Profits

Ep #89: How to Have a Self-Funding Conversation with Employers – With Adam Russo

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In this episode, we explore some of the most common questions advisors ask about self funding and discuss concerns ranging from minimum group size to tools and techniques. Our guest on this episode of ShiftShapers is Adam Russo, Esq., co-founder and CEO of The Phia Group, as well as the founding and managing partner at a law firm, Russo & Minchoff. He believes that, in light of the healthcare reform, the current environment is full of exciting opportunities that many brokers can take advantage of.

We also have a frank exchange about what is behind recent efforts by some Departments of Insurance to try to put the brakes on certain segments of self funding and the potential impact that may have on employers seeking an alternate to the fully insured marketplace.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Adam’s journey and how The Phia Group came about.
  • How advisors can remain relevant in the current environment.
  • The minimum size for a successful self-funded group.
  • Why the government wants to stop or severely limit self-funding.
  • How can advisors begin the self-funded conversation.
  • What you need to devise a properly constructed client plan.

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Ep #88: Self Funding Tactics, Strategies and Opportunities – With Craig Lack

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Today, we’re talking to Craig Lack, CEO of Premium Reduction Strategies. He is a best-selling author and nationally-recognized health care expert and an expert on self-funding who has appeared on ABC, CBS and FOX as well as in a number of national publications.

Craig’s 25-year experience in the industry has given him a deep understanding of the challenges facing benefit advisors in a post-ACA world. We invited Craig to discuss strategies such as the “Spousal Incentive HRA” and other opportunities for self funding created by the Affordable Care Act. He will also share why premiums are just “CRAP”.

Seasoned self funders and advisors new to the world of self funding will learn how to engage employers in compelling conversations that create differentiation and value.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • The difference between fully-insured and self funded.
  • Why the premiums are just C.R.A.P.
  • Why this isn’t the typical renewal discussion.
  • How ACA has impacted the world of self funding.
  • What the Spousal Incentive HRA is.
  • Whether you should create a deductible rewards program.

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Ep #87: Supercharge Your Benefits Practice with Video Marketing – With Bart Camarata

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Occasionally on ShiftShapers, we delve into different modes that advisors are using in order to help them market their ideas and their practice. Today, we’re covering one of those tools that’s becoming increasingly popular and more adopted by the industry with great success – video marketing.

On this episode, we invited a subject matter expert, Bart Camarata, creator and host of BenefitAdvisor TV, to discuss how advisors and agencies can use video in a variety of ways to help market their practices.

Listen in as Bart shares his thoughts on why he believes the video is the “King of All Media” and explains how simple it can be for advisors to get started with that medium. We also discuss different ways benefits advisors can use video in their business and how it can help them achieve social proof in today’s market.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • The immediate advantage of video.
  • Whether video marketing is just a “carrier thing.”
  • How advisors can start using video.
  • Whether you need a huge budget.
  • How video can help you achieve social proof.

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Ep #86: Interactive Health 2.0: TeleHealth On Steroids! – With Gary Robinson

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On this episode of Shiftshapers, we’re very excited to talk to Gary Robinson, Executive Vice-President of Business Development at HealthTap. Founded in 2010, HealthTap’s goal was to reinvent the way people all over the world take care of their health and wellbeing. While that is a classic B.H.A.G., the conversation we had with Gary makes it clear that things may be changing even more rapidly than anyone thought – with technology breaking new ground on a nearly constant basis.

We invited Gary to the program to talk about HealthTap’s beginnings, as well as their new initiative, the Health Care Operating System, and how it helps to create an “intelligent triage system.” Today, advisors who want to help their clients bend the trend while simultaneously dealing with ever-increasing personal responsibility amounts have some really amazing tools at their disposal. It isn’t just advisors or employers who are the drivers in this “new normal” so we asked Gary about how the evolution of consumer expectations and the advent of mobile technology are creating an unparalleled opportunity for the transformation of everything from the conventional physician practice to patient’s on-demand access.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • The initial considerations and challenges in telehealth.
  • How the consumer expectations are evolving, especially in light of increased personal responsibility.
  • The role of mobile technology.
  • What patient engagement is all about.
  • How the physician practice has to transform to meet the needs.
  • What the free-access physician-crowdsourced database is and how consumers can interact with it.

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Ep #85: Data Security More Than Just A Legal Requirement – With Ari Gardner

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One of the things that’s always at the forefront of everyone’s mind today, as well as an expectation from clients, is the ability to keep all of the appropriate communications secured. And it isn’t just good business – it is the law. Ari Gardner, the Director of Sharefile for Insurance at Citrix, is one of the foremost subject matter experts and we were pleased to have the opportunity to interview him about what advisors and firms need to know on this critical component of our business.

Many practitioners believe that data security is a federally induced and regulated mandate. Ari points out that there are state requirements as well and we explore how advisors can comply with both. He explains which data exactly needs to be secured and why, as well as the importance of having a comprehensive system that makes the process easy and which integrates easily in all the ways we communicate today. Listen in as we discuss what you need to know to be able to offer your clients an easy-to-deploy secure environment that meets and exceeds current legal requirements.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Where the secure file and email sharing first intersected with the health and employee benefits universe.
  • Whether these regulations are all Federal or state driven, and which takes precedence.
  • The importance of ease of use and user experience.
  • The additional considerations when using mobile devices.
  • The meaning of the different security standards.
  • The data storage requirements and how they differ from the communication requirements.

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Ep #84: Connecting Advisors With Private Exchange Buyers – With Dan Hughes

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Every study available continues to show that consumers need help with understanding and selecting plans. One company has developed an Uber-like marketplace that helps to make that connection. In this episode, we chat with Dan Hughes of Softheon about what’s new with private exchanges and how they are evolving to meet consumer’s needs.

We explore the ongoing viability of private exchanges and how consumers are interacting with them. We also touch on the ever-increasing need for advisors to have access to data. We ask Dan about how they expect to vet the advisors they list on their site and what he sees in the near-term future for private exchanges and what those changes mean for your practice.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • How Softheon came to be and the problems they were trying to solve.
  • How the private exchanges evolved and what their future looks like.
  • How Softheon is working on connecting advisors to prospects who are shopping for coverage.
  • How they vet brokers to get quality folks.
  • Why white-labeling is important for advisors.

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Ep #83: Power To The Patients! – With Dr. Eric Topol

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This week’s guest believes that the smartphone has the power to transform the way health care is practiced and to put patients back in control of their health care. Dr. Eric Topol, joins us to talk about his recent book, “The Patient Will See You Now”. A practicing cardiologist, professor of genomics, and director of Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, CA, Dr. Topol outlines the beginnings of what he believes is a long-overdue shift in medicine that will put the future of medicine in consumer’s hands. That change will have profound effects on all aspects of our business.

In this episode, we discuss the gap between the patient and the doctor, and how Dr. Topol believes the system is rapidly evolving toward “democratized medicine”. I ask Dr. Topol why he believes that the US health care market is “unique and irrational”. We also talk about the idea of upgrading patients from being passengers on their health care journey to being their own co-pilots and how we can prepare our clients for that future of health care.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • What “democratized medicine” is.
  • How the smartphone has become the driver of exponential change.
  • Why medical paternalism is holding us back.
  • What “MOOM” is and why it matters.
  • Why the US Healthcare market is “unique, opaque and irrational.”

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Ep #82: Current Regulatory and Legislative Issues – With Jessica Waltman

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Our ShiftShapers subject matter expert this week is Jessica Waltman. Jessica serves as principal at Forward Health Consulting, which she established after 16 distinguished years as Senior Vice-President of Government Affairs for the National Organization of Health Underwriters.

In this wide-ranging discussion,  Jessica discusses ACA reporting, the need for clients to have up to date plan documents, and the outlook and implications for the “Cadillac Tax”. She believes that all of these, while complex, provide an unparalleled opportunity for benefit advisors.

We also take a look into the future and the political realities in healthcare in the coming months. Since regulation and legislation never seems to end, we are excited to announce that Jessica has agreed to visit with us on a quarterly basis to keep the ShiftShapers audience current.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Whether regulatory and legislative changes provide opportunities.
  • Whether there is an information vacuum.
  • The number 1 issue that faces employers today.
  • The two things advisors should focus on.
  • The prognosis for the PPACA Excise (a/k/a “Cadillac”) Tax.
  • The ramifications of the recent decision about defining group sizes.

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Ep #81: Transparency Without Clarity Is Like A Sink Full Of Dirty Dishes – With Robin Gelburd

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On this week’s episode of ShiftShapers, we’re excited to be speaking with Robin Gelburd, president of FAIR Health, a national independent non-profit organization that’s currently doing some interesting and effective work around the broad subject of pricing and transparency.

They have recently released a must-read study for anyone in the benefits field titled “Understanding Consumer Health Insurance Preferences” (use our SPECIAL OFFERS link on the right to download the entire study).   Robin joins us today to talk about the study and to discuss why she believes that transparency without clarity is like a sink full of dishes.

We will explore some of the most interesting findings of the study, such as how and why certain constituencies access care in different locales. We also explore common misconceptions consumers have about pricing and what they find most important when choosing a healthcare plan. You won’t want to miss  this informative episode.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • What FAIR Health and their mission are all about.
  • Significant differences in trends with diverse demographic groups.
  • Whether it is surprising that consumers find health care costs higher than imagined.
  • The most important factors to consumers when selecting a plan.
  • The recommendations that the survey suggests.

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  • Understanding Consumer Health Insurance Preferences” Study –
    get your copy by clicking the SPECIAL OFFERS link in the right-hand column

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Ep #80: Building a Powerhouse Benefits Agency with Tim Olson

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This week we welcome Employee Benefit Adviser Magazine’s “Adviser of The Year” Tim Olson, the managing partner at The Olson Group.  He joins us today to share his journey to building a successful benefits practice and to talk about some of the innovations their agency is using to keep the at the top of their game.

We begin by discussing their beginnings and the way the agency has expanded to provide a deeper level of value to their clients. Tim chats about the variety of services they offer and how they use those to attract prospects with various needs to become full-range clients. Tim offers key insights into the powerful strategies they are using to stay on top of the changes in the industry.

From using different types of technology to the immense value of mastermind groups, you’ll discover great tips and game-changing advice that can help your agency become a powerhouse in the benefits marketplace. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from the “Adviser of the Year.”

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • How The Olson Group­­­ got its start.
  • How you can let prospects know about the full range of services offered.
  • What happens when you aren’t the “right fit.”
  • Why it is all about the value.
  • Why investing in technology is key – for all size agencies.
  • Why mastermind groups are crucial to continued development.

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