Pub. 1 2021 Issue 1

19 tion in the marketplace, the board also chose to develop a strategic partnership with Erin Jimison of Aligned Business Solutions. Jimison has been involved with the trust since 2014 in various roles and capacities. Most notably, she has played an integral role in establish - ing partnerships with hospitals and negotiating patient-specific contracts to ensure access to health care is possible for all the trust’s participants. Within her duties, Jimison is responsible for working alongside each Montana deal - ership to educate them on the available employee benefits options. Scrutinizing charges do not end with hospitals, however. The cost of prescrip - tion drugs in the United States has been climbing for decades. We are currently experiencing a considerable spike with the development of high-cost, high-val- ue drugs under the category known as specialty prescriptions. Again, the in - creasing cost of health care services and treatments directly increases the costs the trust must charge the dealerships and their employees. With this, the trust has partnered with prescription experts at Scrippoint to negotiate the PBM (phar- macy benefit manager) contract and audit the prescription claims. Last, the health of each participant and their dependents is a top priority for the trust. Healthy individuals are inte- gral in creating and sustaining healthy businesses and communities. The trust provides its members with services and support from two organizations: It Starts With Me and VezaHealth. • It Starts With Me provides annual comprehensive health screenings with no out of pocket cost to the participants. The screenings include a comprehensive metabolic panel, a lipid panel, complete blood count, TSH, PSA, blood pressure check, body composition, and a personal health report and an easy-to-read lab report for each individual to have for their understanding and re - cords. By participating in the health screening, adult participants avoid a $60 monthly premium penalty. The Trust proudly serves 34 dealerships and over 1,100 individuals across the state of Montana. • VezaHealth provides remote sec- ond opinions from elite physicians, nurse coaching and travel support and benefits when clinically neces- sary. Health care waste comes from unnecessary treatments, less than high-quality providers, ineffective procedures and misdiagnosis. By providing its participants with the wisdom and insight of some of the nation’s leading physicians, the trust hopes to not only improve the health outcomes of the most at-risk participants but also reduce financial waste. Much like the ser- vices provided by It Starts With Me, participants have no out-of-pocket expense with the service, and they receive a $100 incentive payment for their diligence in health care decision-making. Year after year, these programs and strategies have resulted in minimal premium increases. While double-digit increases every year have become stan- dard across the country, participating Montana dealerships have been experi- encing increases between 0-9.8% over the past six years. Additionally, the trust retains its financial stability with nearly five months of claims expense in assets. Yet, there is still more work to be done. To find greater stability and to mitigate risk further, the trust needs to grow. With the addition of a sophisticated underwriting process, the trust could grow beyond car dealerships and serve similar organizations. Adding healthy participants will further the trust’s sta- bility and ensure high-quality, afford- able health insurance for dealership employees into the future. Attributed to: "HowMuch.net, a financial literacy website"