Description: Discover the key components of value-based care (VBC) contracts and their impact on provider credibility. Learn about benchmarks, measurement period results, and the unique challenges providers face in managing insurance risk. Gain insights into reducing costs and aligning financial incentives in the US healthcare market.

Description: The big event of 2023 is the launch of multiple Humira biosimilars, which began in January with the arrival of Amgen’s Amjevita on the market. The launch of Amjevita kicks off the process of changing the specialty drug marketplace in the United States. The expectation of the full impact of this big event is very hopeful, but there is still uncertainty several months after its beginning. Humira is the highest-selling drug in the world and has been since 2013 (Figure 1)—except for when COVID-19 projects temporarily surpassed it. The world is eagerly awaiting the launch of multiple biosimilar drugs to compete with Humira and hopefully bring more competitive pricing to the benefit of payers and patients everywhere.

Description: On March 6, 2023, The Wall Street Journal hosted its Health Forum, a hybrid all-day event. The virtual meeting featured 11 different events. This white paper focuses on those events. The sessions were informative and fast-paced, with each one providing a quick hit of relevant and cutting-edge information around health care.

Description: Early in his career, Ehren Nagel, FSA, MAAA, scoured through podcasts and articles about predictive analytics, long suspecting this was a field with potential for him.

Description: Savings from biosimilars have accelerated significantly in the past few years. There has been a number of relatively recent biosimilar launches that can help to shape our expectations of the financial impact that could result from this year’s big event. Savings from biosimilars have accelerated significantly in the past few years. There has been a number of relatively recent biosimilar launches that can help to shape our expectations of the financial impact that could result from this year’s big event.

Description: Through the sponsorship of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Society of Actuaries partnered with Wakely to use their health care data to study the effects of COVID-19 on overall health care claims for individuals with a COVID-19 diagnosis. The conclusion of the study is that individuals with COVID-19 claims had significant increases in health care costs leading up to their months of diagnosis, as well as in the months following their diagnosis. These effects were more pronounced for individuals who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 as well as for individuals with prior co-morbidities. Finally, the overall health care costs of these members plateaued at significantly higher levels than their pre-COVID baselines. In fact, all the main membership cohorts experienced claim levels that were at least 20% higher than their pre-COVID starting points.

Description: Yi-Ling Lin, FSA, MAAA, FCA, started the SOA’s Predictive Analytics Certificate Program to keep pace with the impact big data and predictive modeling is having on the health care industry

Description: The coming wave of biosimilars could dramatically affect prescription drug costs and benefit strategies over the next several years. The launch of many Humira biosimilars in 2023 is the Big Event that will largely determine the impact of the biosimilar wave. Payers have many decisions to make about coverage and formulary tiers. What factors will drive payer decision-making?

Description: Fifty-three percent of Americans responding to a survey conducted by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute reported that extreme weather events – including hurricanes, tornadoes, heatwaves, wildfires and flooding – have adversely affected their health.

Description: Prior to the global pandemic, investment in new health technologies had already reached an all-time high. As the world begins to emerge from COVID-19, what new technologies will next take root in the health care system and how will those affect medical costs? This session will review recent research from the SOA Health Section on how new technologies are spread and adopted. Particular focus will be given to emerging modes of consumer engagement and highly-focused gene and cell therapies that are breaking new ground in combating rare diseases. (We plan on focusing on 2 technologies like Consumerism or Telehealth & Gene & Cell Therapy depending on availability of speakers or if there are other sessions in this virtual meeting covering the same topic)