Keenan annual summit addresses challenges and opportunities

 

Monday, Mar 23,2009, 11:40:59 PM   Click:

Copyright: PR Newswire
Source: PR Newswire
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Experts address timely trends and best practices in SoCal and NorCal events

TORRANCE, Calif., March 19 / PRNewswire / - Keenan & Associates, the largest privately held insurance brokerage and consulting in California, held its fifth annual summit on March 4 Keenan in France and on March 5 at Berkeley . The theme of this year's summit was "Navigating in an uncertain economy: health care, risk management and public policy in a new administration."

Keenan The Summit brings together representatives of school districts, municipalities and health care organizations for a day of action to provide the latest information on major trends in public policy and health care, and practical information on effective management of programs such as benefits, workers' compensation, liability and risk management.

"Our goal in providing the annual Keenan Summit is to bring together a group of experts who can meet the significant long-term trends as well as managing day to day challenges of those who are responsible for providing innovative and effective solutions d insurance for their organizations, "said Henry Loubet, Chief Strategy Officer for Keenan & Associates.

This year's Summit featured a distinguished panel of experts addressing the theme of "Health Care Reform and the New Administration: What does the future hold?" Moderated by Keenan Henry Loubet, the panel included Ann-Louise Kuhns, Vice President, State affairs, and Anthony Mader, Health Policy Manager, Anthem Blue Cross, Jerry Fleming, Senior Vice President and Director National Health Plan, Kaiser Permanente, David Joyner, Senior Vice President, Large Group and Business Unit Specialty Benefits and Michael Johnson, Director, Public Policy, Blue Shield of California; Steven Sell, president of Health Net, Slocum Benjamin, CEO, and Joy Higa, Vice President, Government Affairs, United Healthcare.

The group was unanimous in observing that there is a critical need to address the health care reform in the United States, with an unprecedented level of recognition among all stakeholders a unique opportunity is available to achieve this reform. Among the specific aspects of health care require innovative approaches, the committee identified the alignment of cost and value, preventive care, affordability and access, and incentives for research-based results. When asked for their expectations on the reform of the action, the group consensus was little movement in California in 2009 mainly due to constraints of the state budget with a strong hope for the national movement this year with short-term steps and legislation for full implementation in three to four years.

"We are facing extraordinary times in our economy and health care, and have a chance to finally achieve health reform and expanding coverage to millions of Americans," said Joyner of Blue Shield. "By working together as health insurers, providers, brokers and employers, we can find pragmatic solutions. The Keenan Summit was a good start at the beginning of this important dialogue. "

They Summit keynote speaker was Fred Keeley who addressed the topical issue "is California governable?" A former member of the Assembly of the State of California, Keeley is a member of the Board of Directors for the bipartisan California before, supported by a foundation organization whose goal is to improve the state of politics, tax systems and government. It is also a member of the Commission, the Governor of the 21st century economy. Keeley was the need for the state of contemporary approaches to governance in order to overcome current inefficiencies, particularly in the budgeting process of the state. He cited four areas in particular, to address these key challenges: smoothing volatility of state revenue due to a heavy reliance on income and sales taxes, the very high percentage of the budget of the State is ahead because of ballot initiatives, two-thirds majority required for approval of the budget and to move from one year to two-year budget cycle.

In addition to these presentations on trends having a significant impact on health care, two segments of the Summit addressed to concrete "containing legal fees in employment" and "Cost Reduction Opportunities." The first segment addressed the statistics on complaints related to employment, the types of claims related to employment, signs of potential claims, and best practices in handling applications for case studies. The second part describes the cost-reduction programs to load, including eligibility audit, online registration, purchase volume and incentives for early retirement.

Cost saving measures have been a tremendous asset to the Catholic Healthcare West. According to Karen Zelenak, CHW benefits director, the company has experienced significant savings by Keenan of the eligibility of dependents of the audit program, which ensures accountability and cut unnecessary costs, identifying dependents of employees who are not eligible for benefits.

Keenan Summit was sponsored by the following companies: Platinum Sponsors - United Healthcare, Prudential, Check Solutions, Healthplace America, Health Net, Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, Asset Works, TelaDoc, Bay Actuarial Consultants and Express Scripts. Gold Sponsors - Blue Shield of California, Delta Dental, Cushman & Wakefield, Morgan Stanley, Johnson Rooney Welch, Vision Service Plan, MetLife, HCC Life Insurance Company, Aetna, and SafeSchools.

For more information on insurance solutions Keenan visit www.keenan.com.

About Keenan & Associates

Founded in 1972, Keenan is the 17th largest brokerage firm insurance in the United States and the largest independent broker in California. Keenan is dedicated to providing insurance products and services for schools, community colleges, municipalities and health organizations for the benefit of employees and others in the administration, workers' compensation, integrated disability, risk management, and property and liability. Keenan has a network of offices located throughout California, with a staff of more than 650 insurance specialists. For more information, call 800-654-8102 or 310-212-3344, email info@keenan.com or visit www.keenan.com.

SOURCE Keenan & Associates

CONTACT: Dave Holscher of KCOMM, +1-949-295-5515, dave@kcomm.com, Keenan & Associates



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