Description: A document came across my desk recently that caused me to think about the profession and the way it is structured and led, at least in the United States. The document that I read is a report by the International Actuarial Association's (IAA) Strategic Planning Task Force titled, "A Strategy for the IAA." As an owner of a smaller consulting firm, I'm not in favor of paying additional dues to more actuarial bodies. Also, I was confused about the role of the IAA and the national organizations: is the IAA intended to replace the SOA, internationally? I had some tough questions for Steve and Jim. Here are their responses. From The Actuary Magazine August 2006

Description: Full version of Smaller Consulting Firm Section, June 2003, Issue No. 2.

Description: Because The Independent Consultant is not retained on the section website indefinitely, we have created the Resource Center as a permanent home for many of the reference articles. From The Stepping Stone, October 2005, Issue No. 20.

Description: This paper addresses specific details of measurement principles and practice that the actuary should consider when planning to conduct or review a study of care management interventions. Three major topics are covered: Measurement Principles, Study Design Issues, and Risk Factors. Paper 2 of an 8 paper series on 'An Introduction to Care Management Interventions and Their Implications for Actuaries'

Description: Summary of cost-reduction and quality improvement within the disease management sector. Paper 4 of an 8 paper series on 'An Introduction to Care Management Interventions and Their Implications for Actuaries'.

Description: This paper describes an actuarial methodology for evaluating disease management outcomes. We address several important issues in this paper: • Control of exposure, • Identification of measured populations, and • Ensuring equivalence between baseline and intervention populations. - Paper 6 of an 8 paper series on 'An Introduction to Care Management Interventions and Their Implications for Actuaries'.

Description: This article summarizes the 42nd Actuarial Research Conference. From Expanding Horizons, September 2007, Issue No. 37.

Description: This is the inventory part of the report from the research project that reviewed and inventoried the range of quality and efficiency measures currently available for healthcare. The goal was to outline key areas of quality and efficiency measurement and identify future opportunities for actuaries. The inventory lists the resources and provides brief descriptions of their services with links.

Description: This chapter introduces a few probability distributions that play an important role in understanding and analyzing healthcare data. While theoretical in nature, these distributions model real life if appropriately chosen. Probability distributions are mathematical representations of how statistical data behave.