recovery period becomes instead a time where the patient feels supported and cared for.

Why Employers Choose This Model

For self-funded employers, the impact goes beyond goodwill. Bundled surgeries consistently deliver 40 to 60 percent cost savings compared to the traditional system. Claims dollars go further, and businesses are able to protect both their bottom line and the people who make their work possible.

But what’s most striking is how employees perceive it. Time and again, we hear from patients who are deeply grateful that their employer provided a pathway that eased one of the hardest chapters of their lives. And HR leaders tell us how much it means to see that gratitude reflected back.

A Commitment to Care

At its heart, this is about more than numbers. It is about touching one life at a time. It is about making sure a patient — and their loved ones — feel less alone in a moment of vulnerability. It is about employers being able to say, with sincerity, we care about you not just as a worker, but as a person.

In a time when businesses are stretched and families are anxious, finding a model that allows both to breathe a little easier feels less like a strategy and more like a calling.

That is the journey we are on at Hinkapin Health. And it is one we are honored to continue, one patient at a time.