For decades, self-funded employers had limited options when building provider networks. The standard approach was to lease a PPO from a national carrier, pay ongoing access fees, and accept predetermined pricing, provider relationships, and network design.
That model worked for a different era of healthcare.
Today, employers, brokers, TPAs, and providers are demanding something different - one connected future for direct healthcare contracting.
In response, a new generation of healthcare technology platforms has emerged to support direct contracting. While these solutions have expanded what's possible, most were designed to solve only part of the process, not the process as a whole.
Why Today's Healthcare Contracting Tools Still Fall Short?
Most healthcare contracting platforms address a single challenge rather than the entire workflow. Some function as marketplaces built around standardized contracts. Others rely on curated networks or reference-based pricing models that can limit flexibility. Some focus on specialty episodes of care, while others provide valuable analytics without the operational infrastructure needed to put those insights into practice.
The result is a fragmented technology landscape where employers, TPAs, brokers, and providers often manage contracting, pricing, network management, claims repricing, and performance reporting across multiple systems.
More tools don't always create a better strategy.
Each solution can solve an important problem. Few are designed to solve the entire one.
What Makes OpenNetworks Different
OpenNetworks was built around a simple idea: direct contracting should operate as one connected system, not a collection of disconnected tools.
Rather than replacing one fragmented solution with another, OpenNetworks brings the entire direct contracting lifecycle together on a single platform, from the first provider conversation to the claim that gets paid.
Build the network you actually want.
Most solutions start with someone else's network.
OpenNetworks starts with yours.
Employers, consultants, and TPAs can design provider networks around their own strategy, selecting providers one relationship at a time instead of working within predefined marketplaces or curated rosters.
Transparent pricing from the beginning.
Every agreement is negotiated and managed at the CPT® and DRG level, giving both employers and providers a clear understanding of reimbursement before care is delivered.
Transparent pricing creates stronger partnerships, fewer surprises, and greater confidence throughout the contracting process.
One connected platform.
Network design, provider contracting, contract management, provider directories, claims repricing, and performance reporting all operate within the same platform.
Instead of coordinating multiple vendors and disconnected workflows, organizations gain a single source of truth for managing direct healthcare networks.
Built to work with your existing ecosystem.
OpenNetworks complements your existing administrative relationships.
Because the platform functions as infrastructure rather than a payer or third-party administrator, employers, brokers, TPAs, and providers can adopt direct contracting while continuing to work with the partners they already trust.
Built for long-term growth.
Healthcare continues to evolve.
Whether supporting a regional employer network today or expanding across new markets, provider types, reimbursement models, or value-based arrangements tomorrow, OpenNetworks is designed to scale without requiring organizations to change platforms.
The Bottom Line
Healthcare organizations no longer have to choose between transparency, flexibility, and operational simplicity.
Traditional leased networks prioritized convenience over customization. Many newer solutions improve individual pieces of the contracting process but still require organizations to compromise, whether by relying on pre-built networks, accepting limited pricing visibility, or stitching together multiple technologies to make direct contracting work.
OpenNetworks brings the entire direct contracting lifecycle together in one connected platform, empowering employers, TPAs, brokers, and providers to build, manage, and optimize healthcare networks without the complexity of disconnected systems.
One platform. Direct contracts. Complete visibility.