PHOENIX, Ariz. (August 25, 2023) — Margaret Lemkin, PhD, who has served the multi-employer labor space and Taft-Hartley Funds clients for nearly 40 years, announces her retirement from Vālenz^® Health beginning September 1, 2023.

Lemkin founded Med-Care Management Inc., which provided medical cost management services for Taft-Hartley Funds, in 1986. After Med-Care became a subsidiary of MCM Solutions for Better Health in 2014, Lemkin continued to drive the success of Taft-Hartley Funds as self-insured health plans while serving as president.

Valenz acquired MCM and its Med-Care subsidiary in July 2022, further enhancing its support of Taft-Hartley Funds with member and clinical advocacy through concierge navigation and triple URAC-accredited services for care management, disease management and utilization review as part of its Healthcare Ecosystem Optimization Platform. As Executive Vice President, Client Services, Government & Labor, Lemkin has leveraged her deep data expertise to provide clients with highly sophisticated analysis and reports that identify cost drivers and savings trends.

“Margaret is truly an industry legend in serving Taft-Hartley Trusts with expert-level care management and cost-containment solutions,” said Amy Gasbarro, Chief Care Officer of Valenz. “Her many years of groundbreaking leadership and longtime passion for her work have been a tremendous asset for Valenz in advising multi-employer groups, labor associations and public entities. We are thrilled to now see her take the next steps in her life journey, and we wish her the greatest happiness and fulfillment.”

Besides serving as founder and president of Med-Care Management, Lemkin’s extensive career accomplishments include initiation of the first data repository used by multi-employer clients to manage the cost of care and member engagement. As she now begins to offer her expertise through consulting services, Lemkin will continue to support Valenz and its Taft-Hartley clients on an as-needed basis.

“It’s been an amazing honor to spend my career serving the multi-employer labor space, and I’ve had a great experience working alongside such a talented team at Valenz Health,” Lemkin said. “While I am looking forward to what comes next, I’m thrilled to be continuing a working relationship with Valenz and positioning clients for long-term health and success.”

Lemkin earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wellesley College and received her PhD in cell biology from the world-renowned Yale University School of Medicine. As a longtime member and regular advisor and educator for the International Foundation of Benefit Plans, she is currently Chair of the IFEBP Health Care Management Committee. She will continue working with the IFEBP, and hopes to play an active role in her Arizona community and travel the world.

About Vālenz^® Health

Vālenz^® Health simplifies the complexities of self-insurance for employers through a steadfast commitment to data transparency and decision enablement powered by its Healthcare Ecosystem Optimization Platform. Offering a strong foundation with deep roots in clinical and member advocacy, alongside decades of expertise in the validation, integrity and accuracy of claims, and a suite of risk affinity solutions, Valenz optimizes healthcare for the provider, payer, plan and member. By leveraging data transparency and delivering an omnichannel approach across the healthcare journey, Valenz improves cost, quality and outcomes for employers and their members – engaging early and often for smarter, better, faster healthcare. More information is available at valenzhealth.com.

PHOENIX, Ariz. (April 14, 2023) — Certus Management Group (CMG), a Vālenz^® Health Affinity Company, details the role of enhanced transparency in helping self-insured health plans deliver member care with greater cost savings and improved health outcomes in its recently released white paper, “Transparency and Fiduciary Responsibility.”

The Transparency in Coverage rule and No Surprises Act, which took effect in 2022, aim to protect consumers from surprise medical bills by requiring providers and plans to make certain information publicly available so consumers realize total costs of care from the start of the healthcare journey.

While many members still struggle to understand costs before services are rendered, health plans are committed to making full transparency possible, according to Steve Butz, Senior Vice President of Business Development for CMG. In fact, the plan’s fiduciary responsibility is to act in the best financial interest of whom it serves. Because a self-funded plan must pay only reasonable plan expenses, transparency in healthcare illuminates the data and financial information plans need to effectively evaluate all claims received.

“Transparency is essential to everything a health plan does – expanding networks, selecting high-quality and low-cost providers, navigating members across the healthcare journey, and the appropriate payment of claims,” Butz said. “With as many as 80 percent of hospital bills containing errors, it is critical for the plan sponsor to mitigate these errors and understand how its fiduciary responsibility prohibits the reimbursement of claims resulting from errors or abusive charges. That’s how we arrive at the right decisions for lowering overall medical costs, improving health outcomes, and driving better member experiences.”

CMG, a managing general underwriter providing certainty of stop loss protection to self-funded employee benefit plans, was acquired by Valenz Health in 2022 and is part of the Valenz Healthcare Ecosystem Optimization Platform, a fully integrated suite of solutions that simplifies the complexities of self-insurance through data transparency and decision enablement throughout the life of a claim.

Read the full white paper here.

About Vālenz^® Health

Vālenz^® Health simplifies the complexities of self-insurance for employers through a steadfast commitment to data transparency and decision enablement powered by its Healthcare Ecosystem Optimization Platform. Offering a strong foundation with deep roots in clinical and member advocacy, alongside decades of expertise in the validation, integrity and accuracy of claims, and a suite of risk affinity solutions, Valenz optimizes healthcare for the provider, payer, plan and member. By leveraging data transparency and delivering an omnichannel approach across the healthcare journey, Valenz improves cost, quality and outcomes for employers and their members – engaging early and often for smarter, better, faster healthcare.