Manifest unveils technology platform to connect employers, providers, and benefits agencies in one shared marketplace

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – July 20, 2026 – Manifest, a healthcare solution design studio, today announced its technology platform, demonstrated to an invite-only group of employer, provider, and benefits agency stakeholders on Friday, July 17. The purpose-built platform convenes geographically concentrated employers, healthcare providers, and benefits agencies in one shared marketplace to address the healthcare affordability challenges facing individuals and businesses.

The platform is the next evolution of Manifest's business. Since launching the Manifest Provider Collective in January 2026, Manifest has built a connected ecosystem of local employers, providers, and benefits agencies aligned toward making high-quality healthcare more affordable and accessible. The platform gives that ecosystem a permanent home and is slated to go live in the first quarter of 2027.

Everything we've built at Manifest has been about connection: employers, providers, and advisors in the same community, working toward the same goal. The platform takes the collaboration we've been fostering by hand and gives it durable infrastructure. Employers can now see, in one place, the local providers who are ready to work with them, and start that conversation directly.
— Rick Abbott, co-founder and CEO of Manifest

The July 17 demonstration included capabilities for each participant in the ecosystem:‍

For employers: Visibility into the provider organizations willing to collaborate with them, and the ability to engage those organizations directly in conversation. Employers can message employees and run ongoing campaigns that educate them on Collective providers and on solutions that reduce the cost of care. The platform also provides a centralized home for communications, plan documents, and collateral.

For benefits agencies: The ability to manage their employer clients on the platform on their behalf, with access granted through each employer's approval.

For providers: The ability to maintain their own value proposition, including services, locations, and hours, without relying on an intermediary, and visibility into which employer directories carry their listing.‍

For employees: A single place to find the high value care options their employer has prioritized. Employees search by need rather than by vendor, compare options, see locations and hours, and schedule, call, or save a provider.

For all parties: Aggregated, population-level insight into engagement and needs,including what people search for, which providers and services draw interest,and where demand is going unmet.

Manifest operates the platform as the intermediary among all parties.

The healthcare system doesn't need another attempt to tear everything down and start over. It needs the willing participants already here, connected in a way that lets them execute together. The platform works with the system employers already have.
— Aaron Friedkin, MD, co-founder of Manifest

Manifest’s solution is agnostic to healthplans, third-party administrators, and benefits agencies. The platform is designed to create a frictionless community of partners working within the existing system, reflecting the mantra that has guided Manifest from the beginning: evolution, not revolution.

Ahead of the Q1 2027 go-live, employers, provider organizations, and benefits agencies interested in joining the Manifest ecosystem can contact Manifest to learn more.