Employee Benefits Masterclass

Building a Health Plan & Rx Strategy to Attract Talent, Control Costs, and Drive Data-Informed Decisions

A Brown & Brown Event

EARN 2.0 SHRM & HRCI CREDITS

Common Employer Missteps and Trends Impacting Pharmacy Benefits

  • Escalating Drug Costs: Understand how rising prescription prices, especially for specialty medications, are affecting employers and their workforce—and what you can do about it
  • The Role of PBMs: Explore the critical influence of Pharmacy Benefit Managers on drug costs, rebates and transparency, and gain insights into navigating this complex landscape
  • Biosimilars: Discover how biosimilars are reshaping pharmacy benefits and creating new opportunities for significant cost savings
  • Drug Formularies and Clinical Guidelines: Learn how updated formularies and evidence-based clinical guidelines can enhance cost efficiency and improve outcomes

People Analytics: Small Steps, Big Impact

  • Actionable Metrics Made Simple: Discover how to move beyond the buzz of AI and predictive analytics with practical steps towards impactful data-driven insights to elevate your HR strategy 
  • Plan for Today and Tomorrow: Ways to help your HR and leadership teams with the insights needed to make informed decisions now while anticipating and planning for future workforce needs 

Addressing Care Gaps, Talent Attraction and Rising Costs

  • Are your health plans a magnet for top talent—or driving them away?
  • What we have learned about delay of care and how to avoid potential pitfalls  
  • How and why the industry amplifies the inflationary effects of medical trend
  • The staggering growth of high-cost claimants and what can you do about it   

When

Tuesday, February 4th, 2025

1:00 – 3:30 PM

Where

Springdale Country Club

608 W Lakeview Dr, Springdale, AR 72764

Dr. Amy Suss brings over a decade of experience across managed care, academia, and clinical practice. Prior to Brown & Brown, she served as Clinical Operations Manager at SPS Health, where she led the development of formularies and clinical guidelines to drive market share toward the most cost-effective products. She also coordinated the creation of clinical deliverables for clients.

Dr. Suss was also an Assistant Professor at Concordia University – Wisconsin, where she developed and taught managed care in the School of Pharmacy. During her academic tenure, she maintained her clinical pharmacy practice at iCare (Independent Care Health Plan), supporting the Medicare Part D SNP line of business. In this role, she focused on improving STAR ratings and enhancing clinical outcomes for members.

Dave Polacheck is a seasoned HR advisor and consultant with 25 years of experience as a global practitioner and advisor across HR domains, including HR technology, talent management, HR operations, HR analytics, employee/union relations and others. Dave has also led a range of transformation projects and implemented a variety of technologies across the function. His pragmatic approach is informed by time spent on shop floors, executive suites and everything in between. He has co-authored several research papers and developed a number of diagnostic and planning tools to help HR teams benchmark their current state and plan a path forward.

Josh Rydberg
Senior Vice President, Underwriting Services

As Vice President of Underwriting Services, Josh’s primary role is to design and implement financial management strategies for clients across the country. He also develops, maintains and delivers financial tools and methodologies that assist in the effective management of employer-sponsored health plans.

Josh routinely provides internal and external education regarding unique opportunities for groups to improve health plan structure. By leveraging a distinctive presentation style, he illustrates the impact of pricing and consumer purchasing behavior on both employers and members. This simplification of complex theories creates actionable results that are often contrary to current trends.

A broad insurance background – which includes pricing for workers’ compensation, automobile, homeowners and various other property and casualty coverages in addition to group benefits – allows Josh an objective perspective when devising and communicating winning medical plan strategies. It also provides him the ability to engage with clients that are interested in evaluating enterprise risk and cost.