A programme of top-level presentations and debates with content relevant to all, will be hosted by Sue Saville, ITV medical correspondent.  Other speakers already confirmed for this year include Professor Nick Bosanquet of Imperial College who will consider where the NHS is heading following the Lansley reforms and the Francis Report.

The day will also feature two industry debates which will focus on key issues for the PMI sector.  AMII will ask providers to explore whether cost-cutting or innovation can grow the PMI market, and discuss whether the apparent crisis in the NHS makes 2013 the tipping point for private healthcare.

Once again, running alongside the Summit programme, insurers and providers will have the opportunity to exhibit to specialist PMI intermediaries providing a valuable networking opportunity.

For 2013 the day will close with a dinner at the Melia White House Hotel, just a few minutes walk from the Ropyal College.

AMII chairman, Wayne Pontin, said: “These are challenging times for the private healthcare sector and AMII is taking the lead to help secure a successful and profitable future by calling on the industry – intermediaries, insurers and other providers – to come together for a programme of serious debate on the issues that really matter to us all.  Please put July 9th 2013 into your diaries and register online now so we can look forward to seeing you there.”

]]> http://amii.org.uk/2013/05/22/amii-announce-host-and-keynote-speakes-for-amii-2013-the-private-healthcare-summit/feed/ 0 http://amii.org.uk/2013/03/22/amii-announces-changes-to-executive-committee/ http://amii.org.uk/2013/03/22/amii-announces-changes-to-executive-committee/#comments Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:28:26 +0000 michael http://amii.org.uk/?p=749 The Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII) has announced some changes to its executive committee. Graeme Godfrey from Best Go Private has been elected treasurer, having already served two years on the committee. Godfrey replaces Debbie Kleiner-Gaines from Best Health Business, who steps down after four years.

The benefits of allowing insurers to become members include:

• A joined up “one voice” approach for the UK PMI market
• Increased funding and stability
• Greater power to lobby for the industry on key issues

AMII has also been in discussions with Bupa for some time about membership and a verbal agreement has been made, but no contracts have been signed as yet.

Wayne Pontin, Chairman of AMII, said: “This move will enable AMII to represent all sides of the industry and become a more unified voice.  With insurers on board and a joined up approach, AMII has more power to lobby on issues such as regulation and taxation.”

Commenting on the decision after attending the EGM, John Crisford, Managing Director of AMII member Sherwood Healthcare, said: “Having a trade body that is able to represent the PMI industry is essential and AMII have done a good job in this respect.  The move to widen membership and include product providers should be welcomed as it allows the body to continue and improve on the excellent work already done.”

Wayne Pontin added: “We will now be more financially stable going forward so that we can continue with our work with the CII and the IF7 Healthcare exam as well as promoting independent intermediated PMI advice.”

The conference will be addressed by: Tony Wood, Sales & Marketing Director, Bupa Health & Wellbeing, looking at making high quality healthcare more accessible; Alex Alway, Chief Executive, Jelf, giving a personal insight into the challenges and opportunities facing a large national health & wellbeing intermediary; David Priestley, Sales Director at PruHealth will take a look at innovation in healthcare, and how health and wellness can be integrated into a single approach for the benefit of policyholders.  These three speakers will then be joined by Andy Couchman, co-Chairman of Protection Review, for a debate session where intermediaries can ask the key questions affecting the PMI market at the moment and into the future.

Later in the day compliance expert Branko Bjelobaba will give a summary of the future of regulation for PMI intermediaries under the Financial Conduct Authority; and in a special interview with Frank Levene, CEO of Passport2Health, AMII will explore whether the recent trends in the globalisation of healthcare and the rise in medical tourism can provide realistic business opportunities for healthcare intermediaries and insurers.

Commenting on the conference, Wayne Pontin, AMII Chairman, said: “Once again AMII is providing a forum for senior figures from the healthcare insurance industry and specialist healthcare intermediaries to get together and debate the important issues that are affecting the PMI market today.  The breadth of experience and knowledge provided by our keynote speakers should ensure that all delegates will take something from the event that will positively enhance their day-to-day businesses.”

The AMII Autumn Conference takes places on Tuesday, 6 November 2012 at Hilton Doubletree Conference Centre, Stadium:MK, Milton Keynes.  The event runs from 9.45am to 3.15pm with opportunities for insurers and intermediaries to network throughout the day.

Although the event is free for AMII members, there are a limited number of guest delegate places available to non-member healthcare intermediaries.  These can be obtained by contacting AMII General Secretary, Michael Payne on 01206 848443 or at michaelpayne654@btinternet.com

Speaking at the AMII Private Healthcare Summit in London on 3 July, Wayne Pontin told delegates that with NHS waiting times increasing and some NHS trusts going into administration, opportunities are there for the private healthcare sector.

He called on insurance providers to deliver products that top up and complement existing public healthcare services.

Pontin said: “We need products and services that top up NHS services from the private sector, and we need the government to consider preventative healthcare initiatives”

For more news from AMII 2012, please follow this link to the post-conference website:  http://www.campaignpartners.co.uk/amii/

The new sub committees are as follows:

• Provider Membership – Wayne Pontin, Stuart Scullion, Sue Smith and Mike Izzard
• Employee Benefits and Larger Intermediary Membership – Wayne Pontin, Liz Naulls and Mike Izzard
• Standards & Relationships – Wayne Pontin, Lindsey Joseph, Stuart Scullion and Brian Walters

Wayne Pontin, AMII’s Chairman said, “These are the foundation blocks to AMII raising standards and becoming the reference organisation for the healthcare insurance industry. The sub committees are designed to increase awareness and improve our visibility whilst at the same time ensuring we have a sound financial footing and are truly representative of all distribution channels across all sectors of health insurance.

“Our mission statement and association objectives will be issued after a complete review of the existing constitution and following a census approval via the membership. AMII is changing and is leading the way in a market landscape which is also changing with the advent of NHS Reforms; Provider Consolidation and given a backdrop of the recent OFT referral of the private healthcare market services to the Competition Committee. We will seek to encourage transparency and growth and will lobby for improvement both politically and via the regulator of the future

“AMII has established a superb relationship with the Chartered Insurance Institute through its very close liaison over examinations and qualifications. We will build on that further and will look to work more closely with the Association of British Insurers (ABI), Association of International Medical Insurance Providers (AIMIP), Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), Group Risk Development Group (GRiD) and British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA).

“Our events programme also play an important role for the Association and the upcoming AMII 2012 will be our first private healthcare summit, and will give advisers looking at the PMI market an excellent opportunity to meet and network with specialists in this field.”

AMII 2012 is being held on Tuesday, 3 July at the Royal College of Physicians, in London’s Regent’s Park. Keynote speakers will be The Rt. Hon. Stephen Dorrell, MP and Chair of the Health Select Committee and broadcaster and TV medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh.

“This outcome is welcomed as we feel it is a sensible decision and will ultimately benefit consumers. At present there is no transparency of costs for services and treatment and we are particularly concerned that over 90% of the ownership of independent private hospitals is through venture capitalists whose focus is on profit before patient care.

“Following on from BUPA’s stance on open referrals and its discussion with hospital group BMI, this appears to support the need for greater involvement of private medical insurance providers working alongside AMII to enhance the private healthcare sector.

“We also welcome the OFT recognition of non competitive practices of loyalty bonuses being paid to private practitioners which goes completely against freedom of choice.”

The specific membership designation for health insurance and protection intermediaries, ‘Cert CII (Health and Protection)’ was announced on 20 March 2012, by the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII) at their Annual General Meeting.

The new designation provides a good grounding in the basic principles of insurance, including the legal and regulatory environment, and develops understanding of the health and protection market. Successful candidates who are members of the CII can use the ‘Cert CII (Health and Protection)’ designation upon completion, signifying specialist knowledge and commitment to professional development to employers, colleagues and consumers.

To qualify for the new designation, candidates must pass a mandatory unit, ‘Insurance, legal and regulatory’ (IF1), plus a minimum of two optional units from ‘Healthcare insurance products (IF7), Private medical insurance (790), Financial protection (R05), and Group Risk (GR1).

The revised IF7 exam was launched at the AMII AGM in Spring 2010 and there have been over 500 successful candidates since its introduction.

Each unit requires approximately 50 hours of study and is tested using multiple-choice questions. Exams are 1–2 hours in duration and are available to sit year-round at the CII’s network of over 80 regional exam centres. The exception is unit 790, which typically requires 120–150 hours of study and is tested via a 3-hour written exam that is available to sit in April and October.

Brian Walters from AMII said, “IF7 has been very well received by our membership and the full certificate is the next step for those wishing to gain a recognised qualification. To have a sector-specific designation from the CII is a milestone for our industry. We anticipate that this new qualification will help to raise already-high standards and reinforce our core message that private medical insurance is a complex product best purchased with specialist advice.”

Steve Jenkins, Director – Financial Services Markets at the CII added, “We worked with leading practitioners from the PMI industry to develop the exam and its coursework and the feedback from the market to the exam was extremely positive.  The development of a specific membership designation was the next natural step.  A membership designation is an important way to communicate to consumers and individual’s technical expertise and a commitment to an established professional body’s code of ethics – we’d encourage members to explain to their customers the value and expertise that professional qualifications and titles such as Cert CII (Health and Protection) represent.”

Pontin was a member of the AMII executive committee from 2007 to 2010 and is currently Sales Director (West) of Jelf Employee Benefits. He succeeds Andrew Tripp, who has been AMII’s chairman for the last two years. 

Tripp also steps down from the executive committee having been a member since March 2007, including serving as AMII’s treasurer. 

Other AMII changes include the appointment of Brian Walters from Regency Health as vice chair and two new committee members, Stuart Scullion from The Private Health Partnership and Sue Smith from Health Care Plus. 

Debbie Kleiner Gaines from Best HealthUKremains treasurer for a further year.  Also, continuing on the Executive Committee are Lindsey Joseph from LEBC Corporate Healthcare Solution; Hazel Gregory from Medical Insurance Services; and Graeme Godfrey of Best Go Private.  Michael Payne continues in his role as General Secretary.

In addition, Liz Naulls, business relationship manager of Aviva Health joins the executive committee for a two-year period as the insurer representative. 

Mike Wagg from Simplyhealth has stepped down from the role of Insurer Representative after completing his two year term, and John Miller from Bell Healthcare and Isobel Skeates from Direct Healthline have stepped down as executive committee members after completing their three-year terms of office. 

Following his appointment, Pontin said, “AMII must be the accepted voice of the healthcare industry both within trade circles and the political environment, and to achieve the latter the Association has to work alongside BIBA. It is also vitally important that the relationship with the PMI providers is strong and I will develop this throughout my term of office”

“AMII must also be a recognised standard of excellence which is representative of the whole industry from the self employed adviser to the global intermediary involved in health protection insurance and related products.

“Working closely with the CII, we will continue to raise the bar through the introduction of accredited CII examinations and qualifications similar to those that exist within the financial planning industry.

“The benefit of membership must also be clearly defined by using the economy of scale that the membership represents, be that in terms of additional value or trade discounts. This will be a very exciting period for AMII and I look forward to championing its position and beliefs.”