An effective trend management process can be thought of as a three-legged stool supported by the
following functions:
• Understanding historical drivers of trend;
• Mitigating future trends; and
• Forecasting future trends.
This session focuses on the first leg, understanding historical drivers of trend, as many trend
management problems emerge from a failure to fully grasp historical cost drivers.
• Panelists will present various approaches to building a system to report and interpret historical
drivers of trend, which begins by drawing on decision support systems to uncover information.
• Panelists will present actual findings using recent claims data, identifying and discussing recent
drivers of medical expense trend.
You will gain an understanding of recent drivers of trend, as well as systematic approaches for monitoring
trends and identifying drivers.