Description: Two years ago, before COVID-19 changed everything about how we provide and receive health care, telehealth was largely provided by third-party vendors to treat a narrow range of acute one-and-done conditions. The value proposition was simple: a fast and easy member experience would drive satisfaction and engagement; high member satisfaction and engagement would drive health plan savings and member retention. Clearly, from the perspective of utilization, telehealth—as a viable alternative to in-person care during a pandemic—worked. And with COVID-19’s nudge—or was that a push?—toward cultural acceptance, the health care system is in a better position to capitalize on telehealth’s original promise of expanded access, lower cost and better outcomes than it was two years ago. But in the wake of the pandemic, it is just as clear to us that if telehealth is to live up to its full potential, some changes are needed. The rest of this article presents five ideas for improving the delivery of telehealth going forward.

Description: COVID19 highlights the need for greater complexity expertise in risk management. Crisis like the current COVID19 pandemic and 2008 Financial meltdown and others help us to turn into focus inwards for introspection on how we can better manage our resources and provide a deeper understanding of what our objectives should be and how we can achieve them through applying complexity science.

Description: A description and status update on all recent research reports sponsored by the Financial Reporting Section.

Description: Initiated by the Product Development Section, this report examines global product development (PD) practices of life insurance and annuity companies.

Description: View the prior versions of the Academy’s Interest Rate Generator (AIRG) and supporting documentation.

Description: Python has become the fastest-growing major programming language in the world. It has surged in popularity over the last decade, following the development of its industry-leading capabilities in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and it is now one of the most globally popular and widely used languages. In this article, I discuss some of the reasons for its popularity and explain why many actuaries and insurers have started using Python.

Description: This research report examines the ban of the use of genetic testing information in life insurance mortality.

Description: The Society of Actuaries' Pension Section and Health Section Research teams originally commissioned Professor Thomas E. Getzen of Temple University to construct a resource model for the projection of long term healthcare cost trends. The Society of Actuaries continues to make annual updates to the model to ensure its usefulness and relevancy.

Description: We stand for respect and equality. We are committed to doing all we can to ensure that our profession reflects the diverse perspectives, cultures and backgrounds of the members and candidates.

Description: This report has been written to provide a primer on the measurement known as R0 (pronounced “R-naught”), which is commonly used in epidemiology. The R0 metric has received extensive press coverage since the outbreak due to its importance in the measurement of the spread of COVID-19.