BELLEVUE, Wash. and WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, August 19, 2026 – Carrot, the leading global fertility and family care platform, and Healthcare Management Administrators (HMA), the trusted third-party administrator (TPA) for self-funded employers, today announced a new partnership to deliver comprehensive, person-centered support across all pathways to parenthood and lifelong health to HMA’s client base across the Pacific Northwest and Michigan.
The partnership establishes Carrot as HMA's preferred fertility and family care benefit, transitioning from HMA's maternity program and expanding coverage to include the full spectrum of reproductive and lifelong health needs. Through Carrot, employees at HMA client companies will have access to care and support for fertility treatments, egg and sperm preservation, pregnancy and postpartum care, adoption, gestational surrogacy, parenting, menopause, low testosterone and more.
“Self-funded employers are increasingly looking to us to help them get more value from their health plan investments and that means going beyond traditional maternity coverage. Partnering with Carrot gives our clients access to a benefit that has been shown to meaningfully reduce costs associated with high-risk pregnancies, NICU admissions, and C-sections, while supporting employees across every stage of their reproductive and hormonal health journey. This is exactly the kind of innovative, outcomes-driven solution that reflects HMA’s Winning Together philosophy — better health for members, better value for plan sponsors," said Diane Zalewski, president and CEO of HMA.
“HMA has been a trusted partner to self-funded employers for over 40 years. These are the exact plan sponsors that Carrot was built for – those who want better outcomes for their people, delivered simply,” said Tammy Sun, Founder and CEO of Carrot. “This partnership puts a modern, comprehensive fertility and family care benefit in front of hundreds of thousands of members across the Pacific Northwest and Michigan who wouldn't otherwise have it.”
This collaboration reflects a broader shift among regional health plans and TPAs — from standalone maternity programs toward integrated platforms that address the full continuum of needs across life stages, whether an individual is trying to conceive, going through pregnancy, or entering menopause. Through this partnership, HMA and Carrot are offering HMA's employer clients a comprehensive and clinically grounded benefit, including:
- Full journey coverage: Support across fertility, family-forming, pregnancy and postpartum, parenting, menopause, and low testosterone — available to all medically enrolled employees.
- Carrot's provider network: Access to Carrot's vetted network of fertility clinics, adoption agencies, surrogacy attorneys, doulas, and menopause specialists, with guidance on how to use both Carrot's network and HMA's primary health plan networks for medically covered services.
- Personalized navigation: Real-time guidance from Carrot Experts and Carrot Companions, clinically trained care advocates who support members through every step of their journey.
Underlying the entire member experience is Carrot Intelligence, Carrot's proprietary AI platform, which connects clinical data across the care journey to surface personalized guidance and ensure members never have to start from scratch as their needs evolve.
Carrot's clinical model is built to drive the outcomes that matter most to health plans and self-funded plan sponsors. Independently validated research demonstrates that Carrot exceeds national benchmarks for fertility success, including 32% fewer NICU admissions, 22% fewer C-sections, and 15% IVF avoidance — outcomes that translate directly to lower total cost of care. As TPAs and health plans look to modernize their benefit offerings, the HMA and Carrot partnership represents what comprehensive, outcomes-driven reproductive and family care looks like in practice.
