Fast 25: Remodel Health

No. 13

Revenue growth FY 2021 to 2023: 122.8%
2023 revenue: $14.8 million

Before he was an accountant, Austin Lehman thought his future would be that of a pastor, and that mindset helped forge what he is today. He is the CEO of Remodel Health, which helps organizations reduce their health care costs by switching from group insurance plans to an approach in which each employee has an individual plan. The company got its start working with churches and Christian schools. “We did it initially because it was a passion more than we thought it was the best business move,” he says. Remodel Health has made the Fast 25 multiple times, and recent expansions into other areas suggest it’s not slowing down.

Whom you know: A key early client was a senior living facility in Winona Lake. A member of the board was a member of a youth group in which Lehman was a youth pastor. A subsequent client was Grace College, a Christian college in Winona Lake and Lehman’s alma mater.

Wind at their backs: A simple analogy Lehman uses to describe the underpinnings of what Remodel Health does is to consider the shift from traditional pension plans to 401(k)s, the latter of which offer companies and employees more flexibility and options but initially were unfamiliar and unsettling to many. Likewise, the passage of the Affordable Care Act invited options for individual health plans, but uncertainties prompted many big insurers to move to the sidelines. Remodel Health found itself pitching a concept under duress. Fast-forward several years, and not only have the major carriers returned, but other federal legislation has helped, including the advent of individual-coverage health reimbursement arrangements, under which employers reimburse employees for premiums on plans they purchase on their own. “We had a lot of headwinds for the first about five years, and now we’ve experienced a lot of tailwinds the last four years,” Lehman says. “And I’ll tell you that tailwinds are nicer than headwinds.”

Time to expand: Last year, Remodel Health surpassed $100 million in savings for its largely not-for-profit customers. Now, the company is expanding into other areas. Earlier this year, the 9-year-old firm acquired a company that focused on small businesses. Remodel Health also has begun serving health insurance brokers. “You know,” Lehman says, “the [venture capitalist] Peter Thiel’s advice is: Find a small niche and dominate it and then expand into adjacent [niches]. It’s hard to know when you should stop dominating the niche and when you should expand into adjacent. It’s hard to get that right.”•

Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.