2011 FORUM West General Sessions

With companies watching their bottom lines decreasing and the cost of health care rising at an alarming rate, firms need to be proactive and embrace the health care consumerism movement. Ron Bachman will provide insight on the evolution of health care and show what is on the horizon for health care consumerism, giving examples of multi generations of health care consumerism. FIS Global Product Development Specialist John Bull examining the technical aspects of health care consumerism, and an executive member of Aflac, the largest provider of supplemental benefits in the United States, will provide insight on how supplemental health benefits empowers people to be smart health care consumers. The goal of this general session is to provide answers to how to create lasting changes in the employee population and aid them into living healthier lives, as well as helping to keep the cost of health care down.

Speakers: Ron Bachman, Chairman Advisory Board, CDHC Solutions, John Bull, CDH Strategy & Product Development Specialist, FIS Heathcare Payment Solutions, and Jack Friou, Senior Vice President, Director of Governmental Relations of Aflac.

Questions? Submit your questions to the speakers of this General Session.

Undoubtedly, 2010 was a rough year for health plan administrators and sponsors as they struggled to implement the new requirements imposed by federal health care reform under the PPACA. Now that many plans have that first year under way, this session will review what lessons have been learned, and what important plan design changes should be made (or avoided). Join John Hickman, head of Alston & Bird’s Health Benefits Practice, as he walks you through the new rules and requirements and provides a crystal clear vision about what to expect in the future, including final PPACA regulations. Hickman’s easy-to-understand terms will provide you with the tools needed to stay in compliance with the law.

Topics addressed include:

• What changes have been made in final regulations
• Plan design changes to avoid
• How does health care reform impact CDHC (HRAs and HSAs)
• Grandfather plans one year later (is the exemption still worthwhile)
• What new requirements lie on the horizon.

Speakers: John Hickman, Partner, Alston+Bird LLP

Questions? Submit your questions to the speaker of this General Session.

Believe it or not some of the largest, most-successful companies in the nation have had to face the same problem your company has when it comes to the health care law and empowering the employee population to be better consumers of health care. CDHC Solutions presents an Employer Panel discussion featuring the top benefit directors from the largest companies – Microsoft, Safeway and Wal-Mart – in the nation discussing how their organization has moved toward health care consumerism, while staying compliant with the ever-changing health care laws. This session will allow you to develop a healthy dialogue and exchange ideas during a question-and-answer session with the largest employers in the nation.

Panelists: Shawn Leavitt, Vice President of Global Compensation and Benefits at Carlson, Thomas Emerick, President, Emerick Consulting, LLC, and Partner and Chief Strategy Officer, Laurus Strategies, Former VP of Global Benefit Design, Wal-Mart and Cecily Hall, VP of Operations, Carena, Former Director of Benefits, Microsoft.

Questions? Submit your questions to the panelists of this General Session.

Through the lens of care providers, health plans, employers, public policy experts, consumers, and brokers, we will explore newly enacted health care reform and its impact on health care consumerism in America. This will be concluded by a lively question and answer session where the audience can exchange ideas and develop a lively dialogue with the expert panelists in a living room-like atmosphere.

Panelists: Jon Comola, Wye River Group and Foundation for American Healthcare Leadership, Roy Ramthun, HSA Guru, President of HSA Consulting Services, Alexander ‘Sander’ Domaszewicz, Principal and Senior Consultant, Mercer Health & Benefits Services and Robert C. Roesch, CCP, SPHR Director of Human Resources, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Colorado.

Questions? Submit your questions to the panelists of this General Session.

General session hosted by John Young, Senior Vice President, Consumerism, CIGNA, will feature a panel discussion touching on the importance of transparency as it pertains to price quality information and health care consumerism. Panelists will include: Bobbi Coluni, Senior Director, Consumer Solutions for Thomson Reuters; Castlight Vice President, Sales & Services, Naomi Allen; and Tony Miller, founder and CEO of Carol Corp.