OAHU 2022 Spring Forum
Keep Going, Keep Growing

April 12, 2022
7:30 am - 4:00 pm
Sentinel Hotel - 614 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205

Event Registration Fees

Registration includes: breakfast, educations sessions, access to exhibits and lunch.

Entire Day Registration (9:00 am - 4:10 pm)
$185.00 per OAHU Member
$225.00 per Non-Member

Continuing Education

Six (6) credit hours will be submitted for approval. Please note that CE will be filed in a 6-hour block and attendees will be required to attend the entire day receive CE credit.   

Spring Forum Schedule

7:30 am – 8:00 am
Registration and Breakfast

8:00 am – 8:10 am
President’s Opening Remarks
Tim Rasch, OAHU President  

8:10 am – 9:10 am
The Workplace Has Changed. Have Your Mental Health Benefits Kept Up?
Presented by Anna Meiners, MA with Canopy
High levels of stress and burnout, increased demand for mental health services, and nationwide therapist shortages have many employees looking for meaningful support. Employers are evaluating their emotional wellbeing solutions, but with hundreds of vendors and point solutions flooding the market, choosing the right partner can be a difficult decision. In this session we’ll discuss mental health industry trends and specific case studies. Attendees will come away with actionable insights regarding practical wellbeing strategies, evaluating mental health solutions, and how to measure success.

9:10 am – 10:10 am
Employee Benefits Benchmarking
Presented by Maile Meade and Cynthia Cameron, RHU with Davidson Benefits Planning, an Alera Company
Employee Benefits Benchmarking is an important part of a comprehensive strategic plan.  All employers offering benefits should know how their plan of benefits stacks up against the market.  Learn how benchmarking works, results from the Alera 2020 survey and why employee benefits benchmarking has become the baseline of your strategic planning process.

10:10 am – 10:30 am
Break with Exhibitors 

10:30 am – 11:30 am
Health Insurance Insights from the Employer’s Perspective
Presented by Sara Eder, JD with NW Natural and Michelle Taylor with City of Portland 

11:30 am – 12:30 am
Lunch/OAHU business/visit with Exhibitors 

12:30 am – 1:30 pm
Oregon Legislative Updates – What to watch for 2022 and Beyond
Presented by Tom Holt, OAHU Lobbyist with The Holt Company
Overview of significant health-benefits related measures to come of the 2022 Sessions. In Oregon and Washington, and major issues in development we should be watching for 2023 Sessions. Topics will include: Continued evolution of telehealth regulation, provider licensing reforms that affect network access, and increasing use of data to drive care coordination and related privacy concerns showing up in legislation. Oregon and Washington both are entering their final days, and some bills with good support will die for process rather than policy/political reasons, so the final list of bill highlights will be differing from what we might otherwise expect. For instance, a popular bill directing licensing boards to expedite licensing for military spouses died on deadline last week when extended floor discussion of an unrelated bill ran out the clock. 

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
2022 Health Policy and Regulatory Update Outline
Presented by Wade Symons, JD with Mercer’s Regulatory Resources Group
Wade’s presentation will include: federal legislation in healthcare policy priorities including ACA changes, prescription drug pricing and expansion of public programs; federal regulation and agency guidance with transparency in coverage, the Surprise Billing rules, mental health parity and ACA updates; COVID-19 provisions; noteworthy litigation; and state health law developments. 

2:30 pm – 2:40 pm
Charity Highlight with Cascadia Behavioral Health 

2:40 – 3:00 pm
Break with Exhibitors 

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Communication Strategies to Maximize Health and Safety Performance Across a Growing Hispanic Workforce
Presented by Santiago Landazuri
Santiago’s presentation will include a discussion on current challenges faced by many industries; the impact on businesses; a deeper look into communication including language barriers, cultural difference, and education/literacy; and actions to take to improve communication. 

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Final Announcements, thank you to exhibitors and raffle drawings 

Check out our Speakers!

Sara Eder, JD has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources, focused in the areas of Employee and Labor Relations and Benefits. She has been with NW Natural for 10 years where she is currently the Benefits Manager. As the Benefits Manager she oversees the health and welfare, disability and retirement benefits for the company’s union and non-union employees and its subsidiaries. She also manages the company’s Wellness Program and Wellness Advisory Committee. Sara earned her BA degree from Colorado College and her JD from the University of Oregon School of Law. Sara is an avid runner and skier, both of which she enjoys doing with her husband and their two children. 

Michelle Taylor has 20 years of public sector employee benefits experience, with the last 15+ being dedicated to the City of Portland.  Her current position is the Health & Financial Benefits Manager which is responsible for healthcare, deferred compensation, leave program administration, and the City’s Preventive Care Initiative.  A key goal of their benefit program is to solidify the City of Portland as an intentional employer choice by creating meaningful frameworks to support employee satisfaction, career development, well-being and attract new talent.  Outside of work, Michelle enjoys traveling with her husband, taking their two dogs to the coast, and trying out new recipes in the kitchen. 

Anna Meiners, MA is the Vice President of Customer Success at Canopy, based in Portland, OR. She holds a MA in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on Organizational Behavior. Anna leads the Account Management team, focused on customer relations, flexible and innovative solutions for all areas of EAP and Wellness Program development. Anna has provided direct clinical services, served as an EAP consultant and is an experienced presenter on the topic of mental health integration into the workplace.  

Cynthia Cameron helps employers discover best practices related to employee services, She has been a highly experienced and passionate employee benefits consultant for over 25 years helping employers find real and lasting solutions to attract and retain talented employees.  Uniquely able to develop thoughtful and results oriented strategic plan related to employee benefits, human resources consulting, retirement advocacy, key employee benefits, property & casualty insurance as well as worker compensation solutions.   

Maile Meade, is a collaborative Senior Vice President with expertise in employee benefits, client development and cultivating relationships. Over 20 years of industry experience helping employers understand identifiable and predictable risk factors and deploy effective solutions and strategies to manage health plan costs and improve member outcomes. Maile served as OAHU President in 2015.  

Tom Holt, principal of The Holt Company, is a veteran policy strategist and lobbyist based in Portland, specializing in health care-related issues.  He has worked on behalf of insurers, health systems, provider groups and bio-pharma companies, and he currently represents, among others, the Oregon Association of Health Underwriters.   His background also includes extensive media and communications experience.  Early in his career, he was a national award-winning editorial writer for a regional newspaper, Cabinet speechwriter and a policy researcher.   

Wade Symons, JD is a partner, senior attorney and the national leader of Mercer’s Regulatory Resources Group in the Health & Benefits Business. He joined Mercer in 2003, after practicing law in the Employee Benefits and ERISA areas since 1999. He is a member of Mercer’s National COVID response team and National Health Reform Workgroup. Other areas of responsibility include the performance of health and welfare plan compliance reviews; design and drafting of plan documentation and related employee communications; advice on compliance with federal and state laws affecting health and welfare benefits; and analysis of potential tax and legal liability. He assists clients with advice on issues related to COBRA, HIPAA, the Family Medical Leave Act, Section 125 Cafeteria Plans, Section 105 Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), domestic partner benefits, and wellness programs.
Wade received his BA degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar, the Washington State Bar, and Past-President of the Portland Chapter of the Western Pension and Benefits Conference. He is also a member of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists.

A HUGE Thank you to this year's Spring Forum Sponsors!

Partner Sponsors

Table Supporter Sponsors

And our Exhibitors!
LifeSecure Insurance Company
Providence Health Plan
Wellcare by Health Net
Moda Health