Last week in Cleveland, we welcomed almost 300 guests from around the country to the Roundstone Medical Captive Forum (MCF 2022) to learn more about the benefits of self-funded health insurance and a stop-loss captive. A few even came from Alaska! After a couple of years of being virtual, we were thrilled to be back in person again.
We take pride in the educational focus of this annual event. Our goal is to help employers provide the best healthcare benefits for their employees and better understand how self-funding can help them provide affordable, quality health benefits to their employees. But we also have many benefits advisors – our trusted partners – and other solution providers in the healthcare ecosystem who join us and participate fully in the meeting. This is why our theme for this year was “Thrive Together.” Because only when we are all aligned in the best interests of the employer and the employee can we make a difference and achieve our goal of quality, affordable healthcare for all.
MCF started literally with a bang. And then a crash. And a few big boom booms. Our local St. Ed’s Trash Talkers drumline treated us to an opening number that woke the crowd up and put smiles on our faces.
Mike Schroeder, Roundstone’s President and Founder, gives a warm welcome to MCF attendees.
Fireside Chat Heats Things Up: Self-Funding and David and Goliath
That energy continued through the morning with a mainstage fireside chat. Marshall Allen (author of Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win) was joined Chas Roades (co-founder and CEO of Gist Healthcare) in a special discussion moderated by Thomas Campanella (Healthcare Executive-in-Residence at Baldwin Wallace).
It’s a classic David and Goliath self-funding story. The power panel discussed employer options when it comes to fighting back against the status quo of today’s insurance industry, and how to beat the high costs of healthcare together using solutions like self-funded health insurance. In fact, they emphasized the point that the ONLY way to truly fight back is to be self-funded because only then do you have transparency and control. And to truly thrive together, employers and employees need to be on the same page on being smarter healthcare consumers.
Employers and Advisors Share Their Self-Funding Journeys
In a massively popular session, Roundstone welcomed current employer clients and their benefits advisors to the main stage for a lively discussion on what happens after an employer makes the choice to go self-funded. Joyce Luallen-Black of Jerl Machine and her benefits advisor Amanda Brown of First Insurance Group were joined by Brian Grupac of PGTEK and his benefits advisor Jay Booth of Capital Group Benefits to discuss employee incentives, the roadmap to successful implementation, the power of actionable data, and the real-time benefits to their respective companies’ bottom lines. It was clear throughout that the relationship that an employer has with their benefits advisor is essential to success. From helping leadership teams sign off on the decision to switch from fully-insured to self-funded…to ongoing plan optimization, the guidance of a trusted advisor is key.
Employers in the Roundstone Group Captive share their experiences on making the shift to self funding, alongside their benefit advisors.
Passion and Purpose Along the Self-Funding Journey
Best-selling author and speaker Joshua M Evans delivered a powerful and energetic keynote on building strong culture and passionate teams. Using his own personal story, he reminded us all that work is not work if you love it, and to always remind ourselves of why we are doing what we do. When going to work becomes a list of tasks and duties, and people we have to talk to, we lose sight of the bigger picture – the one that is bigger than ourselves. Joshua’s vulnerability and humor really resonated with the crowd. One of my favorite analogies was to start every day with optimism – like the happy dog in the back of the car who always thinks he is going to the park. Just be that dog.
Networking, Learning, and Stretching … Together
One of the best parts of MCF is learning from one another and this year was no exception. We hosted roundtable discussions to our captive participants on a variety of topics, including pharmacy costs, mental/behavioral health strategies, proven cost-saving solutions, employee engagement and onboarding best practices, trends in direct primary care and reference-based pricing, and more.
MCF attendees went deep on breakout sessions such as Self-Funding 101, Show Me the Money: Winning Cost Containment Strategy, In It for the Long Haul: Planning a Long-Term Strategy, and Alt Rock: Alternative Networks, High Performing Networks, and RBP. These sessions were designed to meet the needs of everyone, the absolute beginners and the experienced clients. No matter where you were on your journey, there was plenty to learn and share when it comes to self-funded health insurance.
Listening and learning at MCF 2022, employers from businesses across the country enjoyed our keynote speakers.
Attendees agreed that the presentations provided valuable into self-funded health insurance:
- “Very practical and helpful presentation! Great insights into how Roundstone can help employers save money.”
- “For a company that is new to self-funding I found the information shared to help me better understand and appreciate the self-funding model. I really enjoyed the breakout sessions and found the actual data of how Roundstone is having success in the captive to be very encouraging.”
- “Great ideas for our next phases of being self-funded.”
- “My favorite breakout session was “Planning a Long-Term Strategy” as it offered some very real and objective insights into what works.
The MCF wasn’t all talk. Marcy Leonard, who spearheads many of Roundstone’s wellness programs and initiatives, and I had the chance to shake things up with a stretch break. We shared stories of our own wellness programs at Roundstone – meditation programs, corporate challenge, training sessions in the gym. Then Marcy led the audience in simple moves that could be done sitting or standing to keep our blood flowing and release tension and stress. And who doesn’t need that! I particularly loved our soundtrack of Shake Your Bootie by KC and the Sunshine Band plus a little Jump with Van Halen. You will thank me later when you can’t get these songs out of your head.
Having fun at the mid-morning stretch break!
The Roundies, Blue Angels, and Gratitude
Roundstone brought it all home on the mainstage with a special Roundies awards ceremony, celebrating those employers who have achieved significant savings by self-funding in the Roundstone Group Medical Stop-Loss Captive. Our Founder and President Mike Schroeder presented these awards to Signature Health and Holyoke Tire & Auto Services. Congratulations to both organizations for your achievements!
Still flying high, former Blue Angels pilot John “Gucci” Foley wrapped up the day with a closing keynote that put attendees right in the cockpit. In addition to getting a sneak peek of the next Top Gun, he demonstrated how high-performance teams rely on trust, accountability, and most of all, gratitude to achieve next-level success. It was a refrain that still echoes around our office at Roundstone and I imagine in many other offices and homes of our attendees – when you are consciously Glad to Be Here, you become resilient and powerful.
Thanks to a self-funded health insurance solution, we can have the courage to change, to make a difference, to advocate for our employers and their employees. The best way to beat the over complicated and dysfunctional health care system is for employers and employees to unite as health plan stakeholders with a mutual desire for quality, affordable healthcare for all. Self-funded health insurance can make a dramatic difference in the lives of your employees by providing an affordable healthcare solution that also delivers quality benefits.
Great things happen when we align and thrive together.
#gladtobehere
