Employee Benefits Masterclass

Navigating Your Rx & Health Plan in an Ever-Changing Landscape  

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 & Clinical Guidelines: Learn how updated formularies and evidence-based clinical guidelines can enhance cost efficiency and improve outcomes.

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

Thursday, February 13th, 2025

1:00 – 3:30 PM

Where

Clinton Presidential Library

1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, AR 72201 

Dr. Trish Schlomka is a pharmacist and serves on the National Pharmacy Team at Brown & Brown. With over 20 years of experience in pharmacy and healthcare technology, she provides clients with expert guidance and innovative solutions, leveraging her diverse clinical background as part of the broader clinical team. 

 

Before joining Brown & Brown, Dr. Schlomka built her career as a clinical pharmacist, working in hospital, clinic, and community settings before transitioning into the healthcare technology sector. Licensed to practice in multiple states, she stays current on industry advancements through ongoing professional education courses that help strengthen her clinical knowledge base and keep up to date with new developments within the healthcare space. 

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.