Employers' Forum of Indiana

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Issue 30

Dear Forum Friends,

Happy Spring! We are excited to bring you this edition of the Employers’ Voice. The Forum has informative meetings planned in the coming months, including our member All-Stakeholder virtual meeting on April 18th and our public/free National Healthcare Price Transparency Conference on May 13th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. Looking forward to seeing everyone there (details below)!

Gloria Sachdev
President and CEO, Employers’ Forum of Indiana

Inside the Forum

Register Today!

Join us on May 13, 2024 from 9:00am – 5:00pm ET for the National Healthcare Price Transparency Conference at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis!!

Our robust agenda includes a Keynote from Mark Cuban and presentations from many more experts. Some highlights of this free in person and virtual conference include…

  • Hear the results of the RAND 5.0 study noting the variability of price among hospitals, ASCs and for the first time, physician administered medications.
  • See the updated Sage Transparency 2.0, to include more graphs, more quality and financial data, as well as a new legislator dashboard!
  • Participate in interactive panel discussions featuring health policy experts and employers.
  • Attend the Networking Cocktail hour after the conference.

For more information, please visit the Employers’ Forum of Indiana National Conference website.

Join In-Person Waitlist
Virtual Registration

Sponsorship Opportunity

During the National Healthcare Price Transparency Conference, EFI is excited to offer a limited number of sponsorship opportunities. If interested in learning more, please contact Michaela Trame at michaela@employersforumindiana.org.

Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming All – Stakeholder Meetings

Details will be distributed to members one month prior to each meeting.

  • April 18th, 11am – 12pm ET: Zoom only All-Stakeholder 2024 Indiana Legislative Session Debrief
  • August 22nd – 23rd: Two day Conference, a partnership between the National Association of Worksite Health Centers and EFI
  • November 7th: In Person, Agenda TBD

If interested in reviewing past meeting materials, click here.

National Association of Worksite Health Centers (NAWHC) 12th Annual Forum

Directions and Success Factors in Onsite, Near-site and Virtual Health Centers

NAWHC and EFI invite you to participate in the 12th Annual Forum, August 22 & 23, 2024, at the Conrad Hotel in Indianapolis, IN.

NAWHC is the nation’s only trade organization focused on helping employers and others understand the potential and value of onsite health services, as well to enable existing employer clinics to increase their capabilities and integration of other worksite programs and benefits. Members include employers and their vendor and provider partners. The conference is expected to have nearly 200 participants. For more information, click here.

Member Spotlight

Pamela Colley

Regional Government Affairs Manager – Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.

As a self-insured employer, how does being a member of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana benefit your organization?

SEL is a U.S. manufacturer and global leader in products and solutions that protect and control electric power systems. We are not only self-insured, but we are also 100% employee-owned, and so the potential savings derived through transparency efforts by the Employers’ Forum of Indiana (EFI) go right back to our employees. As a self-insured employer, we have a duty under ERISA to act prudently in the interest of our plan participants and their beneficiaries, and EFI works hard to equip member companies to best fulfill that duty. EFI has been such a tremendous force multiplier for SEL not only in Indiana, but also as we look at how best to advocate across the country. EFI is often at the forefront of state healthcare transparency policy, breaking ground with advocacy wins like this session’s House Bill 1259, which stipulates that employers own their own claims data and gives increased claims audit access. EFI also provides an important space for sharing ideas with other employers and gives access to well-respected healthcare policy experts from across the nation.

If you could fix one problem in healthcare with a magic wand, what would it be?

At SEL, one of our guiding principles is ownership, which is also a central concept in our advocacy for greater transparency in our healthcare system. We believe that employers should own their own claims data so they can make the best and most-informed decisions on behalf of employees and their families. SEL has fought for years to have access to our own claims data, and we have often wished for a magic wand to make the process easier! Federal transparency efforts provided greater access, which allowed SEL to review contracts with our claims administrator and find nearly $2 million in cost savings in 2023. We believe we are on track to more than double those savings in 2024, but there is so much more we could do with broader claims access to save money for our employees and communities AND to improve quality!

What is something you are passionate about?

I believe strongly in empowering patients to be better healthcare consumers, and I am proud to work for a company leading the charge for this cause. The healthcare system can be so overwhelming to navigate, and I have learned from SEL that some simple education goes a long way! I gave birth to my second daughter via c-section at the end of 2022. She had issues gaining weight, so we had many appointments and many bills. SEL does a great job of educating employees to understand both our plan documents and medical bills. Because I was well-informed, I knew that around $4,500 in bills should have been covered but was not, with half due to a simple coding error and half for services that were covered under my plan that our insurer accidentally kicked back. I advocated for myself and my family to fix those issues and we were no longer on the hook for the $4,500. Prior to working with SEL, I would have just trusted the system and paid the bills, and that $4,500 would have been a big hit for my family… $4,500 would be a big hit for any family! And that’s why education is SO important. I am thankful to work alongside other employers through EFI that feel the same way.  

In the News

EFI In the News:

Employers:

Patients:

Hospitals

Providers & Physicians

Insurance

Pharmacy

Policy:

Other Healthcare News

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