Description: Investment risk management has become a core competency of insurance companies, and much has been discussed on this topic. This session examines the current investment risk management practices such as product line specific hedging and macro hedging, with a focus on what still remains to be addressed—whether the tradeoff of addition risk management is worthwhile.

Description: Recently, actuaries have become more involved in formulary decisions due to high and variable pharmacy cost and utilization trends. How can actuaries and pharmaceutical manufacturers work together to better predict the market while covering key drugs? What discussions are currently taking place between manufacturers and payers? Is there value in these discussions that actuaries are missing? This presentation will provide both actuarial and manufacturer perspectives in order to create a mutual understanding that will begin to direct future conversations to benefit both stakeholders.

Description: Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a newer model of primary care delivery in which patients or employers pay for care directly on a membership basis; insurance and other third-party payment is not used. Early studies show significantly improved patient health outcomes and lower expenditures for DPC patients compared with similar patients receiving traditionally delivered primary care. Additional research is needed to better understand physician perspectives about the model and the role of patient selection in early results.In this session we discuss research projects that may shed light on the DPC model and on whether early results indicate more about the model or about the patients who use it.We discuss an SoA research project that interviews DPC physicians to better understand their views about the model and its early results. We also discuss a paper that analyzes characteristics of patients who receive primary care from a DPC physician and compares them to characteristics of patients who receive primary care in more traditional ways. This cross-sectional study surveys all adult patients of a convenience sample of several DPC practices. Variables include demographics, socio-economic status (SES), type of additional coverage (if any), whether DPC fees are paid by an employer, and self-reported health status. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey is the main source of comparison data. For a given cohort of demographics and additional coverage, we determine whether DPC patients have similar health status, demographics and SES as non-DPC patients. This study will provide insight into the degree of selection into DPC by observable patient characteristics.

Description: Investment opportunities are driven by events in the economy and how participants in the financial markets react to those events. This keynote address will highlight current economic themes and their impact on investment opportunities.

Description: Ignite-style presentations feature presenters who get 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. The result is a fast and fun presentation which lasts just five minutes.The first portion of this session will feature public health experts doing Ignite-style presentations on various public health topics. Then stick around for the second portion when all of the presenters will take part in a moderated, talk-show-style discussion. You'll get a chance to ask your questions and dig deeper into the topics you just heard about. Be prepared for a fast-paced, thought-provoking session that you'll remember long after it ends!

Description: In this session, we will explore investment solutions that aim to maintain the long-term viability of a pension plan, with considerations on hedging interest rates, credit, inflation, longevity and other risks, while accounting for the many particularities associated with underlying liabilities and their corresponding ramifications.

Description: Why should actuaries care about non-quantitative considerations? We are the masters of accurate calculations, and our models should be based solely upon logic … right? Wrong! The touchy-feely holistic, irrational factors encountered so often in the real world, can wreak havoc upon a model that considers only rational logic. Our 2016 presidential election was a dramatic wake-up call to statisticians and actuaries that numbers alone are not always the determining factors in economic outcomes. Learn why this is true, and how you can adapt your models to better represent the real world, and gain competitive advantage.

Description: The effects of climate change have been widely documented. Whether it’s rising temperatures, more frequent and violent storms or disruption to wild life, there is a consensus in the scientific community that these effects are real. What are the risks and opportunities that climate change brings to an investment portfolio? As society transitions to more sustainable sources of energy and tries to find more sustainable ways to consume, there will be winners and losers. In this presentation, speakers will discuss their process to identify winners in this changing world and highlight the risks to various industries.

Description: In this session, senior pension and insurance investment professionals will share their thoughts on current investment topics. Attendees will hear about leading edge investment ideas and practices from industry leaders.

Description: Interest rates steadily declining ever since the Volcker Fed tackled inflation in the early eighties. Ten years of stimulating monetary policy brought new lows. We should have braced ourselves for a return to neutrality, but that concept remains elusive. We will explore structural issues that have brought rates to these low levels and the potential impacts on the insurance business.