Health Care Administrators Association (HCAA) Announces Speaker Lineup for 2018 TPA Summit

MINNEAPOLIS, May 01, 2018 -- The Health Care Administrators Association (HCAA), a leader in education, networking, resources and advocacy for the self-funding industry, today announced the speaker lineup for its TPA Summit 2018, which will gather hundreds of current and future industry leaders for a series of high-level discussions focused on the continuously evolving self-funding arena. The two-and-a-half-day event will be held July 16-18, 2018 at The Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Following the Summit’s conclusion, HCAA will spend the afternoon of July 18 giving back to the local community by volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.

“Although the bar was set quite high with record-breaking attendee and sponsor increases at last year’s TPA Summit, this year’s event is shaping up to be yet another impressive gathering of speakers and educational programing that will foster collaboration and prove invaluable to attendees as they look to evolve along with our industry,” said HCAA Chief Executive Officer Carol Berry, CSFS. “We’re also delighted to be able to give back to the local Minneapolis/St. Paul area by coming together to help the great people at the Ronald McDonald House. This will truly be another fulfilling experience both professionally and personally for everyone involved.”

Bestselling author, writer and network TV host Ross Shafer will deliver the day one keynote during which he will share with attendees tactics for harvesting innovative ideas, creating an adaptive culture to serve their evolving customer/client buying habits, and how to differentiate a brand’s identity in a sea of sameness. Day two will feature the keynote, "Cultivating a Solution: The Responsible Path to Medical Cannabis Coverage,” delivered by Mike Sullivan of Cubic Health, Inc. During his talk, Sullivan will argue that regardless of individual opinions about cannabis use of any kind, it is not a matter of “if” plans will need to consider some form of coverage, it is “when.”

The HCAA TPA Summit uniquely features a choice for attendees of a mid-conference program of four dedicated paths for success: Operations, Leadership, Marketing/Sales and Emerging Leaders. Unlike many conferences with “tracks” that require an attendee to commit to just one track, HCAA’s TPA Summit offers several paths to follow and the ability for the attendee to choose the parts of each path offered that best suit their unique needs and interests. Launched in 2017, Emerging Leaders path, led this year by Erik Therwanger of ThinkGREAT, will provide the newest members of the self-funding industry with the leadership strategies and techniques necessary to inspire, motivate, and influence their entire teams and co-workers. Available to professionals with primarily five years or less experience in the self-funding industry, HCAA’s Emerging Leaders Program was created to educate, mentor and provide early guidance to the next generation of TPAs and self-funding leaders as they take the next step in their careers.

The TPA Summit’s all-inclusive general sessions and dedicated paths include:

• BUILDING A VALUE-BASED NETWORK THAT BIG BOX PLANS HAVE AND WON'T RENT TO SELF-FUNDED TPAS by Bill Nordmark, Aver Inc.
• NEW FOUND MONEY – TAKING ADVANTAGE OF PHARMA PROGRAMS TO LOWER SPECIALTY DRUG COSTS by Michael Staab and Greg Madsen, Innovative RX Strategies, LLC
• ERISA FIDUCIARY DUTIES: TPA BEST PRACTICES & AVOIDING COMMON PITFALLS by Jason Luter, Esq., Foley and Lardner, LLP
• REDUCING CHANGE FATIGUE: FROM GANGPLANK TO SCAFFOLDING by Naomi Marie Wolff, Leadership Trainer and Author
• “TALES FROM THE CRYPT” (CAUTIONARY TALES OF WHEN CLAIMS GO WRONG AND YOUR TOP 10 CLAIM BILLING ERRORS) by Patrick Crites, HPC
• THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE ENDS IN 2019 – THE IMPACT ON EMPLOYERS, PARTICIPANTS AND TPA ORGANIZATIONS by Steve Rasnick, Self Insured Plans, Inc., Carol Adams, Fringe Benefit Group and Tom Doney, Cypress Benefit Administrators
• YOUR PLAN DOCUMENT SAYS WHAT??? by Cori M. Cook, Esq., CMC Consulting, LLC
• AVOID PROJECT PITFALLS: TRICKS TO MAKE YOUR NEXT PROJECT A SUCCESS! by Joe Montalto, The Phia Group
• ASSOCIATION HEALTH PLANS – NEXT STEPS by Lawrence Thompson, Inventavis, LLC
• HOW DIRECT PRIMARY CARE CAN CHANGE THE FUTURE by Dr. Jeremy Smith, MyMD Select and Robyn Jacobson, Entrust Companies

For more information on registration, or to view the full schedule of session descriptions and speaker bios, visit the HCAA website.

About HCAA
The Health Care Administrators Association is the nation’s most prominent nonprofit trade association supporting the education, networking, resource and advocacy needs of health benefit administrators (TPAs), stop loss insurance carriers, managing general underwriters, audit firms, medical managers, technology organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, brokers/agents, human resource managers and health care consultants.  For almost 40 years, HCAA has taken a leadership role in transforming the self-funding industry, and increasing the importance of self-funding as an important alternative in the health care delivery systems of our country. For more information, visit www.hcaa.org, or connect with us at @HCAAinfo, HCAA LinkedIn or HCAA YouTube.

Press contact
Dave Anderson
Anderson Interactive on behalf of HCAA
678-401-2991
[email protected]