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 (see also Managed Care).

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.