Why Employers Should Care About Their Employees’ Health

Schedule:

Barb Martinez, Great-West Life – Drug Trends, Employer Issues and Drug Strategies

This presentation will discuss the trends, the issues and the strategies to deal with rising drug costs and what needs to be done to keep employer sponsored drug plans sustainable into the future.

Barb joined Great-West Life in November of 2012 and is currently the National Practice Leader for Drug Solutions. She comes to Great-West Life with 10 years’ experience at Mercer, where she led the Canadian drug benefits consulting team.  Prior to that she spent 13 years working in the pharmaceutical industry. She is also well known as a regular speaker at industry forums and commentator on employer drug programs.

Mike Sullivan, Cubic Health – The Value of Data Analytics

Every year in Canada billions of dollars’ worth of claims are being paid by our benefit plans. What is the data behind those transactions telling us about the health of our plans and the health of our members?  What are the biggest threats to your specific plan over the next 36 months? What impact are investments in health benefits having on our disability experience? Where should we be focusing our limited resources allocated to health and wellness? What is causing your current plan design to lose effectiveness? 

In this session you will learn what data is available to plan sponsors that they do not normally see and how that data can be used to optimize member health as well as the investments made in employee health benefits. The goal of the session is to provide the audience with ideas with respect to how they can ensure that plans are sustainable moving forward as we enter a very challenging period of benefit cost containment highlighted by an ever-increasing burden of high-cost therapies. Plan sponsors will need to focus their limited plan resources on areas that will produce the greatest returns for both plans and their members. 

Mike Sullivan co‐founded Cubic Health in 2003. Cubic is an independent health plan analytics company based in Toronto. Cubic works with Canadian employers, plan advisors, provincial/territorial governments, insurance carriers, plan administrators and service providers to optimize investments made in employee health benefits. Mike began his career as a community pharmacist in Saskatoon and has previous experience working in the pharmaceutical and benefits consulting industries. He continues to maintain an active license to practice with the Ontario College of Pharmacists. Mike is a member of Benefits Canada’s Online Expert Panel and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto where he teaches in the areas of Management and Personal & New Venture Financial Management. Mike graduated from the College of Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan and completed his Master of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University where he specialized in Finance.

Mark Razzolini, Alberta Blue Cross – Wellness

With an increasing focus on absenteeism, mental health, obesity and general well-being in the work place, this session aims to help you understand your data and use it in a meaningful way to develop programs that are of value to your employee while increasing productivity and lowering health spend.

Mark Razzolini holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a certificate in human resources management from the University of Alberta. In 2005 he completed a certificate in project leadership from NAIT. He has also received certificates in executive strategic planning, executive human resources management and senior executive development from Queen’s university in Kingston. In 2012, he completed the Prosci Change Management Certificate Program.

Mark is currently employed as the Vice-President, Human Resources at Alberta Blue Cross. Wellness is a major part of his portfolio. Mark is a Certified Human Resources Professional.

Claire Leger, Alberta Blue Cross – Disability Management

This session will focus on how Wellness and Disability Management correlate and how a sound Wellness strategy can complement your Disability Management strategy. 

With more than 25 years’ experience in group life and disability insurance, Claire has extensive knowledge in the management and adjudication of life, critical illness and disability claims. Prior to joining Alberta Blue Cross, Claire held an oversight role with Blue Cross Life Insurance Company of Canada providing consultative services on all aspects of life and disability claims management to all the Blue Cross Plans across Canada. She holds several industry designations including Associate Cluster Services (ACS), Associate Life and Health Claims (ALHC), Fellow Life Management Institute (FLMI) and Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS). Claire recorded a series of web-based lectures on the basics of group insurance and disability claims management for the University of Montreal and currently sits on the Executive Claims Committee as well as the Committee on Disability Insurance with the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA).

Wendy Poirier, Towers Watson – Where is Wellness Going?

Health and productivity is a global priority - but what are organizations doing to ensure their wellness programs are effective now and into the future? In this session we'll discuss what highly effective organizations are doing today to support their organizational health strategy and what they plan to focus on in the next few years to ensure their programs are successful and sustainable. We will share the results of the 2015 Staying@Work survey to demonstrate how employers in Canada and around the globe are taking the next step in their health & productivity strategy as a key competitive advantage.

Wendy Poirier is the leader of the Health & Group Benefits practice of Towers Watson in Canada. She is nationally recognized as a leading thinker in the area of health, wellness and pharmacy management programs. For over 20 years, she has been a trusted advisor to some of Canada's largest organizations in the retail, energy, manufacturing, hi-tech and health care plus consumer products and finance and transportation industries.  Wendy has a passion for health and wellness in her personal and professional life. She lives on a ranch in the foothills of Alberta where she lives an active life with her family, a big dog and 5 equine friends! Wendy’s passion for health and wellness endeavors extend beyond her professional career, to her personal pursuits of cycling and running.