Agenda
| 8:00 AM | ||
|---|---|---|
| Registration and Breakfast | ||
| 8:30 AM | ||
| Welcome | Kim Thiboldeaux - NEBGH | |
| 8:40 AM | ||
| Vaccines at Work: Strategy, Risk, and the Road Ahead | The conversation around vaccines has shifted — and employers are in the middle of it. This fireside chat explores what a practical, evidence-based workplace vaccination strategy looks like in 2026: protecting employees, managing risk, and staying ahead of a changing policy and public health landscape. | Dr. Mark Cunningham-Hill - NEBGH Jordan Wechsler - Pfizer Deborah L. Friedman - New York City Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations (OLR) |
| 9:05 AM | ||
| Meditation Break | ||
| 9:10 AM | ||
| Resilience, Rebuilt | Access has expanded. Stigma is fading. But workforce mental wellbeing is still a work in progress. This session examines the strategies that are actually closing the gap—from EAP modernization and clinical integration to youth mental health and serious mental illness. Panelists will share what employers should demand from their behavioral health partners—and how to ensure those investments deliver measurable value and sustainable spend. | Melissa Nunez - CuraLinc Healthcare Chris Mosunic, PhD - Calm Sandi Stein - Brown Brothers Harriman |
| 9:40 AM | ||
| Paying Claims Is Easy. Paying Them Right Is How You Control Costs. | Fraud, waste, and claims errors are costing employers more than they realize — and most aren't asking the right questions. This session makes the case for payment integrity as a frontline affordability strategy. | Jenny Sobiech - Aetna |
| 9:50 AM | ||
| When the Bill is Big: Managing High Cost Claims | High-cost claims are no longer outliers—they’re a growing line item that can reshape a plan budget overnight. This session examines how employers are getting ahead of claims volatility, from identifying at-risk populations to proactive case management and targeted navigation programs that improve outcomes while controlling costs. Panelists will share what’s working—and what employers should be demanding from their partners. | Mary Lamattina - Aon Rob LaHayne - Leap Greg Wright - Alight Elina Onitskansky - Ilant Health |
| 10:20 AM | ||
| Refreshment & Networking Break | ||
| 10:50 AM | ||
| The Affordability Paradox: Solving for Cost, Transparency, and Member Experience | Double-digit savings without narrowing networks, tiering providers, or adding member friction — this session makes the case that affordability and access don't have to be a tradeoff. | Albert Snell - UnitedHealthcare |
| 11:00 AM | ||
| The GLP-1 Effect: Metabolic Health and What's Next | GLP-1s have changed the conversation around metabolic health—but it shouldn’t stop at weight loss. Emerging evidence points to broader benefits across liver health, kidney function, cardiovascular risk, and more. This session explores the expanding clinical landscape, what it means for employer benefit strategy, and how employers are balancing access with long-term affordability and plan sustainability. | Florencia Halperin, MD, MMSc - Form Health Jerry Hautman, MD - UnitedHealthcare Elizabeth Chappelear - MilliporeSigma Kerri Masutto, MD - Weight Watchers Meena Bansal, MD - Mount Sinai Health System |
| 11:30 AM | ||
| From Fertility to Menopause: AI’s Role in the Continuity of Women’s Health Care | Women's health care resets at every life stage — fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause — creating gaps that delay care, drive up costs, and limit the clinical insight needed to intervene early. This session explores how AI is changing that by keeping clinicians connected between visits and delivering more continuous, personalized care. | Jennesa Atherton, DPT - Sword Bloom |
| 11:40 AM | ||
| Networking Lunch | ||
| 12:40 PM | ||
| Cancer’s Triple Wave — Rising Workforce Impact and Employer Strategies | Understanding the rise in early-onset cancer, longer treatment journeys, and survivorship impacts on workforce strategy. | Dany Matar - Color Health |
| 12:50 PM | ||
| The Cancer Imperative: Detect, Navigate, Act | Cancer is most beatable when caught early—yet too many employees still miss the screenings and follow-up care that make the difference. This session examines how employers can use data-driven outreach, preventive exams, and guided navigation to close those gaps, improve early detection, and connect employees to the right care at the right time—while ensuring better outcomes without driving unsustainable cost growth. | Michael Sokol, MD - Sokol Consulting Robert "Neal" Mills, MD - EHE Health Kevin McHenry, PhD - GRAIL Joseph Narus, DNP - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
| 1:20 PM | ||
| AI & the Consumer Experience | AI is changing how members find care, navigate benefits, and engage with their health plan — and the bar for what a good consumer experience looks like is rising fast. This session explores what meaningful AI-powered engagement actually looks like in practice, and what employers should expect from their carrier partners. | Kellie Metzdorf - Elevance Health |
| 1:30 PM | ||
| Transition to Breakouts | ||
| 1:45 PM | ||
| A1. AI in Benefits: What's Working, What's Coming | Artificial intelligence is moving faster than most employers can track—and the stakes are high. This session cuts through the hype to focus on what AI is actually delivering in benefits navigation, care access, and plan administration today—and what’s coming next. Panelists will address the questions employers should be asking their vendors—around data privacy, trust, and real-world outcomes—and what effective AI integration looks like in practice—and whether it is truly reducing costs or simply adding another layer of spend. | Marco Diaz - News Corp Janine Gianfredi - Transcarent Catherine Walker - The Cigna Group Rohan D'Souza - Avante Reyna Spak - Well |
| B1. Women's Health: Whole Career. Whole Person. | Women's health spans the full arc of a woman's life — and too often, employers address it in pieces. This session brings together clinical perspectives on fertility and family building, perimenopause and menopause, musculoskeletal and pelvic health, and autoimmune disease to show what comprehensive, life-stage benefits actually look like — and how to build a comprehensive strategy that is both clinically meaningful and financially sustainable. | Janet Choi, MD - Progyny Kia Swan-Moore, MD - Goldman Sachs Lisa Cznako, MD - WellTheory Claire Morrow, DPT - Hinge Health Danielle Dang, MD - Maven Clinic |
| C1. Metabolic Health: Getting Ahead Without Breaking the Budget | Cardiometabolic conditions are still being managed in silos—and employers are falling behind. This session reframes the conversation—moving beyond GLP-1s to a comprehensive metabolic health strategy that integrates population risk identification, smart benefits design, and wraparound lifestyle interventions. Panelists will share what it takes to get ahead of metabolic disease before it becomes a major cost driver. | Kathleen Harris - Forma Michele Proscia - Pfizer Frank Dumont, MD - Virta Health Gretchen Zimmermann - Verily Daniel (Dan) Byrne - Lilly USA |
| 2:15 PM | ||
| Transition to Next Round of Breakouts | ||
| 2:30 PM | ||
| A2. AI in Benefits: What's Working, What's Coming | Artificial intelligence is moving faster than most employers can track—and the stakes are high. This session cuts through the hype to focus on what AI is actually delivering in benefits navigation, care access, and plan administration today—and what’s coming next. Panelists will address the questions employers should be asking their vendors—around data privacy, trust, and real-world outcomes—and what effective AI integration looks like in practice—and whether it is truly reducing costs or simply adding another layer of spend. | Marco Diaz - News Corp Janine Gianfredi - Transcarent Catherine Walker - The Cigna Group Rohan D'Souza - Avante Reyna Spak - Well |
| B2. Women's Health: Whole Career. Whole Person. | Women's health spans the full arc of a woman's life — and too often, employers address it in pieces. This session brings together clinical perspectives on fertility and family building, perimenopause and menopause, musculoskeletal and pelvic health, and autoimmune disease to show what comprehensive, life-stage benefits actually look like — and how to build a comprehensive strategy that is both clinically meaningful and financially sustainable. | Janet Choi, MD - Progyny Kia Swan-Moore, MD - Goldman Sachs Lisa Cznako, MD - WellTheory Claire Morrow, DPT - Hinge Health Danielle Dang, MD - Maven Clinic |
| C2. Metabolic Health: Getting Ahead Without Breaking the Budget | Cardiometabolic conditions are still being managed in silos—and employers are falling behind. This session reframes the conversation—moving beyond GLP-1s to a comprehensive metabolic health strategy that integrates population risk identification, smart benefits design, and wraparound lifestyle interventions. Panelists will share what it takes to get ahead of metabolic disease before it becomes a major cost driver. | Kathleen Harris - Forma Michele Proscia - Pfizer Frank Dumont, MD - Virta Health Gretchen Zimmermann - Verily Daniel (Dan) Byrne - Lilly USA |
| 3:00 PM | ||
| Refreshment & Networking Break | ||
| 3:30 PM | ||
| Driving Employees to High-Quality Care | Most employees pick doctors based on Google reviews and brand-name hospitals — signals that have little to do with actual quality or cost. Individual physician quality is the single greatest predictor of outcomes, and the gap between the best and the rest is bigger than employers think. | Steve Santangelo - Garner Health |
| 3:40 PM | ||
| The Affordability Playbook: COEs, Networks, and Real ROI | Value-based care isn’t one thing; it’s a spectrum of strategies with different implications for cost, quality, and member experience. This session brings together advanced primary care, centers of excellence, and specialty care to show how these models work, where they deliver real ROI, and what it takes to build a strategy that holds up financially and clinically over time. Panelists will explore transparency, aligned incentives, and the practical steps employers can take to demand more from their partners. | Nirav Vakharia, MD - Marathon Health Patti Wahl, MHA, MA - Aon Christoph Dankert - Carrum Health Catherine MacLean - Hospital for Special Surgery Stephen Speicher, MD - Lantern |
| 4:10 PM | ||
| Closing Remarks | Kim Thiboldeaux - NEBGH | |