At the 2016 DMEC Annual Conference, a panel discussed how organizations offering mental health solutions can improve the employee experience and engagement. The panel was: Scott Daniels – Director of Disability Benefits – Comcast Jack Stoddard – Chief Strategy Officer – Accolade, Inc. Hong Un – Chief Psychiatric Officer and Head of EAP – Aetna Adele Spallone – VP Business Integration & Strategies and Absence Management Services – Aetna One overriding thing to keep in mind when creating a behavioral health wellness program is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Something that works for a large employer with many resources
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At the 2016 DMEC Annual Conference, a panel discussed strategies to raise awareness of the stigma associated with mental health and how to address it. The panel was: Donna Hardaker – Director, Wellness Works – Mental Health America of California Heather Holladay – Integrated Health Manager – Pacific Gas & Electric Rich Paul – SVP Employer Strategy & Development – Beacon Health Options Bryan Bass – SVP of Disability & Absence Practice & Compliance – Sedgwick In a recent survey, over 35% of respondents cited fear of peer responses as a reason they would hesitate to seek treatment for mental
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At the 2106 DMEC Annual Conference, a panel discussed strategies to build the business case needed to evolve mental health and well being and a culture of health in the workplace. The panel was: Debra Lerner – Director, Program on Health, Work and Productivity – Tufts Medical Center Harry Spencer – VP Compensation, Benefits & Corporate Social Responsibility – JetBlue Airways Ron Loeppke – Vice Chairman – US Preventive Medicine, Inc. Thomas Parry – President – Integrated Benefits Institute With the large amount of data now available for analysis, employers looking to build a business case for changing their employee
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At the 2016 ACE Conference, Bob Wiese from Disneyland Resort discussed the differences between traditional insurance and self-insurance when it comes to liability claims. One of the biggest advantages of being self-insured for liability claims is that you get to define what claims you are going to handle and how you will handle them. You are not bound by policy language defining what is covered. This allows you to have a more customer-service focus with your liability claims handling program. . Some examples of things Disney does include: Public relations settlements. Often times they will do things from a public
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At the 2016 ACE Conference, Randi Lichtenstein from BNY Mellon and Don St Jacques from Jopari Solutions discussed opportunities for insurers to increase adoption of electronic payments. Payment Evolution Countries like the UK have payment systems that are advanced beyond ours and they have not been paper check based for years. Paper checks are very inefficient. The average cost of issuing a check is almost $6. In addition to print and mail costs, checks can get lost and need to be reissued, remain uncashed requiring escheatment, and cause delays getting payments to consumers. There are many growing pressures on what
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At the 2016 ACE Conference, Caryn Siebert with Knight Insurance Group presented a session discussing the challenges and solutions involved in prescription management. In 2014, opioid overdoses killed over 28,000 patients. From 1999 – 2013, the number of opioid prescriptions quadrupled. Earlier this year, President Obama called for additional federal government funding to prevent opioid abuse. Opioid treatment should be limited to 3-7 days during the acute phase of the injury. Beyond that things like ibuprofen or other over-the-counter drugs should be sufficient. Unfortunately, too often opioids are used as the first and only treatment for pain. For any pain
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At the 2016 ACE conference, a panel discussed how good vendor relationships can help you achieve your company’s mission. The panel was: Jennifer Cooper-Matlack from New Jersey Manufacturers Patricia Walsh from New Jersey Manufacturers George Rosch from CCC Information Services Laura Werner  from CCC Information Services Employers, carriers and TPAs partner with vendors to provide services they cannot do in-house. This can often be a roller-coaster ride with peaks and valleys in the relationship. There are five important steps in the vendor management process: Step One – Set expectations and outcome confirmation  You want to clearly identify and define customer
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At the 2016 ACE Conference, Brad Koland, Director of Risk and Insurance Management with Land O’Lakes and Jarrod Magan, VP Client Technology Services with Sedgwick discussed the increasing role that wearable technology is playing in claims management. We are not far away from the day when an individual’s wearable device can upload data directly to a person’s health record.  This could monitor things like insulin levels for diabetics, blood pressure and heart rates, sleep patterns, and compliance with taking prescribed medications. There are even wearables that can monitor sun exposure and recommend reapplying sunscreen. By 2020 more than 75 million
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At the 2016 ACE Conference, Wesley Odem Jr from The Ackerman Group LLC presented a session talking about the evolving risk of kidnap, ransom and extortion of company executives. For a classical kidnapping there are several hallmarks: The targets are always pre-selected. This is not usually tourists because of the time it takes to set up something like this. Kidnappers are normally motivated by money but it can be ideological. Ransom payments can be considerable. Surveillance precedes the abduction. It usually happens near home or the work place. Captivity lasts days, weeks or even months. The worst country for kidnappings
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On June 22-24, 2016, Conference Chronicles will be blogging from America’s Claims Event (ACE) in Minneapolis, MN For two decades, ACE has been a leader in bringing together the decision makers in the areas of property and casualty and auto insurance, as well as risk management and workers’ comp. The conference offers tracks in risk management, workers’ comp, auto, property & casualty, legal, and technology. You can learn more about the ACE Conference here