Description: This article takes a look at how defined benefit (DB) pension plan financials ended the third quarter of 2023 on a solid footing, improving the capacity to take meaningful de-risking actions; as DB plans look to de-risk at reasonable costs, they may find it beneficial to consider a broad range of investment options; and completing a core bond allocation with private credit and income-oriented alternative strategies can help achieve important savings over other frequently pursued de-risking approaches, without materially increasing the funded status volatility or downside risk

Description: The SOA Research Institute tasked the Workforce Science Institute to investigate how retirement benefit plans can affect a plan sponsor’s workforce and business results. The following is an interview with Rick Guzzo and Haig Nalbantian co-founders of the Workforce Science Institute who are the researchers on this project. The interview gives a helicopter view of the project as well as provides some “food for thought” on how retirement plans can be designed to produce an effective workforce.

Description: This is a continuation of an article published for the speculative future contest in 2023. It mentions how the collapse of China would cause a global recession in 2029 due to the current and predicted geopolitical climate in 2023.

Description: Climate change will lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of many weather-related hazards. In turn, these hazards will impact health outcomes for individuals. Explore examples of this connection with a climate scientist, including how the increase in wildfire severity in the western U.S. is expected to drive a 40% increase in organic carbon aerosols by 2050 and howheat stress will impact vulnerable populations and workers in non-air-conditioned environments. Investigating these relationships will increase literacy on disproportionate impacts of climate change-related health outcomes. Presenters will illustrate the disproportionate impacts by geographically analyzing climate change signals and comparing them with socioeconomic data. Last but not least, you will learn about the evolution in both voluntary and required disclosures for payors and the landscape of why understanding climate risk is relevant for many payors.

Description: Review the syllabus for the Fall 2024 Retirement Plan Investment and Risk Management (RETRPIRM) Exam.

Description: Review the introductory study note for the Fall 2024 Retirement Plan Investment and Risk Management (RETRPIRM) Exam.

Description: This webcast presents findings from a recent report sponsored by the Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program that explored the savings and retirement planning of 35- to 45-year-olds through a series of focus groups. The motivation for this effort was to gain insight into the attitudes, beliefs, and other factors that influence this age group’s savings and retirement planning. Along with findings from the report, additional context and perspectives on the broader implications of the report will be presented. These implications include its connection to other research sponsored by the Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program and the current retirement landscape. The perspectives of different stakeholders will be considered.

Description: This report focuses on the risks of change in the insurance industry and adapting to the "New" New Normal. It includes survey results, analysis, and discussions on various risks affecting the industry in the current environment.

Description: Discuss the dramatically changing provider landscape, as well as the innovative solutions being leveraged by providers to address the intriguing opportunities and complex challenges. Among the questions to be answered are the following: How can providers capitalize on employers’ desire to contract directly with local providers? What's the path for providers to develop employer stop-loss (ESL) capabilities to maximize network value/impact? Can providers create a risk portfolio including ESL for local employers, their own employee plan, and other delegated risk arrangements such as Medicare Advantage? How can captive insurers support a provider's risk strategy?

Description: "Risk adjustment is an important aspect of establishing appropriate capitation rates. When a set of services is carved out for specific management under a sub-capitation, establishing appropriate adjustments for varying levels of underlying risk is more complicated. Dive into analytical and operational challenges and resolutions as presenters share more about developing a risk adjustment model specific to the carve-out of behavioral health services through a real-life case study. You will further explore a definition of the use case, availability of historical data sets, selection of the modeling approach, learnings from the iterative modeling process, and the potential application of the results. After attending this session, you will be able to: Understand why a behavioral health specific-risk adjustment model has business value Understand the unique challenges related to developing risk adjustment on member and cost subsegments Understand the impact of trade-offs between model complexity and interpretability in the context of implementation Increase awareness of data nuances and requirements unique to this type of project Describe analytic techniques that can be investigated for use in projects of similar business objectives"