008: Tom Kane, Executive Vice President and Director of Life & Health for Stephens Insurance
Release Date: 12/13/2017
Dr. Joseph Sanford and Dr. Kevin Sexton, Leaders of the Medical Claims Analytics Teams at Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Frank Thomas interviews Dr. Joseph Sanford and Dr. Kevin Sexton on employer wellness programs. They explore the data sets that are available between self-funded and fully-insured plans, the changes in healthcare visits since the start of the pandemic, the kinds of nudges that work to help employees to choose healthy behaviors and participate in wellness visits and screenings.
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Brian Chance, Senior Vice President, Cost Based Efficiency Claims & Risk Manager at Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Frank Thomas interviews Brian Chance on the complexities of the workers' compensation system, a state-regulated system that varies by state. They discuss how employers can obtain and manage state-compliant coverage, whether by buying a policy from an insurance company or third-party administrator, self-insuring, or buying a large deductible and acting as a self-insurer.
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020: David Keisner, Vice President, Associate Pharmacy Benefits Analyst at Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Frank Thomas interviews Dr. David Keisner on the meaning of the recent Supreme Court ruling for PBMs, how increased prescription costs may be passed along to employers and insured patents, how other states may act as a result of this ruling, and the potential ramifications of this ruling on other states’ regulation of healthcare providers, regardless of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
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019: Dr. Geri Bemberg, Vice President & Pharmacy Benefits Analyst at Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Frank Thomas interviews Dr. Geri Bemberg. Geri specializes in prescription drug formulary and pharmacy benefit management solutions. Geri explains what a pharmacy benefit manager does. She covers the types of contracts PBMs make with plans, pharmacy groups and drug makers, and the differences between traditional and pass-through plans. Geri explains the benefits of having Stephens Insurance get involved between the plan and the PBM, and also offer formulary management and pharmacy benefit auditing.
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018: Prentice McIntosh, Vice President of Risk Management at Stephens Insurance — Part 3
Stephens
Frank Thomas interviews Prentice McIntosh, continuing and concluding the conversation on hurricane preparedness in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Prentice and Frank discuss steps businesses should take after a hurricane. They focus on getting back to the property and meeting the claims adjuster as quickly as possible, putting in place temporary fixes to mitigate future losses, and revisiting the disaster recovery plan to make sure all aspects of the business are protected.
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017: Prentice McIntosh, Vice President of Risk Management at Stephens Insurance — Part 2
Stephens
Frank Thomas interviews Prentice McIntosh, continuing the conversation on hurricane preparedness, in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Prentice and Frank discuss steps businesses may take to cover the business disruptions that come with a hurricane. These can include a storm safety plan, disaster recovery plans, business interruption coverage and contingent business interruption coverage
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016: Hurricane Preparedness — With Prentice McIntosh, Vice President of Risk Management at Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Prentice McIntosh is interviewed by Frank Thomas in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Prentice and Frank discuss the steps businesses should take to plan for hurricanes and other disasters, how to recover from disasters, how to drill the disaster plan, and how to obtain appropriate property insurance.
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015: Workplace Health — With Todd Whitthorne, President of ACAP Health Consulting and Tom Kane, Executive Vice President and Director of Life & Health at Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Todd Whitthorne, President of ACAP Health Consulting, and Tom Kane, Executive Vice President and Director of Life & Health for Stephens Insurance, are interviewed by Frank Thomas in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Todd, Tom, and
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014: Kara Trott, Founder and CEO of Quantum Health and Walker Bowden, Director of Self-Funded Marketing for Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Kara Trott, Founder and CEO of Quantum Health and Walker Bowden, Director of Self-Funded Marketing for Stephens Insurance, are interviewed by Frank Thomas in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Kara, Walker and Frank discuss innovations in engagement that allow members to navigate much better the healthcare maze.
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013: Olin Wage, Senior Vice President and Long-Term Care Advisor for Stephens Insurance
Stephens
Olin Wage, Senior Vice President and Long-Term Care Advisor for Stephens Insurance, is interviewed by Frank Thomas in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Frank and Olin discuss why long-term care insurance should be considered as part of a prudent retirement plan, the options available, and options for providing for long-term care needs and expenses.
info_outlineFrank Thomas interviews Tom Kane, Executive Vice President and Director of Life & Health for Stephens Insurance, in this episode of Stephens Viewpoints. Frank and Tom discuss the importance of the practitioner model when advising clients on health insurance and benefits. With medical practitioners on staff, account executives can provide clients with transparency on healthcare and pharmacy costs. Tom discusses the benefits of data-driven analytics in understanding health risks within a client employee group, and the benefit of providing important steps employees can take to reduce their risks of future disease and to manage existing disease.
Key Takeaways:
[:48] Stephens Insurance has both a medical practitioner and a pharmacist on staff. Tom explains how Stephens has responded to changes in client expectations over the last 10 to 15 years by transforming to a risk management philosophy from the historical transactional role of most brokers.
[1:46] Looking at the risks in a health plan population requires the insight of clinical practitioners. In 2006, Stephens hired two registered pharmacists, who are still with Stephens today. A few years later, Stephens added a medical director.
[2:11] Sitting with a client, the Stephens broker can now have a different conversation focused on what is actually happening within the plan, what is driving the cost, rather than just a conversation around shifting costs.
[2:25] The Stephens medical director works with account executives to study client health data and advise on the trends occurring within their population. They can find gaps in care, such as patients not following the protocols for managing diseases, or if employees are not getting screenings. Stephens can help incentivize compliance.
[3:29] The role of the pharmacists is to help clients design the best pharmacy program for their health plan. They understand the pharmacy industry. They have a hands-on role with the clients and the account management team.
[4:06] Stephens believes in total transparency. Clients have a right to know the Pharmacy Benefit Manager pricing methodologies. People need to have access to transparent quality data, as well. Stephens advises clients to provide tools to employees that allow them to understand what the costs are.
[4:53] In Central Arkansas, Stephens has done research that shows the cost for an MRI to be very different from one provider to the next. Transparency is the future of healthcare and insurance. People should be able to go online and see what an MRI costs, and not only what it costs, but who has the highest quality outcomes.
[5:19] Tom says health insurance is bad for your health because it was offered as a remedy for being sick. The message needs to change to things you can do to prevent getting sick. Having a practitioner model where you can present the client with practitioner expertise is empowering and transformative for the client and employees.
[6:32] For the first time, companies are dealing with the wellness of employees that span three generations. That adds levels of complexity from messaging, to the disease states of the generations. Younger people need to stay healthy; mature people need to change behaviors to reverse early disease; the elderly need to manage their diseases.
[8:30] Everything Stephens does begins and ends with data. It has done an exhaustive process of vetting data analytic vendors. It has found a best-in-class provider for its clients. Through risk-scoring and predictive analytics, Stephens can tell a client, if nothing changes, this is what your health care costs will look like.
[9:11] Stephens is able to predict with a high degree of accuracy what’s going to happen to care costs and admissions if a client employee group does not make any changes. It’s very empowering to have access to that data, where we can pinpoint individuals who are at risk for a significant health event.
[9:37] To our listeners, please continue to tune in as we explore more topics with experts from Stephens Insurance. For more information on this topic, please contact Stephens Insurance at 1-800-643-9691. To listen to more Stephens Viewpoints, check out our website.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Insurance products offered through Stephens Insurance, LLC., National Producer Number 8844362. Securities are offered through Stephens, Inc., Member NYSE, SIPC.
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