Linde – Employer of the Year
Linde is a global industrial gases and engineering company with 22,000 US employees. Linde’s health plan members enjoy access to expert second opinions at no cost, an integrated musculoskeletal medicine solution, enhanced maternity and fertility care, an extended behavioral health network, and best in class cancer care support for families. Linde simultaneously deployed seven clinical vendor point solutions and implemented daily data feeds from both its carrier and a pharmacy benefit manager and was one of the first companies in the U.S. to have full control of its pharmacy and medical data and daily access to it. The vendor solutions extended or improved employee healthcare coverage.
Scott Hass, USI – Broker of the Year
Scott Haas, CLU, RHU is a Partner and Senior Vice President of USI Insurance Services, based in Bend, OR, and focused on mid-sized and large employers. A purchaser advocate, Scott has developed a national presence for his health plan and pharmacy benefit management expertise, and for his insistence on transparent pricing methodologies that reveal true cost. Listening to His Conversation With Relentless Health Value’s Stacey Richter is a quick way to appreciate the depth and clarity of his health care understanding, and why he’s become a sought-after advisor.
Christin Deacon – Healthcare Thought Leader
Chris Deacon is a health benefits advisor and attorney who, until recently, oversaw management of the New Jersey State Employee Health Plans, with 822,000 lives, where she developed a reputation for innovation and a willingness, within a highly politicized environment, to speak truth to power. Under her leadership, using Direct Primary Care and a reverse auction strategy on medications, the health plan management team shaved $1.5 Billion from the New Jersey’s health benefit plan, sufficient savings to fully fund the employees’ pension plan and, for the first time in recent memory, giving employees a month vacation from health plan premiums. Now in a consulting role, Chris has become an active and increasingly visible commentator on health benefits regulatory and market dynamics.
Spotlight Awards
- NextEra. With about 14,900 employees in the US and Canada, NextEra is the largest utility company globally, generating more wind and solar energy than any company in the world. Working with Florida Blue, their health plan has implemented a new, value focused Third Party Administrator. They have been key collaborators in the development of a Direct Primary Care clinic model and have deployed a regional shared-site clinic network.
- Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (MPTN). This Native American group, with more than 1,100 enrolled members, has achieved transformative results on diabetes through the Virta Treatment program. MTN patients experienced an average eA1c decrease of 1.5%, and 70% of patients eliminated all diabetes medications, excluding metformin. Among patients prescribed insulin, mean daily dosage was reduced from 62.5 units/day to 5.0 units/day. Furthermore, 84% of MPTN patients have lost over 5% of their body weight, with an average 10.5% body weight. These outcomes translate to a 56% reduction in Rx spend, saving $1,760 per patient in the first year. These outcomes also represent meaningful savings in the lives of patients as well, reducing the financial burden of costly medications and alleviating the pain and suffering associated with diabetes.
- Oshkosh (& Virta) Oshkosh Corporation, a global organization, has about 14,400 employees in the US. Oshkosh patients with type 2 diabetes on the Virta Treatment have achieved an average eA1c decrease of 1.2% and eliminated 48% of diabetes-specific medications for commercially insured populations. Also, these patients averaged a 9% body weight loss. These results were realized just 6 months post launch of the Virta treatment program and are projected to significantly reduce medical, and Rx spend, saving nearly $3,500 per patient.
- Sera Prognostics delivers pivotal information in early pregnancy to physicians and expectant mothers, designed to enable them to improve maternal and neonatal health and reduce healthcare costs. Sera’s precision medicine PreTRM® test reports to a physician the individualized risk of premature delivery in a pregnancy, enabling earlier proactive interventions in women with higher risk.
- Heidi Cottle, SVP, Cost Containment Strategies (NFP). Heidi is a seasoned health benefits professional, overseeing strategy, policy and logistics for national broker NFP’s book of 62,000 self-insured health plan sponsors. She has played an active role in national discussions on value and developed key relationships with point solutions that are moving value forward in the marketplace.
- Richard Sutton (Brown & Brown)is a prominent Indiana-based health benefits advisor, who has been extraordinarily progressive for his clients – including about 200 Indiana school districts – with innovations ranging from primary care worksite clinics and surgical bundles and transparent pass-through PBMs to specialty drug management, musculoskeletal management and claims data analytics.
- Gloria Sachdev, PharmD,is President, CEO and Board Chair of the Employers Forum of Indiana, with more than 60 employer members. The Forum’s initiatives focus on hospital price and quality transparency, value-based health benefit & payment strategies, and health policy. Working with RAND, she spearheaded the Employer Hospital Price Transparency Project, a groundbreaking analysis of hospital pricing excesses.
About Validation Institute:
Validation Institute is a membership organization made up of a network of healthcare vendors, health benefits advisors, and purchaser benefit managers focused on delivering better health value and stronger outcomes than conventional healthcare. https://validationinstitute.com/health-value-awards/
About thINc360
thINc360 gathers healthcare and employer leaders for the year’s most prominent industry event. Focused on delivering impactful content and creating meaningful connections amongst attendees, thINc360 creates a unique forum that inspires innovation to move healthcare forward. thINC360 will take place on May 22-26, 2022, at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD. Prospective attendees can learn more and register at https://bit.ly/thINc360
