MagnaCare President and CEO, Joseph Berardo Jr., Leads Discussion on Strategies to Bolster Managed Care Industry

Advancing greater understanding of ways that health plans can survive health care reform, Joseph Berardo Jr., president and CEO of MagnaCare, (www.magnacare.com), a health plan services company with national reach, will present “Innovations in Provider Payment and Incentives” at the Corporate Research Group’s Managed Healthcare Industry Forum: How Health Plans Can Survive Reform (http://www.corporateresearchgroup.com/Conferences/ZW10501_Agenda.cfm)on Monday, June 28, 2010, at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

The forum, which features keynote speaker Mark Bertolini, president of Aetna Inc., will examine how health care legislation signed into law by President Obama will negatively impact profit margins – especially health plans with large exposure to the individual, small group, Medicare, and Medicaid markets. Berardo will focus on ways that health plans can offer higher quality at a lower cost in order to survive in a post-reform world, including the development of innovative, next-generation products, services, and strategies.

“In my roundtable discussion, we will discuss MagnaCare’s efforts with new provider payment methods, new product design, decision-support tools, population management, consumer-focused health care – and a variety of other evolving products that will be needed to save managed care,” Berardo says.

Berardo will draw on his experience with the strategic management and financial performance of MagnaCare's business operations, as well as his past leadership roles at Mt. Sinai Health System, Empire Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, Multiplan, and Special Risk International.

Part of any health plan’s success strategy will depend on:

• developing innovative products and services that deliver on the original promise of managed care, i.e., higher quality care at a lower cost.
• developing decision support tools that help members better manage their health and make informed buying decisions.
• engaging members in a variety of prevention, wellness, disease management and care management programs.

“This forum is an important one, designed to enable health plans to position themselves for surviving the changing tide of health care in this country,” Berardo adds. “Attendees will have a chance to: analyze the outlook for individual and small group business; understand the outlook for Medicare and Medicaid plans; get an unbiased assessment of plan membership and profit prospects; and learn about the next generation of innovative managed care products and services.”

About MagnaCare

MagnaCare is a health plan management company that touches millions of lives nationwide. For over 20 years MagnaCare has provided solutions to Taft Hartley funds, self-insured companies, commercial insurers such as health, workers compensation, or no fault, TPA’s, and government entities. Whether it’s access to a broad provider network, predictive modeling analyses, member outreach programs or an integrated solution that includes full plan management services including claims adjudication, eligibility management, client/customer service, MagnaCare understands its customer needs and develops cost effective, comprehensive solutions. Visit http://www.magnacare.comwww.facebook.com/magnacarewww.twitter.com/magnacare