January's meeting focused on one of the most important health care trends
in 2005, namely Health Care Savings Accounts and the growth of consumer
directed health plans. We had several presentations on this topic,
focusing on the technological demands and requirements of these plans. This
discussion followed up on our discussion of personal health records at our
December meeting.
Our primary speaker was be Mr. Rod Moyer, who has more than 20 years
experience in health benefits and managed care. He has been working with
Consumer Directed Health Care (CDHC) approaches for several years, and has
prior experience with HRAs and HSAs. He has provided CDHC assistance to
health plans, technology firms, consultants, brokers, and
providers. Rod also held positions previously with the Departments of
Health in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Rod was joined by video
conference by Jeffrey J. Hogan, Regional Manager, Rogers Benefit Group
Insurance Brokerage, Inc.
We also had a presentation by the Mid-Atlantic Business Group on Health,
led by Andrew Masetti, Senior Vice President of Amisys Synertech. MABG is
a coalition of health care purchasers located in Maryland, Virginia, and
DC. Purchaser members include Marriott, Johns Hopkins Health System, T
Rowe Price, Legg Mason, McCormick, and Amisys Synertech (about 30 in
total). Corporate members include AON, Aetna, CareFirst, Pfizer, Segal,
and Lumenos (12 corporate members in all). MABG is an active participant
in the eValue8 initiative, and is working with the Leap Frog Group. They
described their charter and the initiatives that they are working on.
(Copies of presentation materials are attached below.)