Bio

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Robert Smedley is the owner and president of the Matthias Group, the nation's only pharmaceutical benefit management consulting firm that serves Catholic dioceses, orders, and other religious institutions exclusively. He has spent the last 20 years helping the Catholic Church maximize its employee/priest benefits, save revenue, comply with ever-changing regulations, and protect the Church’s Catholic identity in its employee benefits plans. In 2019, he opened the Matthias Group after learning how PBMs take advantage of employers and provide medications that are in direct violation of Catholic teaching. Since Matthias Group opened, several Archdioceses and Dioceses have taken advantage of the services they offer. Collectively they have saved tens of millions of dollars and now better protect, and promote, Catholic teaching in their health plans

Mr. Smedley began his career in employee benefits consulting in 2004 with an insurance agency that served the Catholic Church. In 2010, after the ACA became law, he concentrated his efforts on helping dioceses comply with the new laws in such a way that did not violate the tenants of the Faith, and in 2012 he was promoted to president of his firm.

He has a unique skill in facilitating relationships between Catholic organizations with each other, and with secular organizations. He developed a partnership with the HealthTrust Purchasing Group whose founding members included several Catholic hospital systems. Having discovered a way to save the Church tremendous savings, gain greater control and transparency of its benefits, and leverage its size and standing to protect Catholic teaching, he opted to dedicate himself to educating the Catholic dioceses on how to navigate the employee benefits arena. 

Not every diocese or religious institution can carve off its PBM services, the Matthias group provides consulting services to these dioceses, which may have local brokers that facilitate their insurance purchases but do not have a depth of knowledge when it comes to working with Catholic institutions and how to navigate the Church’s unique needs.

Mr. Smedley is a member of the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI), the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA), the Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance (CHCLA), the Catholic Bar Association (CBA) the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference (DFMC), and National Association of Church Personnel Administrators). He has written articles for the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s (NCBC) Ethics and Medics, and the Catholic Legal Update (CLU), and is a frequent guest speaker.

He received his degree in Management and Organizational Leadership and resides in Florida with his wife and daughter, and since converting to Catholicism in 2005, attends St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish in the Diocese of St. Petersburg. .