Event Agenda
Sunday, April 25, 2027
4:00 - 4:30 p.m.
4:30 - 5:00 p.m.
5:15 - 6:00 p.m.
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Moderator Meeting
Faculty Meeting
First Time Attendee Reception
Welcome Reception
Monday, April 26, 2027
Session Guide
7:30 - 8:15
Breakfast
Opening Session, Welcome, Keynote and Awards
Welcome to the great state of Texas! Join us for the opening session of our 2027 National School on Market Regulation!
8:15 - 9:00
Along the Regulatory River: Perspectives from Market Conduct Leaders
As the insurance regulatory landscape continues to evolve, market conduct leaders are navigating shifting currents in consumer protection, market oversight, emerging risks, and regulatory priorities. This session brings together senior regulators to share their perspectives on the issues shaping today’s market and what insurers should anticipate as they chart the course ahead.
9:00 - 10:30
10:30 - 10:45
Break
Avoiding the Shoals: P&C Exam Readiness and Regulatory Expectations
Market conduct examinations continue to evolve as regulators focus on governance, documentation, data integrity, and operational controls. This session examines what regulators expect to see during examinations, common findings that create risk, and practical steps insurers can take to stay prepared and avoid costly examination pitfalls.
10:45 - 11:45
Back to Basics: Compliance Guardrails for Life Insurance and Annuity Products
This foundational session offers a comprehensive review of basic life insurance and annuity features through a regulatory lens.
Swimming Upstream: Why the No Surprises Act Independent Dispute Resolution Process Isn't Working
The No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution process was intended to provide a fair and efficient course for resolving payment disputes. Instead, high case volumes, procedural complexity, backlogs, and differing stakeholder expectations have created strong undertows throughout the system. This session will examine where the IDR process has deviated from its intended heading, the downstream impact on regulators, health plans, providers and patients, and potential state approaches for navgating toward a more predictable and sustainable process.
Upstream Innovation: How Technology is Reshaping the Claims Landscape
Join regulators and industry leaders as they explore how emerging technologies — including AI, drones, and aerial imagery — are transforming traditional claims handling processes. This session examines both the opportunities these innovations create and the regulatory considerations insurers must navigate as adoption accelerates.
Faculty Appointments
Sign up for 15 minute appointments with the regulators of your choice! Please note that due to the potential conflict with state ethics laws, the Faculty and the IRES Foundation would appreciate if attendees would refrain from discussions of vendor contracting matters during these faculty appointments.
11:45 - 1:00
Lunch
1:00 - 2:15
Charting a New Course: Modernizing Market Conduct Regulation
Market conduct regulation is evolving as regulators embrace new data, technology, analytical tools, and approaches to supervision. This session explores efforts to modernize market conduct oversight, including opportunities to improve regulatory efficiency, better identify and prioritize risk, reduce unnecessary burdens, and strengthen coordination between regulators and industry. Panelists will examine what modernization could mean for the future of examinations, data collection, regulatory processes, and risk-focused supervision.
2:15 - 2:30
Break
Crosscurrents in MHPAEA: Federal Reconsideration and State Implementation
Mental health parity oversight is increasingly shaped by intersecting federal and state streams. This session will explore how the federal enforcement pause and new rulemaking interacts with existing statutory requirements, state parity standards, examinations, and market oversight. Panelists will discuss approaches for navigating differing expectations while supporting a clear and sustainable compliance framework.
2:30 - 3:30
Reading the Waterline: What Homeowners Data Is Telling Regulators About Availability and Affordability
As property markets face increasing pressure from catastrophe exposure, inflation, and reinsurance costs, regulators are relying on new sources of information to understand market conditions. This session explores the data trends influencing regulatory discussions around homeowners insurance availability and affordability, and what those trends may signal for future regulatory action.
Charting the NAIC Course: What Comes After the Pilot?
The pilot is officially over, and the regulatory landscape for life insurance and annuities is moving fast. Join us for a critical breakdown of NAIC Committees A, E, and H to find out exactly what’s next. We will dive deep into the fierce debate surrounding the A Committee, tackling the industry’s biggest structural hurdle: how carriers can design clear, transparent disclosures for complex products like Registered Index-Linked Annuities (RILAs) and other index options without leaving consumers completely overwhelmed.
Flagged at the Dock: Common Missteps in Claims Handling
Hear directly from regulators about the complaint trends and market conduct exam findings that are raising red flags in claims handling across the industry. This session highlights the most common and recurring problem areas examiners are identifying, offering practical insight into where carriers are falling short of regulatory expectations.
Faculty Appointments
Sign up for 15 minute appointments with the regulators of your choice! Please note that due to the potential conflict with state ethics laws, the Faculty and the IRES Foundation would appreciate if attendees would refrain from discussions of vendor contracting matters during these faculty appointments.
3:30 - 3:45
Break
3:45 - 4:45
Regulatory Speed Networking
Grab a snack and join us for this informal speed networking session. Our faculty and board members will rotate, so you have an opportunity to continue to make great connections.
4:45 - 5:45
Exhibitor Showcase
Tuesday, April 27, 2027
8:00 - 9:00
Breakfast
9:00 - 10:30
At the Helm: Commissioners on the Regulatory Landscape
Insurance commissioners have a unique vantage point on the forces reshaping insurance markets and regulation. In this executive-level conversation, commissioners will share their perspectives on emerging market challenges, consumer protection, innovation, regulatory priorities, and the issues likely to shape state insurance regulation in the coming year. Hear directly from the leaders steering their departments through an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.
10:30 - 10:45
Break
10:45 - 11:45
Navigating Narrow Channels: Underwriting Decisions Under the Microscope
Underwriting practices remain under heightened scrutiny as regulators evaluate issues related to consumer access, risk segmentation, and decision-making transparency. This session will examine emerging regulatory concerns, documentation expectations, and best practices for demonstrating consistent and well-supported underwriting decisions.
Danger Below the Surface: AI, Deepfakes and the New Face of L&A Fraud
Fraudsters are no longer just making phone calls—they are going high tech. With a surge in AI-generated deepfakes, synthetic identities, and sophisticated account takeovers, the Life & Annuity sector has become a primary target. Join us as we expose the most critical, emerging fraud vectors threatening the industry right now. Learn how carriers and regulators are adapting their defenses, moving past legacy detection models, and leveraging cutting-edge tech to protect their policyholders and bottom lines.
Uncharted Waters: Overview of the New PBM Chapter in the Market Regulation Handbook
PBM market conduct examinations are still relatively new waters for regulators and the industry. This session will explore the new PBM chapter of the Market Regulation Handbook and how it can provide a clearer channel for consistent, risk-focused examinations. Panelists will discuss how to establish expectations at the outset, navigate information requests, identify potential compliance obstacles, and keep examinations moving toward meaningful regulatory outcomes.
Charting New Channels: Emerging Regulatory Topics in Auto Claims
Regulators and industry representatives come together to discuss the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding auto claims, including hot-button issues such as total loss valuations and diminutive value claims. Attendees will gain perspective on where regulatory scrutiny is intensifying and how to position their organizations ahead of emerging requirements.
Faculty Appointments
Sign up for 15 minute appointments with the regulators of your choice! Please note that due to the potential conflict with state ethics laws, the Faculty and the IRES Foundation would appreciate if attendees would refrain from discussions of vendor contracting matters during these faculty appointments.
11:45 - 1:30
Lunch on Your Own
Sponsor Vendor Session - Details TBD
1:30 - 2:30
Changing Currents: Auto Insurance in Transition
The automobile insurance marketplace continues to evolve amid changing vehicle technology, repair costs, consumer behavior, and regulatory priorities. This session explores the trends shaping the future of auto insurance and the regulatory issues insurers should monitor as the market adapts to ongoing transformation.
Reading the Regulatory Currents: What Triggers a Market Conduct Exam?
Market conduct exams are rarely a surprise if you know where to look. Regulators are increasingly using data, shifting from routine cycles to targeted, data-driven investigations. This high-impact session pulls back the curtain on the primary catalysts that put carriers in the regulatory crosshairs. From parsing Market Conduct Annual Statement (MCAS) outliers to identifying tipping points in consumer complaint ratios and navigating traditional exam cycles, our panel will show you how to spot your own red flags before the state insurance department does.
Privacy Protections in Health Care: At the Confluence of Innovation and Regulatory Oversight
As data moves among insurers, providers, vendors, and regulators, unclear responsibilities can create significant headwinds. This session will consider how stakeholders currently use and store data can help protect health information and establish effective governance, and how regulators are dealing with this rapidly changing environment.
Where the Health Claim Flows: Connecting Operations, Data, and Market Conduct Review
A health care claim passes through many channels—from initial submission and eligibility verification to coding, adjudication, payment, denial, appeal, and final resolution. This session will follow the claim downstream, providing a practical, start-to-finish view of the claims process and the records created along the way. Regulators, industry representatives, and vendors will discuss how claim information is received, reviewed, compiled, and reported; what examiners look for in a claim file; and how the complete record can reveal both isolated errors and broader market conduct currents.
Faculty Appointments
Sign up for 15 minute appointments with the regulators of your choice! Please note that due to the potential conflict with state ethics laws, the Faculty and the IRES Foundation would appreciate if attendees would refrain from discussions of vendor contracting matters during these faculty appointments.
2:30 - 2:45
Break
2:45 - 3:45
Steering the AI River: Governance Models and Emerging Regulatory Hot Topics
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a focus of insurance regulation. This session will discuss emerging governance frameworks, regulator expectations, accountability structures, and key compliance considerations as insurers integrate AI into underwriting, claims, customer service, and operational decision-making.
Charting a New Course: Navigating Life Insurance Marketing
Life insurance marketing presents a continuing compliance challenge as traditional advertising, digital communications, social media, producer practices, and new technologies converge. This session explores regulatory expectations and emerging issues surrounding life insurance marketing, with an emphasis on oversight, documentation, consumer communications, and identifying practices that can create market conduct risk.
Where the River Leads: How the NAIC is Impacting Health Care in 2027
The NAIC Health Insurance and Managed Care (B) Committee along with its Working Groups and Tasks Forces continue to steer a broad range of health insurance policy issues through evolving regulatory waters. This session will look back at the major currents that shaped the NAIC’s health focus in 2026 and review the health insurance issues gaining momentum in 2027. Panelists representing regulators, industry, and the NAIC will discuss key workstreams, emerging priorities, and how stakeholders can stay aligned as policy developments move downstream toward state implementation. Some topics include health care affordability and cost mitigation efforts, prior authorization, and prescription drug coverage policies.
All Hands on Deck: Managing Third-Party Relationships in Claims Handling
This session brings together the NAIC, regulators, and industry to examine insurer governance expectations when contracting with third parties for claims handling functions. Panelists will discuss the regulatory oversight roadmap being shaped by the NAIC Third-Party Data and Models Working Group and what insurers should be doing now to prepare.
Faculty Appointments
Sign up for 15 minute appointments with the regulators of your choice! Please note that due to the potential conflict with state ethics laws, the Faculty and the IRES Foundation would appreciate if attendees would refrain from discussions of vendor contracting matters during these faculty appointments.
3:45 - 4:00
Break
4:00 - 5:00
Watching the Wake: Complaints as Regulatory Risk Indicators
Consumer complaints provide regulators with valuable insight into potential market conduct concerns and emerging industry trends. This session examines how regulators use complaint data, what complaint patterns may indicate, and strategies for identifying and addressing issues before they become larger regulatory challenges.
At the Helm: The Modern CCO’s Leadership and Regulatory Balancing Act
The role of the Chief Compliance Officer is no longer just about keeping the guardrails up—it’s about pioneering the path forward. Join our panel of life insurance CCOs as they pull back the curtain on what it takes to drive strategic vision while managing intense regulatory pressure. Discover how these executives are building high-impact cultures, and mentorship frameworks to cultivate the next generation of compliance rockstars.
What Stirs the Waters? : Following the Signals That Spark a Health Market Conduct Exam
What causes a regulator to move from routine monitoring to a market conduct examination for health insurers? The answer may lie in complaint trends, MCAS results, market intelligence, prior regulatory findings, emerging risks, or a combination of signals. This session will explore how regulators identify and assess potential market concerns, what a “risk-focused” examination really means, and how MCAS benchmarking and complaint data inform—but do not necessarily determine—the decision to examine. Panelists will discuss best practices for how regulators select scope, distinguish isolated issues from broader patterns, and use the examination process to direct resources toward areas of greatest consumer risk.
Navigating Life Insurance Claims Fraud
Claims fraud can present difficult questions at the intersection of investigation, customer service, compliance, and fair claims practices. This session explores emerging life insurance claims fraud schemes, warning signs, investigative considerations, and the regulatory risks that arise when insurers work to distinguish legitimate claims from potentially fraudulent activity.
Faculty Appointments
Sign up for 15 minute appointments with the regulators of your choice! Please note that due to the potential conflict with state ethics laws, the Faculty and the IRES Foundation would appreciate if attendees would refrain from discussions of vendor contracting matters during these faculty appointments.
6:00 - 9:00
Networking Event