Healthcare Cost Containment Insights | The Phia Group Blog

Phia Group and HRS Partner to Recover PFAS-Related Costs

On June 29, 2023
The Phia Group & Healthcare Recovery Solutions (HRS) have partnered to empower healthcare payers in recovering costs associated with PFAS, PFOA, & PFOS payouts.

Empowering Plans: P165 – Artificial Intelligence Meets Subrogation

On June 26, 2023
We are halfway through 2023, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains one of the year’s hottest topics, particularly in the worlds of business and healthcare. In the latest edition of The Phia Group’s Empowering Plans podcast, Attorneys Jon Jablon and Cindy Merrell zero in on how AI could have a monumental impact on the field of subrogation within the larger context of healthcare law.

Empowering Plans: P164 – The Key to a Successful Self-funding Experience: Knowledge!

On June 9, 2023
With many self-funded employers entering the field from a world where their benefits are “set it and forget it,” educating plan sponsors about their obligations, relationships, opportunities, and risks is often the difference between retaining and losing a client. Attorneys Andrew Silverio and Christopher Aguiar muse about the challenges arising when self-funded plans aren’t educated about their benefit offerings, the risk mitigation mechanisms, and the cost containment tools being utilized to ensure the plan’s viability.

Empowering Plans: P163 – ChatGPT: Disrupting the Healthcare Industry

On May 19, 2023
In this episode of the Empowering Plans podcast, attorneys Brady Bizarro and Brian O'Hara provide an overview of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI, and describe how it is disrupting the healthcare industry. In particular, they focus on one emerging use for the technology - acting as a virtual assistant for patient care. What are the advantages of using AI in this manner? What are the concerns? Tune in for what will be a topic that we revisit in the coming weeks and months!

The Business of Benefits

On May 18, 2023
Those who service health benefit plans are usually focused on delivering the most robust coverage for the least cost. Yet, all too often we forget that our industry, like any other, only thrives when our own businesses prosper. From adjustments to a post-pandemic environment (and employee populations working remotely from numerous locations), to conflict resolution between entities (such as disputes between plans, stop-loss, and TPAs over reimbursement of fees for savings and management of the NSA), join The Phia Group as we discuss the current events and case studies that will impact whether your own organization sinks or swims.

Empowering Plans: P162 – Mind the Gap 2.0: Don’t be Afraid to Ask for a Handbook

On May 12, 2023
In this episode of Empowering Plans, Kelly Dempsey and Kevin Brady outline the relevant details provided within our Handbook Gap Free Reviews. They provide a description of the service, the case studies which gave rise to this service and describe why a review of the Handbook is more important now than ever before!

Empowering Plans: P161 – New Challenges to Old Favorites - NSA, ACA, and more (Acronyms)!

On April 28, 2023
In their latest podcast, Attorneys Nick Bonds and Corey Crigger are back to discuss the No Surprises Act (NSA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Join them as they provide an overview of each of these laws and the recent legal challenges out of Nick’s home state of Texas. Will payment determinations resume? Has the ACA finally been struck down? Tune in to find out!

Before and After – Examples of Mistakes that Were Addressed and How to Avoid Them

On April 20, 2023
Accidents happen, but they aren’t all inevitable. Often, errors that lead to conflicts and costly outcomes could be avoided. Join The Phia Group’s team as they dig into real case studies, and share examples where The Phia Group was called upon to address some avoidable losses, as well as compare them to scenarios where the proper preemptive steps were taken. This April, remember what Benjamin Disraeli said: "The fool wonders; the wise man asks." Register today for this free and informative webinar!

Empowering Plans: P160 – How the Ending of COVID-era National Emergency Impacts Your Health Plan

On April 18, 2023
On April 10, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to terminate the U.S. national emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—weeks before the development was supposed to occur in conjunction with a separate public health emergency expiring on May 11. Unsurprisingly, in the wake of such a stunning announcement, group health plans from coast to coast are scrambling to decide whether they must adjust their processes. In the latest Empowering Plan Podcast, Attorney Jennifer McCormick, Senior Vice President, Consulting, and Joanie Verinder, Director, Service Strategist, discuss the sudden end to the National Emergency, the many ways in which health benefit plans are affected, particularly in regards to timelines, and the information their respective participants need to be aware of.

Empowering Plans: P159 – Putting the Patient First: Challenges to Common TPA Operations

On March 31, 2023
In this episode of The Phia Group's Empowering Plans podcast, attorneys Katie Malkin and Jon Jablon take a dive into three aspects of TPA operations designed to try to make the TPA's job more manageable: simplifying EOB denial codes, sending family EOBs, and recouping overpayments by offsetting. These are three common strategies used by TPAs, but applicable law places certain limits on all of them that are not always so intuitive. Tune in as Jon and Katie discuss some best (and worst) practices, and examine critical issues facing TPAs and health plans in today's self-funded industry.

Empowering Plans: P158 – Seek and Ye Shall Find

On March 17, 2023
In the world of subrogation, there’s (almost) always more funds to recover, you just have to go searching for them—even if that means in unconventional places. In their latest podcast, attorneys Chris Aguiar and Cindy Merrell discuss how, particularly in regards to auto accidents involving participants who have substandard coverage, there is a heightened need to capitalize on opportunities for plans to recover funds. Don’t miss Phia’s veteran subrogation attorneys weighing in on how healthcare plans can be reimbursed so that their participants reap long-term benefits.

Empowering Plans: P157 – New TPA Liabilities – Section 1557

On March 3, 2023
One of the healthcare trends we have been following so far in 2023 is expanded TPA liabilities. In this edition of the Empowering Plans podcast, attorneys Brady Bizarro and Andrew Silverio discuss a recent federal court case in which a TPA was found liable for violations of the ACA’s Section 1557. Despite numerous defenses raised by the TPA, many of which we see regularly used by TPAs, the court rejected them all, potentially expanding the scope of Section 1557. Tune in to hear more about this significant case and what it means for our industry.

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