Description: Overview of public health (responsibilities, funding, challenges) and discussion of the role actuaries can play in achieving population health goals.

Description: This article discusses the advantages, logistical concerns, and pricing formulas of implementing a TNHP, in which members pay less for treatment from providers who meet higher quality and cost-effectiveness standards.

Description: The editors of Health Watch have made health care reform the focus of the Sepctember 2009 issue, and provide an introduction to the issue's contents.

Description: Introduction to additional actuarial research into development of and regulatory impact, economic impact and consumer impact of prescription drugs in the United States. Intended to further educate actuaries and others who work in this area and motivate more actuarial involvement to increase transparency, increase competition, better align stakeholder incentives and better mitigate total cost of care increases

Description: Social determinants of health (SDoH) have been a topic of growing interest in recent years, yet consensus about what the phrase represents and how health-related social needs should be studied or addressed by employers, health plans, providers and other stakeholders in the business of health care have been lacking. For many, low-income populations come to mind when considering the topic, yet SDoH include a wide range of factors beyond income. Many types of data are available, yet each presents distinct challenges and opportunities for analysis. In this article, we describe some of the underlying context for considering SDoH, as well as some of the potential data sources to consult and challenges to grapple with on this important topic.

Description: Shannon Brownlee shares her perspectives on the current health care crisis, including: inconsistent treatment patterns across providers and geographic regions, providers lacking evidence-based guidelines, the need for better independent clinical research to establish those guidelines, and the limits to consumerism's potential to fix the crisis.

Description: A discussion of issues to consider in selecting and contracting with a PBM.

Description: New NCQA Quality Assessment Program for PPOs discussing rationale and performance meansurements, Issue No. 38.

Description: Recap of Q&A sessions held to discuss the findings and methodology of a SOA study on the cost of the newly insured under the ACA.

Description: Discussion and Opinion on how randomness affects measurement of provider contracting risk-sharing agreements