AH041 - ERISA Litigation Outlook and Meeting CAA Requirements: What Can Plan Fiduciaries Do?

On this episode of the Astonishing Healthcare podcast, three experts weigh in on rising litigation against employers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and what employers sponsoring ERISA-covered health and welfare plans can do to show they are making an effort to establish processes and assess how "reasonable" the fees they pay are. Chris Deacon, Founder of VerSan Consulting; Jonathan Levitt, trial attorney and Co-Founding Partner at Frier Levitt; and Julie Selesnick, Senior Counsel in the employee benefits and ERISA Group at Berger Montague, joined host Justin Venneri for the discussion covering relevant provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA), the recent lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo, and how plan sponsors can approach things like getting their data to make informed decisions.This episode builds nicely on previous conversations, including AH030 - Plan Sponsors Need a Source of Truth; Get Your Data Now & Find It, with Jeff Hogan.Chris, Jon, and Julie share their opinions about the similarities - or lack thereof - of the health plan lawsuits to the 401(k) and pension litigation of the early 2000s, why we will likely see more litigation, the reality and frustration of relying on traditional PBMs and carriers for data (and what to do about it), conflicts of interest in and around PBM procurement and broker/consultant relationships, and why Julie has a "fainting couch!"Stay tuned for more, and we'll add some new resources (scripts and checklists, for example) to the links as they become available!Related ContentAH004 - Data, Fiduciary Responsibility, and Reversing Trend with Jeff HoganThe Consolidated Appropriations Act & Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC): New Rules & Regulations Equal New ResponsibilitiesSelf-funded plans ignore the Consolidated Appropriations Act at their perilFor more information about Capital Rx and this episode, please visit Capital Rx Insights.