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Monday, April 20, 2026
5:38 - 9:00 pm
This is changed
Employer-only
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Optional Networking Activities for Employer Attendees
Employer-only
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Optional Networking Activities for Employer Attendees
Employer-only
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Country Music Hall of Fame Tour
Explore the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville, one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to music. With artifacts, photographs, recorded sound and vintage video, the Hall of Fame reveals the origins, traditions, and honored architects of country music.
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Discover Downtown Nashville
What better way to capture the spirit of Nashville than experiencing its many highlights firsthand? In this active, dynamic adventure, teams travel on foot to complete various challenges while seeing and experiencing iconic Music City locations. During the challenge you will get to experience many of the authentic places and activities that Nashville is known for. This can include: Enjoying a cold beverage at a traditional Honky Tonk on Lower Broadway, creating your very own Goo Goo Cluster, visiting the historic Ryman Auditorium, and much more. There are many tasks so each team will need to work on a collaborative strategy in order to succeed!
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Mixology with the Twist: Mocktail and Cocktail Class
Attendees will enjoy a mocktail and cocktail making experience led by world-class bartenders in a fun and engaging environment. They will learn techniques, flavor combinations, and more with three unique, alcohol- optional drinks. There will be plenty opportunity for mingling while mixing!
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Optional Networking Activities for Employer Attendees
Employer-only
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Optional Networking Activities for Employer Attendees
Employer-only
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Country Music Hall of Fame Tour
Explore the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville, one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to music. With artifacts, photographs, recorded sound and vintage video, the Hall of Fame reveals the origins, traditions, and honored architects of country music.
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Discover Downtown Nashville
What better way to capture the spirit of Nashville than experiencing its many highlights firsthand? In this active, dynamic adventure, teams travel on foot to complete various challenges while seeing and experiencing iconic Music City locations. During the challenge you will get to experience many of the authentic places and activities that Nashville is known for. This can include: Enjoying a cold beverage at a traditional Honky Tonk on Lower Broadway, creating your very own Goo Goo Cluster, visiting the historic Ryman Auditorium, and much more. There are many tasks so each team will need to work on a collaborative strategy in order to succeed!
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Mixology with the Twist: Mocktail and Cocktail Class
Attendees will enjoy a mocktail and cocktail making experience led by world-class bartenders in a fun and engaging environment. They will learn techniques, flavor combinations, and more with three unique, alcohol- optional drinks. There will be plenty opportunity for mingling while mixing!
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Best Employers Awards Celebration (Open to Employer Registrants only)
Employer-only
Music City Ballroom
Join the Best Employers Awards Celebration, featuring the winners of the Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-being and Excellence in Health Care Value awards. Celebrate the employers leading the way with innovative health and well-being programs.
Music City Ballroom
Join the Best Employers Awards Celebration, featuring the winners of the Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-being and Excellence in Health Care Value awards. Celebrate the employers leading the way with innovative health and well-being programs.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
7:00 - 2:00 pm
Registration Open for Employer Attendees
Employer-only
7:30 - 8:30 am
Breakfast
Employer-only
8:30 - 8:35 am
Welcome
Employer-only
8:35 - 9:35 am
Data That Delivers: Unlocking Cost Control and Health Engagement
Employer-only
Data is everywhere but turning it into actionable insights is the real test. In this session, three leading employers will share how they and their partners transform health and well-being data into a useful tool for facilitating better care, smarter spending and stronger engagement. Learn how they identified and closed gaps in care, optimized cost management, and tracked outcomes that matter, improving both the bottom line and vendor accountability. You’ll leave with examples and practical insights for building data-driven benefit strategies that deliver measurable results.
Data is everywhere but turning it into actionable insights is the real test. In this session, three leading employers will share how they and their partners transform health and well-being data into a useful tool for facilitating better care, smarter spending and stronger engagement. Learn how they identified and closed gaps in care, optimized cost management, and tracked outcomes that matter, improving both the bottom line and vendor accountability. You’ll leave with examples and practical insights for building data-driven benefit strategies that deliver measurable results.
9:35 - 9:50 am
Break
9:50 - 10:30 am
Employer-to-Employer Sharing Session 1
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
9:50 - 10:30 am
Employer-to-Employer Sharing Session 1
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
10:30 - 10:45 am
Break
10:45 - 11:45 am
New Frontiers in Pharmacy
Employer-only
Prescription drug costs keep climbing, but new models are rewriting the rules and showing promise to bend the curve. This session unpacks new frontiers in pharmacy, highlighting influential factors such as technology and cash-pay strategies that are reshaping access, addressing affordability and increasing transparency. Hear from leaders at the forefront of these trends and walk away with ideas that can drive change in pharmacy benefits.
Prescription drug costs keep climbing, but new models are rewriting the rules and showing promise to bend the curve. This session unpacks new frontiers in pharmacy, highlighting influential factors such as technology and cash-pay strategies that are reshaping access, addressing affordability and increasing transparency. Hear from leaders at the forefront of these trends and walk away with ideas that can drive change in pharmacy benefits.
11:45 - 12:05 pm
Break
12:05 - 12:45 pm
Employer-to-Employer Sharing Session 2
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
12:05 - 12:45 pm
Employer-to-Employer Sharing Session 2
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
12:45 - 1:45 pm
Lunch
1:45 - 2:05 pm
Innovation Spotlight Session 1
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
1:45 - 2:05 pm
Innovation Spotlight Session 1
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
1:45 - 2:05 pm
1A: A New Model for Cell and Gene Therapies
Employer-only
Learn how a new platform brings together employers, providers and drug manufacturers to manage the financial risk and clinical complexity of cell and gene therapies. Hear how pooled risk structures, curated provider networks and direct contracting are creating sustainable access to life-changing treatments.
Learn how a new platform brings together employers, providers and drug manufacturers to manage the financial risk and clinical complexity of cell and gene therapies. Hear how pooled risk structures, curated provider networks and direct contracting are creating sustainable access to life-changing treatments.
1:45 - 2:05 pm
1B: Building Workforce Resilience Amid Climate Disasters
Employer-only
Learn the practical steps employers can take during increasingly prevalent climate-related emergencies to safeguard health, maintain access to care and support employees. Understand how to integrate disaster readiness into your benefits strategy and secure resources that protect your workforce when it matters most.
Learn the practical steps employers can take during increasingly prevalent climate-related emergencies to safeguard health, maintain access to care and support employees. Understand how to integrate disaster readiness into your benefits strategy and secure resources that protect your workforce when it matters most.
1:45 - 2:05 pm
1C: Financial Well-being, Data, and AI: Driving Benefits Engagement
Employer-only
Learn how AI-driven personalization and financial education work together to help employees make clearer, more confident decisions about their benefits. Explore how integrating data, technology and financial literacy can deepen engagement, build financial well-being, and prepare organizations for an AI-enabled future of benefits design and delivery.
Learn how AI-driven personalization and financial education work together to help employees make clearer, more confident decisions about their benefits. Explore how integrating data, technology and financial literacy can deepen engagement, build financial well-being, and prepare organizations for an AI-enabled future of benefits design and delivery.
1:45 - 2:05 pm
1D: Using Price Transparency to Address Costs
Employer-only
Explore examples of how employers are turning price transparency data into a lever for real savings through data-driven network design and steering members toward higher-value, lower-cost care. Learn how these insights can also inform plan design to lower cost without compromising quality.
Explore examples of how employers are turning price transparency data into a lever for real savings through data-driven network design and steering members toward higher-value, lower-cost care. Learn how these insights can also inform plan design to lower cost without compromising quality.
2:00 - 6:00 pm
Registration opens for Health Industry Partner Attendees – access to sessions begins at 4:00 pm
2:05 - 2:20 pm
Break
2:20 - 2:40 pm
Innovation Spotlight Session 2
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
2:20 - 2:40 pm
Innovation Spotlight Session 2
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
2:20 - 2:40 pm
I2A: On-Time Detection: Turning Prevention into a Global Advantage
Employer-only
Hear why early detection of chronic conditions isn’t enough and why the next frontier is on-time detection: using biomarkers to identify risk before symptoms appear. Learn more on how biomarker-based screenings may reduce costs, improve productivity and help employees take ownership of their health.
Hear why early detection of chronic conditions isn’t enough and why the next frontier is on-time detection: using biomarkers to identify risk before symptoms appear. Learn more on how biomarker-based screenings may reduce costs, improve productivity and help employees take ownership of their health.
2:20 - 2:40 pm
I2B: Mental Health and AI: Safety, Trust, and What Employers Must Know
Employer-only
Explore what works, where caution is critical and how to evaluate AI-powered mental health tools with rigor. Hear considerations on how to prepare your organization for the next wave of AI in mental health care.
Explore what works, where caution is critical and how to evaluate AI-powered mental health tools with rigor. Hear considerations on how to prepare your organization for the next wave of AI in mental health care.
2:20 - 2:40 pm
I2C: Reframing Serious Illness Care for Today’s Workforce
Employer-only
Learn how home-based serious illness support, including early palliative care, can reduce costs and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations. Explore how predictive analytics, whole-person care, and integrated provider networks help identify rising-risk members, deliver care in the home when appropriate, and support patients with serious illness and those transitioning from acute events—reducing avoidable ED visits and hospitalizations while improving the care experience.
Learn how home-based serious illness support, including early palliative care, can reduce costs and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations. Explore how predictive analytics, whole-person care, and integrated provider networks help identify rising-risk members, deliver care in the home when appropriate, and support patients with serious illness and those transitioning from acute events—reducing avoidable ED visits and hospitalizations while improving the care experience.
2:20 - 2:40 pm
I2D: Leveraging the Potential of Value-Based Health Plans
Employer-only
Discover how value-based health plans align employers, providers and members around better care at lower costs. Explore how a modern platform, real-time data and advanced analytics reduce waste, improve quality and restore trust and transparency in health care.
Discover how value-based health plans align employers, providers and members around better care at lower costs. Explore how a modern platform, real-time data and advanced analytics reduce waste, improve quality and restore trust and transparency in health care.
2:40 - 3:00 pm
Break
3:00 - 3:40 pm
Employer-to-Employer Sharing Session 3
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
3:00 - 3:40 pm
Employer-to-Employer Sharing Session 3
Employer-only
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
Choose from the following sessions located in the drop-down menu.
3:00 - 3:40 pm
3:00 - 3:40 pm
3:40 - 4:00 pm
Break
4:00 - 7:00 pm
Conference Open to All Attendees
4:00 - 4:05 pm
Welcome Remarks
4:05 - 5:00 pm
Keynote: Futureproofing Your Strategy: Understanding the Global Trends Reshaping Health and Well-being
Unprecedented scope and speed of change, innovation and mounting economic pressures demand that we take a future focused look at health and well-being. This session will offer a futurist’s view of the forces that may reshape the health and well-being, including new technologies, evolving workforce expectations and global economic shifts. Walk away with insights on what tomorrow will hold to anticipate disruption and build programs that meet the needs of a fast-changing world.
5:00 - 5:30 pm
Break
5:30 - 7:00 pm
Welcome Reception (Open to all Attendees)
Armstrong Ballroom, Sheraton New Orleans, 8th Floor
Kick off the 2026 Annual Conference at our Welcome Reception. Across one gathering space, attendees will experience the flavor of four unique New Orleans environments - Garden District, French Quarter, Cajun Bayou and Mardi Gras. Enjoy them all while networking with fellow attendees.
Kick off the 2026 Annual Conference at our Welcome Reception. Across one gathering space, attendees will experience the flavor of four unique New Orleans environments - Garden District, French Quarter, Cajun Bayou and Mardi Gras. Enjoy them all while networking with fellow attendees.
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
7:30 - 8:00 am
Yoga
Well-being Lounge, Belle Meade Room
Start your day with a morning yoga session in the Belle Meade room. Light refreshments will be provided.
Start your day with a morning yoga session in the Belle Meade room. Light refreshments will be provided.
7:30 - 5:30 pm
Registration Open
7:45 - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 - 9:15 am
Solving for the Health Care Cost Crisis with Bold Moves
Rising costs. Confused and frustrated enrollees. Inconsistent access to quality. Employers face a complex landscape for benefits. Challenging times call for bold moves. In this session, hear from two innovative employers and three industry partners, sharing how they mapped out a path for implementing new solutions to vexing problems.
9:15 - 9:45 am
Break
9:45 - 10:15 am
Working with Cancer: Guidance and Resources for Employers to Build Confidence in Workplace Support
Over 90% of cancer survivors point to the support they received in the workplace as pivotal to their overall recovery. Leading companies - are joining forces to build more supportive, recovery-forward workplaces. This Mind Stretch session will share guidance and best practices for workplaces to best support employees impacted by cancer.
10:15 - 10:45 am
Break
10:45 - 11:25 am
Breakout Session 2
10:45 - 11:25 am
Breakout Session 2
10:45 - 11:25 am
2A: Optimizing Global Benefits: Digital Health in Consistent Care Access
Diverse, global workforces often experience differences in access to and quality of care, but it can be difficult for employers to administer multiple solutions across different countries to address the unique needs and profile of each. This is where digital care comes in. In this session, hear an example of how one employer is providing consistent, quality care across diverse regions through addressing the musculoskeletal health of their global workforce.
10:45 - 11:25 am
2B: The Last Frontier: Supporting the At-Risk: Addressing High-Acuity and Specialty Care Needs in the Workplace
Over 14 million people struggle with the most challenging behavioral health needs, but less than half of them receive appropriate treatment due to a frustrating cycle of trial and error, fragmented solutions, and lack of specialized care. In this session, speakers discuss the critical role employers play in offering integrated care, particularly to those with trauma, eating disorders, substance use disorders (SUD), and severe mood and anxiety disorders.
10:45 - 11:25 am
2C: California Love: How Two West Coast Companies Leverage Prevention as a Cornerstone of Care
Today, well-being benefits must offer data-driven insights to help employers identify population health risks, improve health and well-being, and ultimately provide clear value. In this session, speakers will share their strategies to engage, educate and empower their employee populations to drive better outcomes.
10:45 - 11:25 am
2D: Creating Thoughtful Approaches for Covering Cell & Gene Therapies
Groundbreaking cell and gene therapies (CGTs), which offer new hope for previously untreatable conditions, have created a dual challenge for self-insured employers: how to provide coverage for the growing list of life-changing treatments and ensure the complex care journeys are supported. In this session, speakers will share how to create access to CGTs and steer members to the quality care that these therapies demand, as well as offer learnings as a framework for other employers.
11:25 - 11:55 am
Break
11:55 - 12:35 pm
Breakout Session 3
11:55 - 12:35 pm
Breakout Session 3
11:55 - 12:35 pm
3A: Streamlining the Benefits Experience for a Specialized Workforce
Connecting employees to the right programs at the right time is an enduring challenge for employers, and even more difficult for those with hard-to-reach employees. In this session, speakers will discuss the tactics used to improve employee engagement and reduce health care costs, all while enhancing recruitment and retention efforts, through the deployment of a personalized, integrated benefits and well-being platform; AI-powered solutions for benefits communications; one-on-one guidance for new hires; and digital health care navigation.
11:55 - 12:35 pm
3B: Unlock Global Well-being with Global Minimum Standards: Real Data, Real Outcomes, Real Impact
Addressing globally relevant challenges like menopause and family-building in a locally relevant way is both a challenge and an opportunity for multinational employers. In this session, speakers will offer insider strategies from the frontlines on how employers can develop a global well-being strategy that considers employee needs and evolving health care ecosystems across the world by leveraging data.
11:55 - 12:35 pm
3C: Mission Engagement: How Benefits Integration Drives Utilization
When St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital set out to offer a world-class benefits plan, the goal was to offer the same comprehensive care and support to employees that is offered to their young patients: integrated, high-quality benefits with an emphasis on a simple and consistent experience. In this session, speakers will lift the curtain on St. Jude’s unique approach to benefits engagement and share how their vision became a reality.
11:55 - 12:35 pm
3D: Prioritize Digestive Health to Reduce Costs & Absenteeism
Digestive issues are contributing to rising health care costs, causing many employers to consider offering solutions to support patients. In this session, speakers will discuss implementing a virtual digestive health platform, and results to-date including the impact on claims data and absenteeism.
12:35 - 2:00 pm
"Food Hall" Lunch
2:00 - 3:15 pm
Focused Learning Sessions
2:00 - 3:15 pm
Focused Learning Sessions
2:00 - 3:15 pm
Focused Learning Session A: Multi-Perspective Approaches to GLP-1s
GLP-1s have become an important consideration in the treatment paradigm for employees with obesity. Join this session to learn how two employers approach GLP-1 coverage strategies and design the systems that assist patients on their weight health journeys. In addition, two solution providers will share how they support patients to address obesity, including the role that GLP-1s play in their care models.
2:00 - 3:15 pm
Focused Learning Session B: Menopause and More: The Many Sides of Women’s Health
For a long while, women’s health was focused on primarily reproductive health. This session will take a more expansive view, including but going beyond reproductive needs. One employer will describe their globally-focused women’s health strategy that spans life stages, from family building to midlife; another will showcase how they are supporting the specific mental health and well-being needs of women; and a third will describe how they are working to reduce heart disease – the number one cause of death among women – among their female workforce.
2:00 - 3:15 pm
Focused Learning Session C: Artificial (but Responsible) Health Care Intelligence: Amplifying Promises and Accelerating Solutions
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been quick to revolutionize many fields and is primed to make an indelible mark on health care. In this session, leading employers will share practical applications of AI for delivering health care, administering benefits, and using a rapidly growing volume of data in more intelligent ways.
3:15 - 3:35 pm
Break
3:35 - 4:15 pm
Breakout Session 4
3:35 - 4:15 pm
Breakout Session 4
3:35 - 4:15 pm
4A: The Business Case for Investing in Employee Health, Prevention and Primary Care
With the unrelenting health care cost trend, some may be questioning the role that employers play in supporting employee health. In this session, speakers will showcase the value of continuing to invest in employee health, with a specific focus on the role of prevention and primary care in curbing future cost trends.
3:35 - 4:15 pm
4B: Why Cancer’s Generational Shift Calls for More Holistic Strategies
In adults under 50, cancer rates have been increasing 1-2% each year since the mid-nineties, representing a generational shift and requiring employers to rethink their cancer strategies. In this session, learn about the importance of a comprehensive approach to cancer care that starts with early intervention, and the role employers play in giving younger adult survivors the best chance to lead a healthy life.
3:35 - 4:15 pm
4C: The Weight is Over: How a Leading Organization Took a Root-Cause Approach to Chronic Condition Prevention and Management
With rates of weight-related chronic conditions and associated costs on the rise, the need to balance high-quality, cost-effective care is top of mind for employers. In this session, one employer will describe their approach to tackling the most prevalent and expensive chronic conditions in their workforce, starting with weight. Speakers will share solutions they have in place to improve employee health across the acuity spectrum, including programs with both preventive and therapeutic interventions and GLP-1 coverage, how they addressed pain points along the way, ways they engaged their employee population, and discuss outcomes to date.
3:35 - 4:15 pm
4D: Delivering Sustainable, Measurable, and Cost-Efficient Mental Health on a Global Scale
For global organizations, the need for scalable and sustainable mental health solutions is more critical than ever but also poses unique challenges. This session will explore how companies can implement mental health programs that are not only culturally responsive but also aligned with global corporate objectives of that solutions are impactful, data-driven, and financially sustainable in the long term.
4:15 - 4:30 pm
Break
4:30 - 5:30 pm
Lost In Network?
Providers affiliated with virtual solutions may be in your health plan network. Yet, for your employees (and you), they may be indistinguishable. This session will explore why including these providers in the health plan network without mindful stakeholder collaboration and better member navigation may obscure the value of innovative virtual programs or even diminish their benefits. Let’s think it through to avoid getting ‘lost in network.’
5:30 - 5:45 pm
Break
5:45 - 7:15 pm
Networking Reception
Bridge Bar and Bellmont Room
Thursday, April 24, 2025
7:30 - 11:00 am
Registration Open
8:00 - 8:45 am
Breakfast
8:45 - 9:30 am
Excellence in Action: Insights from Best Employers
Business Group on Health’s Best Employers awards recognize companies for their commitment to advancing employee well-being and pursuing value in health care. In this session, get an inside look at the health and well-being strategy from winning companies, with a special focus on specific innovative and impactful benefits and programs, and winners’ best advice to other large and multinational employers on designing for excellence.
9:30 - 9:45 am
Break
9:45 - 10:30 am
Breakout Session 5
9:45 - 10:30 am
Breakout Session 5
9:45 - 10:30 am
5A: Elevating Primary Care with Data and Technology
Through the use of data and technology, primary care is evolving to build deeper trust with patients, offer extended convenience, and provide coordination and clinical excellence, while subsequently overcoming provider shortages and other resource constraints. In this session, learn how innovators are harnessing the power of technology to reinvent and elevate primary care.
9:45 - 10:30 am
5B: Rethinking RFPs and Analytics to Address Cost Drivers
Health care costs are increasing at the highest levels in more than a decade. In this session, learn how innovative employers are enhancing traditional program procurement and evaluation tactics, leveraging the Request for Proposal approach and deploying data analytics to reward better outcomes in the battle to control health care costs.
9:45 - 10:30 am
5C: Coming in Hot: Menopause in the Workplace
Menopause significantly impacts women as well as the workplace. Symptoms often disrupt daily life and may persist for as long as ten years, affecting well-being and productivity. In this session, two employers will share how they address this topic, highlighting globally relevant approaches, including menopause leave and expanded health care benefits designed for menopause-related care.
9:45 - 10:30 am
5D: Supporting Neurodiversity: Building an Inclusive Workplace
A quarter of the workforce is navigating executive functioning challenges, for either themselves or their family members. In this session, two employers will share the strategy, tools and resources they implement to support neurodiversity. Speakers will also demonstrate how their partners are helping to execute strategies that foster a more inclusive and supportive culture for neurodiverse employees in and out of the workplace.
10:30 - 10:45 am
Break
10:45 - 11:45 am
Spotlight on Pharmacy: The Mandate for Change
With employers spending more than a quarter of their health care dollars on pharmacy, and Rx cost driving most of U.S. health care trend increase, pharmacy benefit strategy is in the spotlight. Opportunities for improvement abound but are masked by contractual obscurity and supply chain complexity. This panel will discuss emerging challenges and options employers may want to consider as price, volume, and expense volatility grow faster than budgets and employees can tolerate.
11:45 - 12:00 pm
Closing Remarks
12:00 - 12:30 pm
Grab-and-go Lunch
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