HCPro.com: Population Health Insider

April 2008 (Volume 14, Issue 4)	view entire issue

Study: Wellness works
A recent study of workers at health insurer Highmark, Inc., shows that a comprehensive employee wellness program results in a positive ROI. "The Impact of the Highmark Employee Wellness Programs on Four-Year Healthcare Costs" was published in the February Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, which is the official journal of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The study specifically researched whether Highmark's employee wellness program saved the company money.

'Til death do us part
OptumHealth's recent announcement about lifetime personal health records (PHR) suggests Americans may soon add another certainty to the Benjamin Franklin adage about death and taxes. While the healthcare industry watches Google and Microsoft's entry into the PHR arena, OptumHealth has created a lifetime PHR program that allows consumers to maintain and update their online health record regardless of employment, health plan, or doctor changes. More than 21 million consumers from sister company UnitedHealthcare and OptumHealth's private employers or payers can access their PHRs through the company's free, secure consumer Internet portal, HealthAtoZ.com.

CMS program offers PHRs to Medicare population
Senior citizens and computers are not usually thought of as allies, but a new CMS pilot project is testing personal health records (PHR) in the Medicare population. The pilot project, which will run through September with the possibility for an extension, will offer PHRs to 100,000 beneficiaries in Medicare's fee-for-service program in South Carolina. Medicare will populate the PHRs by importing two years of claims data, including diagnoses, procedures, tests, and hospitalizations. The project will not initially include pharmacy claims, although individuals will be able to add their prescriptions into the tool.

SNP Medicare expansion continues
Editor's note: This is part one of a two-part series exploring Medicare special needs plans (SNP). Special needs plans-including chronic condition special needs plans (C-SNP)-continue their rise in the Medicare market in 2008, with a growth rate of 60% and the advent of the country's first such plan developed specifically for beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease.

DM to the rescue?
With the rest of the world facing many of the same chronic diseases as the United States, DM organizations have stretched beyond this country's borders to help other nations fight life-threatening ailments. A month doesn't pass without at least one U.S. DM company announcing a global expansion. Over the past few months alone, Aetna Global Benefits (AGB) announced it was making its DM services available to international members, U.S. Preventive Medicine promoted its expansion to the United Kingdom, and Health Dialog added France to its international work in the UK and Germany.

Connecting with consumers
Health plans spend $9 billion each year communicating with members, but most of it doesn't reach the right consumers and engage them. Stan Nowak, CEO and cofounder of Silverlink, a healthcare communications company with 50 clients representing 150 million lives, based in Burlington, MA, is not sure healthcare is spending its communications money as effectively as it could. In the not-too-distant past, healthcare companies did not view member engagement with as much focus as they do today.

Other recently-published articles from Population Health Insider:

Cisco creates culture of wellness

Employers favor carrot over stick

Definition of the medical home tiers

CMS unveils two-tier medical home care management fee

Risk-adjusted model underpays, ignores functional status

Five questions about physicians’ role in CDHPs

Study: Most-integrated health plans in better shape

LifeMasters: DM’s phoenix rises from failed merger with Healthways

Most specialties see slight increase

Deliotte report trumpets possible convergence

CDHPs, wellness gain momentum

Wellness gains steam

Weight loss helps type 2 diabetes patients

Physician practices will need DM/population health

College announces chronic care degree program

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