Health Plan Finance Leaders – Paid Research Study (PBM Decisions)

$170 one-timerate as listed

Mercor is recruiting US-based health plan CFOs and VPs of Finance for a ~25-minute online survey on how their organisation selects and contracts with pharmacy benefit managers. Compensation is a one-time $170 payment on verified submission of a single response.

Summary, eligibility guidance and screening preparation are prepared by Sidequest from the platform's posting. Check the source listing before applying.

What the work involves

This is a one-off research participation, not ongoing evaluation work. You complete a structured online survey — roughly 25 minutes — covering how your plan runs a PBM selection or renewal: who sits on the decision committee, how you evaluate pricing and rebate arrangements, how you model drug spend and trend, and how specialty pharmacy fits your strategy. Responses feed into work by an AI research lab building healthcare and pharmacy benefit tools, so the value is in specifics: the actual mechanics of how the decision gets made at your organisation, not general commentary on the PBM market.

What the platform screens for

The gates here are narrow and stated plainly. Mercor is checking three things: your title is literally Chief Financial Officer or VP of Finance; your employer is a health plan, health insurer, provider-sponsored plan owned by a health system, or a TPA that makes its own PBM decisions; and you hold formal authority over the PBM decision — either as final decision-maker or as a member of the selecting committee. Pharmacy, clinical, medical, procurement, contracting and compliance titles are excluded regardless of how much PBM work they do. Also excluded: PBM employees, benefits consultants and brokers, employers purchasing benefits for their own workforce, and hospitals or health systems that do not operate their own plan. Expect follow-up questions that test whether your involvement is genuine decision authority rather than adjacent exposure.

Logistics

Remote, United States only
Fully asynchronous — complete the survey on your own schedule within the stated window
One sitting of about 25 minutes; no interviews, no recurring commitment
$170 one-time, observed at this listing, paid after the submission is verified
You must be able to complete the survey independently, without an analyst or assistant filling it in

Because payment depends on verification, thin or contradictory answers are the main reason submissions fail. Treat the survey as you would a board memo: concrete numbers where you can share them, clear statements where you cannot.

What they look for

Current title of Chief Financial Officer or VP of Finance at a health plan, insurer, provider-sponsored plan, or TPA
Formal authority over PBM selection — final decision-maker or selection committee member
Working knowledge of PBM pricing, rebate and administrative fee structures
Experience managing pharmacy drug spend and trend at plan level
Familiarity with specialty pharmacy strategy and cost management
US-based, able to complete a 25-minute online survey independently

Included with this listing

Interview prep — 10 questions

Matched to what this platform's screening actually measures. Answer each out loud in 60–90 seconds: claim → concrete example → implication.

What it tests: Whether you clear the two hard title and employer gates as written, before any domain questions matter.
A strong answer: State the literal title on your payroll record — CFO or VP of Finance — and classify the employer precisely: commercial health plan, Medicaid or Medicare Advantage plan, provider-sponsored plan owned by a health system, or a TPA that makes its own PBM decisions.
Where people lose it: Offering a near-title such as Finance Director, SVP Finance Operations, or Controller and hoping it reads as equivalent — the study excludes anything outside CFO and VP of Finance, and an approximate title surfaces during verification.