Texas CEO Magazine September|October 2014 | Page 4

publisher’s letter TEX S ceo magazine September|October 2014 Volume 5, Issue 5 THE ACA FOR BUSINESS IS ALMOST HERE – ARE YOU READY? Publisher Pat Niekamp Managing Editor Ray Niekamp Art Director Tania Roberts Sales Truby Chiaviello Potomac Media 202-363-3741 Photography Shannon Drawe Jonathan Garza Social Marketing Manager Will Pate Writer & Editor Dacia Rivers Web Developer Jeff Rose This is the third issue we’ve published in four years focusing on health benefits and employee wellness. With the business rollout of the Affordable Care Act coming with the New Year, we thought it important to return to this topic, again, in greater depth to look at the choices employers have in the next phase of Obamacare. I’ve had several conversations with insurance brokers who’ve told me companies are still moving slowly in their decision to “pay or play,” or in some cases, just don’t want to face all the change in their benefit plan design, and as a result are not facing the difficult decisions coming very soon. Our first article by Teri Mullaney lays out the four key options CEOs need to make: maintain the status quo, move to a high-deductible plan, switch to a defined contribution model, or drop coverage. From there attorney and benefits specialist, Felicia Finston, gets granular on the details of costs, penalties, and plan options. That piece is followed by tips for smaller businesses on provider networks, self-funded plans (yes, smaller businesses are going in this direction), level-funding products and compliance. We also look at benefit plan design trends, the talent shortage of nurses and educating doctors in the age of the ACA – after all somebody needs to take care of our employees and the game has changed a great deal for providers, just as it has for employers. Branding & Web Design Andrew Niekamp Cost control plays a big part of decision making in plan design and in order to bring down costs, medical tourism in Texas gets an updated report from David Vequist, Founder of the Center for Medical Tourism Research in San Antonio. David is quite a resource for any company looking for guidance on how medical tourism works. Another cost control strategy comes from our Cover CEO story about Compass Professional Health Services Chief Medical Officer, Eric Bricker, M.D. Dr. Bricker and his colleagues at Compass PHS have found an innovative path to navigating health care for employees, while bringing down costs and improving the quality of care. Uber smart service, uber smart business model. Ultimately, it’s healthier employees that keep benefit costs down and that culture of wellness in the workplace is an excellent recruitment tool for talent, too. Austin’s Melanie Weinberger, founder of FitSteady, takes us through how to elevate well-being for our stressed workforce. Read on. Pat Niekamp, Publisher [email protected] Contributors Greg Abbott Joanna Antongiovanni Eric Bassett Spencer Berthelsen, M.D. Doug Brenner Jorge Camargo Boj Craig Cordola Wendy Davis Adrienne Dawson Janet Elkin Felicia Finston Paul E. Klotman, M.D. Teri Mullaney Gayle Reaume Davi