Healthcare and benefits leaders face a growing challenge: controlling costs while supporting employee well-being, improving outcomes and navigating an increasingly complex regulatory environment. As organizations prepare for 2027, employer-sponsored healthcare plans continue to be shaped by rising specialty drug costs, evolving regulations, increased demands for transparency and greater pressure to demonstrate value from healthcare and benefits investments.
Watch the recording below as Andrew Douglass, Partner in Neal Gerber Eisenberg’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice, and David Neikrug, CEO of Optimatum Solutions, discuss key developments that employers should consider as they evaluate their healthcare and benefits strategies for the year ahead.
Key Topics Discussed
- Managing healthcare costs while minimizing cost shifting to employees
- Holding healthcare and benefits vendors accountable for performance and value
- Understanding the growing impact of GLP-1 medications, specialty drugs and gene therapies
- Navigating regulatory developments affecting employer-sponsored health plans
- Improving transparency around advisor compensation and vendor relationships
- Identifying overlooked opportunities through subrogation strategies
- Leveraging data integration to better understand workforce health, productivity and absenteeism trends
- Evaluating the connection between health plan strategy and workforce productivity
Presenters
Andrew Douglass
Partner, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice
Neal Gerber Eisenberg LLP
Andrew advises public and private companies on a broad range of employee benefits matters, including retirement plans, health and welfare plans, executive compensation and compliance with ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Drawing on experience as both an attorney and former actuarial consultant, he helps organizations navigate complex benefits issues with a practical, business-focused approach.
David Neikrug
Chief Executive Officer
Optimatum Solutions
David is the CEO of Optimatum Solutions LLC, a vendor management firm focused on the HR supply chain, including employer-sponsored healthcare, retirement, and HR systems.
With over 30 years of HR experience, David specializes in benefits optimization, compliance risk mitigation, and leading HR workstreams across M&A transactions – from due diligence through day-one readiness and post-close synergy capture. Optimatum also serves as an Operating Partner for HR Operations®, helping sponsors leverage scale to harmonize HR programs, systems, and vendors.
David is known for positioning HR as a driver of value creation, delivering cost containment, improved compliance, and streamlined HR operations. He holds a degree from DePaul University and resides in New York with his family.
