Conference Sessions

The Monday morning opening keynote presentation on Pandemic Flux Syndrome will explore the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, including a look at how people are experiencing a range of feelings and emotions that are fostering a desire among many to alter their lives. Social Psychologist Dr. Amy Cuddy, faculty at Harvard Business School, will help attendees look at how blunted emotions, spikes in anxiety and depression and more are contributing to "pandemic flux syndrome" and will share insight and thoughts on how to navigate from here.

The Tuesday morning keynote presentation with Digital Transformation Resident Scott Klososky will introduce the concept of digital transformation, specific areas of best practice for pools to consider (“digital proficiencies”), the most important risks and opportunities for pools, and why all these things matter at the governance level.

Hear how a pool successfully leveraged the knowledge and experience of governing body emeriti to support the pool’s governing body, executive director and overall operations. Learn about:

• Why the pool decided to engage emeriti
• Ways emeriti can interact with governing bodies to support deep discussion and decision making
• The value of emeriti in member relations and pool continuity
• Characteristics to look for in selecting emeriti
• Insight into starting your own emeriti program

Pools that engage in exchange programs experience mutual benefit. This session will look at how exchange programs between pool governing bodies and top executives can:

• Provide big-picture perspective on issues shaping pools while helping incoming governing body members to understand the complexities and nuances of various programs and issues
• Highlight different approaches for solving similar concerns across all levels of a pool
• Support ongoing conversation and relationship building among staff of different pools
• Strengthen governing body and top executive relationships
• Expand pool-to-pool networking resources

Take a look at the story of how a pool incorporated risk management into daily operations to mitigate its risks and ensure service continuity for its members. You'll learn:

• The benefits of proactively operationalizing and institutionalizing the practice of risk management (at the pool level)
• Tips to identify and mitigate risks to the pool
• How risks are categorized as emerging, active or archived
• Ways risk management committees can help in key areas: strategic, business operations, technology, legal, human resources, insurance
• Ideas for how this committee approach can be used for leadership and talent development

This interactive session will use a case study to help governing bodies and top executives consider how an actuary can:

• Support important governance conversations
• Point out critical questions that foster thoughtful risk and capital decision-making
• Alert you to factors that can lead to a false sense of financial security
• Help identify and implement use of key actuarial metrics such as net position, confidence levels, rate stability, funding adequacy and loss experience
• Provide insight into long-term perspectives on financial decisions

This session will present a case study to review how a governing body addressed educating (and sometimes re-educating) current and new governing body members about the pool's investment process. You'll learn:

• The governing body's role within the pool's investment operations
• Common decision-making errors made by governing body members
• How staff can help their governing body members become comfortable with the depth of their investment responsibilities

Hear from AGRiP Executive Director Ann Gergen on the findings from our 2021 Top Pool Executive Compensation and Benefits Analysis. Use this information to ensure your current (or future) top executive is being appropriately compensated. Learn about:

• The most important influences on top executive salary
• What healthcare contributions and pensions look like for most top executives
• The anticipated upcoming wave of retirements

Consider how pools can go above and beyond to support one another and ensure member needs are met in the face of catastrophic events. A formal agreement between pools embodies the philosophy of what pooling was created to do.  This session will cover how to:

• Develop a formal agreement between pools to support each other’s operations 
• Ensure ongoing member services regardless of the type of crisis that triggers action in the agreement
• Include a range of scenarios that can be covered in an agreement between pools
• Identify thoughtful questions when considering an agreement with another pool

The session explores the potential impact of changes in qualified immunity reform (e.g., federal civil rights liability) on:

• Plaintiff/attorney behavior, claim frequency, claim severity, claim reporting and settlement lags, and coverage affordability.
• How legislative costing studies can enable pools to apply highly informed professional judgment to project funding/rate needs for prospective years.

Explore the way pools have addressed new policies, principles and practices in the wake of national calls for policing reform. You'll gain an understanding of:

• The development and implementation of a new use of force policy
• The principles behind the work, including concepts to support hiring the right person for the community
• How an enhanced community partnership helps ensure greater safety for officers, citizens and the community
• How the program is being funded

Understand how pools are developing cyber risk management as a member service to help ensure long-term security and stability for local entities. Learn how some pools have:

• Partnered  with a university to identify and mitigate local entity risks is beneficial
• Collaborated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop grants
• Provided support to member entities to navigate the grant process

Cyber attacks are on the rise just like the cost of cyber coverage. One large cyber event has the potential to disrupt your pool’s solvency. This session will cover what pools can do to best position itself for the current cyber market, including tips on how and when to implement its own cyber coverage. Learn:

• A practical approach to determining whether self-insuring cyber coverage is right for your pool
• Common mistakes made when writing this coverage into your coverage documents

This session will look at how a health pool developed a program to help people understand how their DNA affects their bodies’ responses to medications and the potential for health issues. Learn:

• What pharmacogenomics is and how it can be used to support employee groups
• Examples of information provided by this emerging technology
• Hurdles faced such as health data privacy and limitations in medical records
• How the pool is funding the new program
• How the pool's governing body has been instrumental in the development of this program

Learn how and why a pool developed an employee assistance program (EAP). Understand:

• Why it established an EAP to address specific mental health needs of first responders 
• Why it felt existing services were insufficient
• Lessons to keep in mind when starting an EAP program
• Why the EAP is free to all emergency services personnel, including nonmembers of the pool

Learn how your employee benefit pool can improve the health of your plan participants while providing a service level unheard of in the healthcare industry and impacting your bottom line. You'll gain:

• Lessons learned about gaining access to your data, job descriptions and more
• Insight into steps to starting your own in-house advocacy program

Attend this session to learn how one health benefits pool is contracting directly with primary care physicians and clinics to control the pool’s costs while improving access and affordability for their members’ employees. This session will include:

• Lessons learned from failed pilot programs
• How to develop a successful direct contract model
• Tips on re-writing your plan documents to promote this model
• How to develop a successful RFP for providers

Learn how a pool developed and implemented Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to support priorities and staff accountability. You’ll gain insight into how one pool:

• Uses KPIs to support the pool’s culture, diversity and inclusion work, employees and supervisors
• Quantifies its priorities into measurable goals
• Leverages its KPIs to support member engagement and demonstrate thought leadership
• Demonstrates the value of this work to its governing body
• Has found unexpected “wins” related to departmental process improvement
• Can offer tips and insights to help your pool get started in developing its own measurements

There is a longstanding debate about whether to outsource essential services of a pool or retain significant in-house staffing. Although there is no one-size-fits-all answer, there are pros and cons to each side of the debate. Learn how a pool:

• Implemented a hybrid approach
• Mapped all its processes to identify overlaps and redundancies among contracted staffing
• Analyzed key considerations, including cost, expertise and flexibility
• Is on track to save $1.5 million in the first year of its new model

Schools and municipalities are experiencing a range of behavioral issues due to COVID-19. Attend this session to:

• Recognize COVID-related mental health and behavior concerns and trends
• Interpret and understand underlying causes of these trends
• Gain insight into behavioral trends and ways to mitigate risk among young people, employees and employers
• Prevent and remediate behavioral health issues through prevention tools

• Provide a solution to improve and expand member coverages
• Retain and expand membership
• Offset costs associated with pool operations
• Form beneficial relationships with carriers