Healthcare Trends Institute Launches

BOISE, Idaho - Sept. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- The Healthcare Trends Institute (http://www.healthcaretrendsinstitute.org/) is a new educational platform to help employers, third-party administrators, health plans, brokers, banks, payroll providers, consumers, and other stakeholders keep up with the rapidly changing healthcare benefits industry.

“With so many historical changes taking place in the U.S. healthcare benefits industry, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we felt it was important to launch a platform that could serve as a resource for the most accurate and up-to-date industry news,” said Tiffany Wirth, executive director, Healthcare Trends Institute. “Serving as a portal for the collection and dissemination of the latest news, research, and insights surrounding the health care benefits industry, the Institute will cover a range of topics related to the administration and management of healthcare benefits, including defined contribution, health exchanges, insurance, legislation, and more.”

The Healthcare Trends Institute will provide a variety of programming and resources, including HealthChange™, its healthcare trends education series. The first event in the series, “Healthcare 2014 Outlook,” is scheduled for Nov. 14, 2013, and will be an overview of the leading trends and issues in healthcare benefits over the next year.

Another Institute initiative is its annual HealthDifference™ Awards for innovative people and brands that have contributed to the betterment of the nations’ health care system. More information on these awards will be available in January 2014.

Other programming includes two enewsletters, training programs, a resource library with research, whitepapers, and case studies, and a real-time health exchange infographic.

To ensure Institute content and programs achieve the highest level of quality and relevancy, the Healthcare Trends Institute will be guided by an editorial advisory board comprising subject-matter experts that represent diverse aspects and perspectives within the health care industry. Board members were selected based on their experience and expertise, and include:

·         Roy Ramthun, president, HSA Consulting Series;

·         Chris Byrd, president, Evolution1;

·         Shajmil Smith, director of product program services and solutions, Kaiser Permanente;

·         Jeff Bakke, chief strategy officer, Evolution1;

·         Craig Silverstein, product manager, Paychex Inc; and

·         Jeff Brunsberg, chief market officer, Evolution1.

Wirth, an industry veteran with more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare and technology sectors, also serves as director of marketing at Evolution1.

Membership to the Institute is free, and benefits include automatic registration to two enewsletters, free access to the members-only research library, and reduced fees for training and awards programs.

The Healthcare Trends Institute is sponsored by Evolution1 (http://www.evolution1.com/), the nation’s largest electronic payment, on-premise, and cloud computing consumer-driven health care solution.