Premier Benefit Solutions (PBS) was created exclusively to identify, integrate and retrofit cost-saving mechanisms within Union Health and Welfare Trusts. Today, trust benefit portfolios must be actively managed in detail to control both hard expenses and reverse undetected attrition of dollars.

• We source and coordinate subject matter expertise for trust management
• We perform audits of existing trust programs and vendor contracts to ensure maximum financial performance and efficiency
• We define, propose and implement solutions to stop financial attrition
• We streamline benefits, vendors and technology to achieve maximum return for participants

The PBS team, lead by Carl Romstadt, are career California labor and trust experts. Carl and his team have worked closely with trust operations from a number of perspectives including: medical cost containment, health and welfare products, processes, networks and trends, insurance carrier negotiations and operations, large group actuarial and underwriting analysis, alternative dispute resolution programs, collective bargaining agreements, internal technology platforms and much more.

PBS understands health care expenses are the central concern of most trustees. Medical costs are continuing to escalate, while trust fund balances remain largely static. This trend will continue to put pressure on trustees to streamline and modernize their operations. [More on runaway health care costs...]

PBS works with Management and Union Trustees to significantly increase the efficiency of existing programs, while identifying and sourcing new products and services to reduce costs and increase overall value of health and welfare benefits.

Mission Statement
"Premier Benefit Solutions maximizes the scope, quality, value and cost-containment for all health and welfare benefits developed for trust fund participants."

Executive Board Members

Carl Romstadt | Principal
Carl Romstadt is a leading California authority on current health and welfare trends and large group process and procedures specific to union Health and Welfare benefit trusts. With 25 years spent in the health and welfare insurance field, Carl has worked closely with administrators and trustees of dozens of health and welfare trust funds throughout California to develop strategic cost containment.

Carl has held senior management positions for labor and trust accounts within various sectors of the insurance industry. Most recently Carl served as Vice President, Labor & Trust Sales & Marketing for Intercare Insurance Services where he created a Labor & Trust division and the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) division and processes for workers' compensation, managed care, self-insured programs and TPA services. Prior to joining Intercare, Carl was Vice President Labor and Trust Division for Health Net of California, where he developed labor and trust programs for over 200,000 union members. Carl has worked with Fortune 50 companies such as Health Net and Foundation Health, and a wide variety of insurance carriers including Sun Life of Canada and United Life. Before assuming his role with Health Net, Carl founded and developed the Labor and Trust Department and programs for Foundation Health. In his early career, Carl, with an actuary, worked to build Premier Access Dental Plan, which is today one of the most successful dental plans in California. Carl is a member of International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and Toastmasters International.

Matthew Schafer | Board Member
Matt Schafer is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Benefit and Risk Management Services, Inc. (BRMS) a company that manages and administers employee benefits programs. Matt is an expert on managed healthcare, self-insured medical plans and automated administration of health care delivery, with over 30 years of experience focused on employee benefit plans. In addition to BRMS, Matt founded and is co-owned Advanced System Designs, Inc., a software company that specialized in custom software applications and system integration. Prior to starting Advanced System Designs, Matt founded Self Assurance Company, Inc., a third party administrator (TPA) specializing in the development and administration of self-insured employee benefits. As president of the company, he oversaw the management of hundreds of self-insured and fully insured programs. Matt was also one of the original founders of Simpata, an Internet based/ASP model provider of HR, Benefits and Payroll administration services.

Matt is a member of the Society of Benefit Administrators, the National Association of Life Underwriters and the Sacramento Area Health Underwriters. In 1997 he served on the Health Care Financing Administration's task force, which studied criteria for privatizing Medicare.

Larry Innocent, CPA | Board Member
Larry Innocent is a senior health care executive with proven financial track record in revenue, profit and cash flow growth, cost reduction, turnaround profitability projects, internal operations and vendor management. Currently, Larry is President of Pharmacy Benefit Solutions, Inc., a consulting firm with clients that include union trusts, pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies, State Governments, and a variety of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Larry has negotiated over $50 million in savings for existing clients through contract negotiation, RFP management, rebate agreements, program audits and error correction.

Prior to his current position, Larry was Chief Operating Officer for Health Net, Inc., one of the nation's largest publicly-traded managed care companies. Under his direction, Health Net insured approximately 5.5 million individuals in over 13 states. Larry steered the company's return to profitability, bringing earnings to over $100 million annually within 4 years, and negotiating over $45 million in savings within the pharmacy programs alone. Before assuming the COO role, Larry served as Chief Financial Officer for Health Net's Pharmaceutical Services (overseeing combined $1 billion of pharmaceuticals annually) and Specialty Services Divisions (including Behavioral Health HMO, Dental HMO, Vision HMO, Life Insurance, PBM), with annual revenues of $500 million). Larry began his insurance finance career with early experience at Price Waterhouse and Foundation Health. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has a degree in Accounting and Administration from Pacific Union College.

Walter Weller, ASA, MAAA | Board Member
Walter "Wes" Weller is a leading California health insurance actuary with 25 years experience working with insurance companies, health maintenance organizations and the California Department of Health Services. His areas of expertise include product development and pricing, financial reporting, reserve development, financial analysis, profitability studies, provider reimbursement design, provider contracting, Medicare and Medicaid contracting, projections, forecasting, strategic financial planning and risk analysis and adjustment. Wes has developed numerous proposals for the State of California, including reform and privatization of Medicaid. He designed and led development of a Simulation Model comparing actual health care costs and utilization to expected benchmark standards of performance, used by a wide variety of public agencies and private insurance entities. He has served as a professional expert in nationwide Federal issues and has been called to give testimony on Medicaid reform before the California legislature. Wes has also held executive positions with national health care corporations. He has been extremely successful at creating and maintaining profitability, while ensuring quality that earned an A- rating by AM Best during 5 years of his tenure.

Wes is a member in good standing of the American Academy of Actuaries, and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries. He holds a Masters in Statistics and a Bachelor's in Mathematics. He has made presentations to the National Governors Association, the Society of Actuaries, and several conferences for Fortune 500 corporations.