‘Ducks in a row’: 40 Square Informational Meeting goes virtual

For the first time, 40 Square Cooperative Solutions held its year-in-review meetings virtually. Though not ideal, the meetings went off without a hitch, as dozens of co-op members logged on to hear an update on the past fiscal year and a look-ahead toward 2021.

“Our team, board and presenters – everyone hit it out of the park,” 40 Square Executive Director Char Vrieze said, noting preparations for the virtual meeting began six weeks in advance. “We know this is a busy time of the year for many of us, and putting together this program added to many people’s already full plates. Those efforts didn’t go unnoticed and are very much appreciated by the 40 Square board and staff.”

Because of ongoing gathering restrictions, 40 Square was unable to confirm a quorum and therefore legally prevented from holding a formal annual meeting, which had been postponed since March. The full meeting agenda began with a Cooperative Solutions Special Meeting to tabulate ballots for directors of the co-op. Steve Hoffman was elected to the 40 Square board, and Winthrop farmer Kevin Lauwagie earned another term as director.

Board Chair Robby Gieseke delivered a report, highlighting the co-op’s successes from the past year, including an upcoming partnership with Aetna in 2021.

“In the face of difficult circumstances, 40 Square endured and continued building on our successes from 2018 and 2019,” he said. “We often talk about the attributes that set 40 Square apart from other insurance companies – our responsiveness and unique member-based structure, to name a few – and we hope you’ve seen that personal touch on display even more this year.”

Gieseke also cited a 40 Square survey showing that members are invested in 40 Square’s health plans year-after-year. Of the more than 1,000 members 40 Square supports, 85% have been invested in the organization since its inception in January 2018. Annual surveys also show members would overwhelmingly recommend the health plans to a family member or friend.

“Our members remain our strongest advocates,” Gieseke said.

Vrieze followed with her full report, thanking investor-members for their support during the ongoing pandemic. Vrieze reviewed the overall enrollment into the co-op in fiscal year 2019, broke down the demographics of the co-op’s membership base, thanked staff and explained step-by-step how the co-op has its “ducks in a row.”

“We’re the first of our kind in Minnesota – and the nation – and we wanted to ensure we’re meeting our regulatory responsibility,” she said, referring to the co-op working with Concord Management Resources. “We did a lot of work in 2019 and 2020, reviewing our policies and procedures, and this made us more efficient in a lot of ways.”

Vrieze also underscored 40 Square’s work with Strategic Partners, a Wisconsin-based underwriting firm.

“This allows us to quote larger groups – farms and businesses – in a more accurate way,” she said. “Now we have the ability to not only underwrite smaller groups, but larger groups as well, and that gives us much more capacity to grow.”

Concord CEO John McSorley delivered an update on 40 Square’s audit procedures.

“40 Square has been a pleasure to work with,” he said. “It’s been a great ride with 40 Square, and they’re well-positioned for growth.”

Speaking from his home in New York, 40 Square actuary Paul Falissi served as keynote speaker during the Health Plant Trust Annual Meeting. As part of his actuary duties, Falissi is responsible for setting rates, calculating reserves and monitoring the overall health plans. Falissi reported that overall claims from 40 Square members were lower than projected. He pointed to decreases in medical visits during COVID-19 and stop-loss reinsurance as the most likely reasons for the lower claims.

“COVID-19 has been a complete wild card,” Falissi said, “and the claims are much better than expected.”

Terri Moxley, 40 Square’s director of benefits and distribution, closed out the meetings with a health plan report from 2019.

Key takeaways from Moxley’s report included:

– 40 Square members saved significant portions in prescription drug costs by using MedTraxRX
– Generic prescriptions are less expensive than brand medications
– 40 Square members saved a total of $753,697 in prescription drug costs in 2019
– A benefit costs analysis showed in-patient hospital visits accounted for the most charges
An analysis of the top diagnosis categories reflected the physical challenges of the agricultural community
– A comprehensive lifestyle analysis listed wellness and screening medical visits as the top category
– 99.9% of all paid medical claims were received by an in-network provider.

“One of our responsibilities – in addition to providing the best customer service – is to make sure we’re doing the best job on your behalf and partnering with the best vendors that we can bring forth,” Moxley said.

Moxley also gave a detailed preview of the benefits of 40 Square’s upcoming transition from PreferredOne to Aetna, and urged members to be on the lookout for items arriving in the mailbox ahead of the New Year.

40 Square is hopeful its annual meeting in 2021 will be held in-person. Fingers crossed!

“We appreciate all of our members being understanding of the situation and joining us during the virtual meetings,” Gieseke said. “Despite the change in format, we were very pleased with the member participation.”