Healthcare Sustainability
Health & Welfare Consulting
Foster & Foster specializes in health and welfare consulting for organizations across the country. Our team of experienced consultants, actuaries, clinicians, and benefits professionals provides strategic guidance to health plans covering more than one million members and their families.
Our client service teams are built around the unique needs of each organization and bring decades of combined consulting experience to help plans manage costs, navigate complexity, and deliver sustainable benefits.
Foster & Foster’s experience has contributed to our clients’ success through a range of different projects and solutions including:
- Claims analysis & repricing
- Compliance support
- Cost management strategies
- Employee benefit surveys & focus groups
- Financial oversight & reporting
- IBNR reserve studies
- Implementation assistance
- Plan design evaluation
- Rate setting (including financial projections and contribution modeling)
- Vendor roundtable/townhall meetings
We have separated our health and welfare consulting practice into four (4) distinct areas:
Foster & Foster works with a wide range of organizations that sponsor or administer church plans, including:
- Associations of churches across various denominations
- Church-affiliated organizations, including hospitals, schools, and nonprofit organizations
- Church missionary organizations
- Church conventions
- Multiemployer church plan providers
- Single ministry churches
Church plans operate in a unique environment, providing flexibility while presenting distinct financial, governance, and operational considerations. Foster & Foster helps church plan clients address challenges including:
- Financial sustainability and cost management
- Governance and fiduciary best practices
- Limited economies of scale
- Risk pooling and consortium strategies
- Balancing regulatory flexibility with operational structure
- Sensitivity to mission, ethics, and value-driven decision-making
Foster & Foster provides health and welfare consulting services to corporate organizations across a variety of industries, including:
- Communications
- Financial services
- Healthcare
- Manufacturing
- Service organizations
- Technology
- Wholesale and retail
Corporate plans face a constantly evolving landscape of regulatory requirements, rising healthcare costs, and changing workforce needs. Foster & Foster has developed tailored solutions that appeal to our Corporate clients including:
- Advanced analytics and reporting
- Communications material
- Cost containment strategies
- Employee engagement strategies
- Tailored compliance support
- Vendor management
- Benefit strategy and design
Foster & Foster provides consulting services to public sector organizations sponsoring health and welfare plans, including:
- City and county governments
- Group purchasing organizations
- Special districts
- State governments
- Transportation agencies
Public sector plans operate within complex environments. Foster & Foster helps public sector clients address challenges including:
- Budget constraints and long-term financial planning
- Collective bargaining considerations
- Complex stakeholder environment (taxpayers, unions, management, employees)
- Legacy plan designs, systems, and agreements
- Procurement challenges
- Population health management
- Balancing the needs of employees, unions, management, and taxpayers
Regardless of size, complexity, or structure, Foster & Foster has the experience and expertise to deliver practical, sustainable solutions for public sector health plans.
Foster & Foster provides specialized health & welfare consulting services to multiemployer (Taft-Hartley) plans and union-sponsored benefit programs. Our consultants, actuaries, clinicians, and pharmacy professionals understand the unique needs of union plans and the members they serve.
We are proud to represent hard-working Americans across a diverse range of trades and union groups, including:
| AFSCME | Ironworkers | Plumbers | Teachers |
| Bricklayers | IUOE | Police | Teamsters |
| Carpenters | Laborers | SMART | UAW |
| Cement Masons | Painters | Stagehands | UFCW |
| Firefighters | Pipefitters | Steamfitters | USW |
| IBEW | Plasterers | TCU | Wood Finishers |
Specialized Expertise for Multiemployer Plans
Foster & Foster understands the responsibilities labor and management trustees have in overseeing multiemployer health and welfare plans. Our team provides strategic expertise to help trustees make informed decisions, manage challenges, and protect the long-term sustainability of their funds while continuing to provide meaningful benefits to members.
Our multiemployer plan services include:
- Strategic Planning and Fund Sustainability: Strategic planning, financial projections, actuarial modeling, and benefit evaluations to help trustees assess options and make informed decisions that support long-term stability.
- Health Improvement and Cost Management Strategies: Identification of key health conditions, utilization trends, and cost drivers, along with targeted strategies to improve member health outcomes and manage long-term costs.
- Benefit Design Review and Optimization: Evaluation of plan designs to ensure benefits remain valuable to members while balancing affordability, competitiveness, and the financial health of the fund.
- Vendor Oversight and Accountability: Independent review of vendor performance through benchmarking, service-level assessments, trend analysis, and ongoing monitoring to ensure vendors deliver value to the fund and its members.
OPEB Consulting
Foster & Foster has a dedicated team to provide experienced actuarial consulting for OPEB plans, serving more than 1,000 OPEB plans nationwide. We help plan sponsors and governing boards understand their liabilities, assess the funded status of their plan, comply with evolving accounting requirements, and develop appropriate funding strategies.
We pride ourselves in providing exceptional services and treating each client as though they are our only client. We are dedicated to delivering clear communication, reliable results, and practical recommendations. We work closely with finance officers, HR teams, and governing boards to deliver valuations and guidance that support informed decision-making and long-term plan stability.
Please reach out to request a quote for our services. We are happy to provide quotes for all types of projects, no matter how large or small. If interested, please contact data@foster-foster.com.
Our Services Include:
- GASB 74/75 and ASC 715 actuarial valuations
- Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADC) calculations
- Actuarial impact calculations for plan design changes or collective bargaining negotiations
- Audit support and financial reporting guidance
- Experience studies
- Funding valuations
- Funding policy development and contribution strategies
- GASB 101 Compensated Absences valuations
- Long-term projections
- Plan design analysis and projections
Experience Across Plan Types
Our team offers years of experience working with all types of plans. These include:
- Corporate Plans
- Church Plans
- Public Sector Plans
- Small Plans
- Taft-Hartley Plans
- Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Plans
Pharmacy Consulting
Foster & Foster’s National Pharmacy Practice focuses primarily Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, public sector clients, and employer-sponsored plans. We provide a comprehensive range of pharmacy (Rx) consulting services, supported by the firm’s deep expertise in healthcare consulting.
We work collaboratively with plan sponsors to evaluate, negotiate, and structure Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) contracts that are designed to protect plan interests and improve overall value. This includes establishing clear financial and operational responsibilities, as well as transparent verification processes for covered members to ensure accountability and confidence in plan administration.
Our approach is focused on helping clients achieve competitive prescription pricing, reduce unnecessary administrative costs and hidden fees, enhance rebate and allowance opportunities, and secure meaningful, measurable performance guarantees. We place strong emphasis on service quality, ensuring that both plan sponsors and members experience clarity, responsiveness, and reliability.
At Foster & Foster, we aim to be a trusted partner in strengthening pharmacy benefit strategies—helping organizations improve cost efficiency, enhance transparency, and achieve better health outcomes while maximizing the long-term value of their benefit programs.
Prescription Drug Cost Management
PBM cost management programs are strategies designed to help plan sponsors control prescription drug spending while maintaining appropriate access to clinically effective medications. These programs may include formulary management, prior authorization, step therapy, specialty drug oversight, biosimilar adoption, pharmacy network optimization, and member assistance initiatives.
When properly structured and monitored, PBM cost management programs can reduce unnecessary utilization, direct members to lower-cost treatment and pharmacy options, improve medication adherence, and limit exposure to high-cost therapies. They also provide plan sponsors with a more proactive approach to managing pharmacy trend rather than relying solely on discounts and rebates. The greatest value is achieved when each program is supported by clear contract terms, measurable performance standards, transparent reporting, and independent validation of the savings generated.
Some examples of PBM Cost Management Programs are:
- Prior authorization
- Step therapy
- Quantity limits
- Generic and biosimilar-first requirements
- Therapeutic interchange
- Dose optimization
- High-cost drug utilization review
- Mandatory specialty-pharmacy use
- Split-fill programs for new specialty therapies
- GLP-1 Diagnosis-based prior authorization and limiting to a 1-month supply
- Mandatory mail order
- Manufacturer copay-card & maximizer programs