NBCH Newsletter Blog

Why health care costs vary in one chart

2012-03-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

From the Washington Post in Ezra Klein's Wonkblog....

There’s no shortage of evidence that health care prices vary dramatically across the country - and no shortage of questions about why this is true. Are certain populations sicker? Doctors charging more? Patients seeking more unnecessary treatments? All of the above?

Here's a link to the full post and chart.

Information on QECPs from Discern

2012-03-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

Medicare claims data soon will become a national resource for reporting on quality and cost of providers, according to Chris Haffer, PhD, the CMS project leader for the Qualified Entities Certification Program (QECP). Discern played an important role in the development of the requirements for QECP, and Discern Partner Linda Shelton is one of the first QECP executive reviewers trained to review applications submitted by prospective Qualified Entities (QEs).

Created by the Affordable Care Act, the QECP will allow qualified entities (QEs) to purchase and use huge files of Medicare Parts A, B and D claims data. Combining Medicare claims data with other data sources could make provider report cards much more useful to the public. For instance, using Medicare data and some of the approved standard measures may allow QEs to report on medical specialties for which commercial data alone does not provide enough cases.

A public or private entity or consortium can apply for certification as a QE. The QECP team will be offering a free, online informational sessions this spring for entities interested in applying. Please visit the website at www.qemedicaredata.org.

IFEBP's Releases Value-based Health Care Glossary for Employers

2012-03-02T11:22:00.000-05:00

Many employers agree that creating healthier employees is key to their organizations’ success, but taking the first steps can be daunting. The newly published Value-Based Health Care Glossary of Terms helps employers understand the fundamental terms and concepts of value-based health care (VBHC) so they can lay a path toward healthier organizations.

Developed by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the glossary is part of an ongoing, multi-step initiative to provide practical ways for multi-employer and public employer plans to integrate VBHC strategies. The initiative is funded in part by a grant from Pfizer Inc. For more information, visit www.ifebp.org/vbhc.

Value-Based Health Care Glossary of Terms is available in print or as an e-book and can be purchased for $13 (International Foundation members $10). Visit www.ifebp.org/books.asp?7112.

DMEC Behaviorial Risk & Wellness Survey of Employers

2012-02-28T13:47:00.000-05:00

To better understand the trends and best practices in the area of Behavioral Risk Management, the American Psychiatric Foundation's Partnership for Workplace Mental Health and the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC) are requesting the participation of employers in a brief survey to explore the developing expertise, trends and best practices in the area of behavioral risk and wellness management.

Employer members of DMEC, Partnership for Workplace Mental Health (APF), Mid-America Coalition on Health Care, Center for Health Value Innovation and the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) are joining as research partners in order to generate a broader field and larger number of survey participants.

At the conclusion of the survey (March 19), a $10 Starbuck’s gift card will be awarded to the first 100 respondents. All survey participants shall also receive a copy of the final results upon request.

Please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G8HGCF8 to participate in the survey.

Participation Requested: National Employer Survey on ACA

2012-02-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

We would like to invite you to include your views in a national survey intended to collect and report on how employers are responding to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health reform law.

By completing this survey, you will receive a copy of the results in the form of valuable benchmarking information on how other employers of your size and industry are designing their health benefit strategies and programs. It will also provide business advocates with information on how to best represent employer interests and concerns about the law.

To start the survey, click on the following link: Health Reform's Impact on Employer Health Benefits.

The survey is sponsored by the the Midwest Business Group on Health, National Business Coalition on Health, Business Insurance, Workforce Management, Aon Hewitt and Buck Consultants

Saint Luke’s Recognized by IBI/NBCH for Health & Productivity Leadership

2012-02-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Saint Luke’s Health System was honored with the 2012 Healthy Workforce Productivity Award by the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) and the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) at their annual Health & Productivity Forum. The award recognizes leadership in the area of health and productivity and honors an employer that has worked with its employees to develop, implement and measure an innovative health and productivity initiative.

The award is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems. Saint Luke’s was nominated by the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care.

Click here for photo and news release.

CWF Webinar on Small Business Exchanges - February 22

2012-02-17T12:53:00.000-05:00

A set of Commonwealth Fund–supported articles in the February 2012 issue of Health Affairs examined how the Affordable Care Act’s Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, will make it easier for small employers to offer affordable health plans through new state insurance exchanges.

Please join us for a free, one-hour webinar featuring several of the authors, who will discuss the key exchange implementation issues, including critical design choices, attracting small businesses, and the program’s potential appeal to large employers.

What: "The Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges: Opportunities and Challenges," a Commonwealth Fund webinar cosponsored by The Small Business Majority and the National Business Coalition on Health.

When: February 22, at 1 p.m., E.S.T.

Participants:
-- Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, Robert L. Willett Family Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
-- Jon Kingsdale, Managing Director, Wakely Consulting Group and Founding Director, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, Massachusetts
-- Terry Gardiner, Vice President for Policy and Strategy, Small Business Majority
-- William Kramer, Executive Director for National Health Policy, Pacific Business Group on Health

The webinar will be moderated by Sara R. Collins, vice president for Affordable Health Insurance at The Commonwealth Fund.

To register, click here.

Use the hash tag #SHOPex to share insights on Twitter during the live event.
And continue the conversation by commenting on a follow-up blog post on the State Refor(u)m website.

What do employers offer around smoking cessation?

2012-02-17T12:43:00.000-05:00

The Midwest Business Group on Health is conducting a survey to help employers benchmark what they offer in terms of smoking cessation policies and benefits.

If you'd like to participate, please complete the survey by March 1st: Benchmarking Survey on Smoking Cessation Programs.

A free copy of the results will be sent to all who respond.

A special website -www.tcyh.org- offers employers free information and resources on creating smoking cessation programs and policies. MBGH has also produced an Employer's Toolkit on Smoking Cessation available upon request at info@mbgh.org.

For questions, comments or additional information, please contact Larry Boress at lboress@mbgh.org.

Virginia business coalition awarded grant to develop Virginia Center for Healthy Small Business

2012-02-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

The Virginia Business Coalition on Health (VBCH) was recently awarded a grant to establish a Virginia Center for Healthy Small Business (Center). The Center will support the Virginia Healthy Small Business Initiative that began in 2009 as a result of the State Health Access Program (SHAP) Grant program, which is administered by the Virginia Department of Health.

NQF endorse measures for identifying healthcare cost drivers and opportunities to address them

2012-02-10T15:32:00.000-05:00

A set of measures for identifying health care cost drivers and opportunities to address them are the first of their kind to be endorsed by the National Quality Forum (NQF). As NQF-endorsed standards, the HealthPartners Total Cost of Care and Resource Use measures complement existing quality measures to provide a common reference point supporting the development of accountable care organizations (ACOs) and payment reform models.

Providers, insurers, government agencies, employers, consumers and other organizations can use the measures to manage costs, drive affordability and improve delivery of healthcare. Full measurement methodology is available at healthpartners.com/tcoc , including background, technical guidelines, reference guides, sample applications and guidance for adoption and use by other organizations.

Text4Baby helps employers promote maternal health tips

2012-02-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

Text4Baby has partnered with Benz Communications to develop a maternal health “toolkit” for employers that aims to help them promote the Text4Baby service and other maternity benefits to employees.

Text4Baby is a free, SMS-based health information service for new and expectant mothers that “provides timely and expert health information through SMS text messages to pregnant women and new moms through their babies’ first year.” It is available in both English and Spanish.

The website can be found here.

Leapfrog Group releases 2011 results to reduce early elective deliveries

2012-01-27T15:16:00.000-05:00

This week The Leapfrog Group announced the 2011 results from the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey indicating that hospitals are making progress in eliminating early elective newborn deliveries, with 39% of reporting hospitals keeping their early elective delivery rate to 5% or less, compared to 30% of reporting hospitals last year.

Additional information can be found here.

Catalyst for Payment Reform releases model contract for employers

2012-01-19T09:39:00.000-05:00

The Catalyst for Payment Reform released a tool to unite employers and other health care purchasers around the shared goal to make 20% of health care payments based on value by 2020. This tool should help coalitions with their efforts to reform payment in their communities.

The model contract highlights immediate opportunities to reform how health plans pay doctors and hospitals. Together with CPR’s health plan RFI (request for information) questions on payment reform, which purchasers use for selecting health plans, the contract language outlines bold purchaser expectations for progress on payment reform by their contracted plans or third party administrators. Expectations include advancement toward: value-oriented payment; quality and price transparency; comprehensive consumer decision-support tools; and monitoring of the level of competition among providers.

The CPR RFI references eValue8. NBCH and CPR have been collaborating since 2010 to synchronize as much as possible the information being asked of plans around payment reform. Some of the questions in the CPR RFI were in eValue8 2011. Since then we have worked together and with an outside consultant to refine the questions; gathering feedback from the plans in August last year for inclusion in eValue8 2012.

Additional information from CPR can be found here.

National Diabetes Education Program offers employer resources

2012-01-18T17:47:00.000-05:00

Check out the National Diabetes Education Program 2012 Outreach ad Promotional Plan providing ideas to improve the health of people in your community -- especially tose living with diabetes. This resource highlights NDEP's promotional activities throughout the year and can help you get ideas for incorporating NDEP's messages and resources into your activities.

According to CDC, U.S. obesity epidemic at a standstill

2012-01-18T17:39:00.000-05:00

According to a new report from the CDC, Prevalence of Obesity in the United States, 2009-2010, there appears to have been a slowing down in the rate of increase or even a leveling off of the prevalence of obesity. Given the health risks, it is important to continue to track the prevalence among U.S. adults and children.

This report presents the most recent national estimates of obesity in the United States based on measured weight and height. More than one-third of adults and almost 17 percent of children were obese in 2009-2010. Those numbers are no different than they were in 2003.

"It's good that we didn't see increases," said CDC researcher Cynthia Ogden. "On the other hand, we didn't see any decreases in any group."

Maryland Health Care Commission considers use of eValue8

2012-01-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

As a result of the efforts of the MidAtlantic Business Group on Health, the Maryland Health Care Commission is considering requiring health insurance plans to report scores to eValue8 in 2013. This information is featured in the latest issue of the Washington Business Journal. The article can be found here.

New data from CDC: nation's leading causes of death, 38 million Americans are binge drinkers

2012-01-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

Two reports were released from the CDC this week that should be of interest to the purchaser community.

Leading killers
Heart disease, cancer, lower respiratory disease, stroke and diabetes are four of the top 10 leading killers in the U.S. The report indicates two major trends: homicides are down and deaths from certain diseases are on the rise as the population ages. The full list and January 11 National Vital Statistics Report can be found here.

Binge drinking is growing problem
New research shows that four times a month, one in six Americans goes on a drinking binge, knocking back an average of eight alcoholic beverages within a few hours. The report finds that drinking too much, including binge drinking, cost the United States $223.5 billion in 2006, or $1.90 a drink, from losses in productivity, health care, crime and other expenses.

States and communities can:

Implement effective community strategies to prevent binge drinking such as those recommended by the Community Guide.
Routinely track and report how many people binge drink, how often, and how much they drink when they binge.
Develop community coalitions that build partnerships among schools, community- and faith-based organizations, law enforcement, health care, and public health agencies to reduce binge drinking.

U.S. health spending growth slows for 2nd year; totaled nearly $2.6 trillion in 2010

2012-01-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

U.S. health care spending experienced historically low rates of growth in 2009 and 2010 according to the annual report of national health expenditures (NHE) from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the January issue of the journal Health Affairs.

Analysts at CMS report that the increase in spending for 2009 represents the lowest rate of increase in the entire 51 year history of the NHE. The low rate of growth, the data show, reflects lower utilization in health care than in previous years. The report notes that U.S. health care spending grew only 3.9 percent in 2010, reaching $2.6 trillion or $8,402 per person, just 0.1 percentage point faster than in 2009.

Private businesses financed $534.5 billion, or 21 percent of total health spending in 2010, down from a 23-percent share in 2007.

Additional details and the full report can be accessed here.

ADP survey: 40% of employees don't understand their benefit options

2012-01-09T11:18:00.000-05:00

According to a recent article by Lisa Gillespie in Employee Benefit News...

A new ADP survey shows a wide gap between the goals and reality of how employees understand their benefit plans. Eighty percent of human resources decision-makers believe it's important for employees to fully understand their benefit options, yet they estimate only about 60% of their own employees do – a finding with serious implications for how companies communicate one of the most important parts of their employees' total compensation.

Keep reading...

Organizations Team Up to Help Physicians, Patients "Choose Wisely"

2012-01-09T07:05:00.001-05:00

In the field of medicine, the customer is not always right, but that doesn't necessarily stop physicians from ordering tests and procedures that may not be strictly medically indicated.

Recognizing this problem, the AAFP has joined with 10 other organizations in the Choosing Wisely campaign, which is designed to develop a series of evidence-based lists of medical tests, procedures and other services that patients and physicians should question. Originally piloted by the National Physicians Alliance, the goal of the lists is to help physicians and patients think and talk about overuse or misuse of health care resources.

Keep reading...

Doctors take issue with new language of medicine

2012-01-03T12:13:00.000-05:00

In a recent commentary in The New York Times, Dr. Danielle Ofri, an associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, looks at how physicians view increasingly ubiquitous terms such as health care provider, hospitalist and health care consumer.

She notes the recent essay on this topic by Dr. Pamela Hartzband and Dr. Jerome Groopman in The New England Journal of Medicine.

According to Dr. Ofri... "maybe it’s splitting hairs to want to be called a doctor, rather than a provider. Yes, maybe there is a hint of paternalism in preferring “patient” over “consumer” or “customer.” And yes, there are probably grander problems in medicine that require urgent attention. But words do influence us. In a world that is increasingly depersonalized, it is ever more critical to maintain protected spheres of human interaction."

What do you think?

NBCH Selects Four Coalitions for Adult Immunization Seed Grants

2012-01-03T11:59:00.000-05:00

To increase community focus on adult immunizations in the workplace and to ultimately improve the health and productivity of employees, NBCH has selected four member coalitions to receive $120,000 in funding for a new Adult Immunization Seed Grant Program.

The seed grants will provide coalitions with the resources to drive community-focused adult immunization programs within the workplace. The coalitions selected after a competitive application process and independent review with immunization experts: HealthCare 21 Business Coalition, MidAtlantic Business Group on Health, Nevada Health Care Coalition and the Virginia Business Coalition on Health.

The NBCH Adult Immunization Seed Grant Program is supported in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Read the full news release here.

Interactive health reform implementation timeline tool

2012-01-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

To understand how and when the provisions of the health reform law will be implemented over the next several years, the Kaiser Family Foundation offers an interactive tool -- Implementation Timeline.

You can show or hide all of the changes occurring in a year by clicking on that year (and customize by topic such as employer, prescription drugs, quality, etc.).

HHS Bulletin Proposes Standards for ACA Essential Health Benefits

2011-12-27T18:15:00.000-05:00

In mid-December, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the Essential Health Benefits Bulletin (EHBB).

HHS did not issue a detailed rule on what “essential benefits” must be included in the new health exchanges and are deferring to the states on what essential health benefits package should look like. They issued a pre-regulatory bulletin that says states will have the flexibility to choose from four different coverage options already available in their states, an approach that could result in different benefits throughout the country. HHS officials said this bulletin will guide them as they write the regulations in the future.

The bulletin provides helpful background statutory information and describes HHS' intended approach toward developing regulations defining “essential health benefits” (EHB). As required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the essential benefits package will establish the minimum that must be covered by certain health plans, including those participating in state-based health insurance exchanges.

Non-grandfathered plans in the individual and small group markets both inside and outside of the Exchanges, Medicaid benchmark and benchmark-equivalent, and Basic Health Programs must cover the EHB beginning in 2014. In ACA, 1 Section 1302(b)(1) provides that EHB include items and services within the following 10 benefit categories: 1) ambulatory patient services, (2) emergency services (3) hospitalization, (4) maternity and newborn care, (5) mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment, (6) prescription drugs, (7) rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices, (8) laboratory services, (9) preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management and (10) pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

If a state selects a plan that does not cover all of those categories, it must look at other plans to fill the gaps. States could modify coverage within a benefit category if it doesn’t reduce the value of the coverage.

Self-insured group health plans, health insurance coverage offered in the large group market, and grandfathered health plans are not required to cover the essential health benefits.

New initiative from Partnership for Patients aimed at improving hospital care

2011-12-15T09:58:00.002-05:00

HHS announced a new program focused on providing hospitals across the country will new resources and support to make health care safer and less costly by targeting and reducing the millions of preventable injuries and complications from health care acquired conditions.

An initiative of the Partnership for Patients, a nationwide public-private collaboration to improve the quality, safety, and affordability of health care for all Americans, $218 million will go to 26 state, regional, national, or hospital system organizations. As Hospital Engagement Networks, these organizations will help identify solutions already working to reduce healthcare acquired conditions, and work to spread them to other hospitals and health care providers.

The 26 organizations receiving awards are:

American Hospital Association
Ascension Health
Carolinas HealthCare System
Catholic Healthcare West
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation
Georgia Hospital Association Research and Education Foundation
Healthcare Association of New York State
Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
Intermountain Healthcare
Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Joint Commission Resources, Inc.
Lifepoint Hospitals, Inc.
Michigan Health & Hospital Association
Minnesota Hospital Association
National Public Health and Hospital Institute
New Jersey Hospital Association
Nevada Hospital Association
North Carolina Hospital Association
Ohio Children’s Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety
Ohio Hospital Association
Premier
Tennessee Hospital Association
Texas Center for Quality & Patient Safety
UHC
VHA
Washington State Hospital Association

View the press release and the fact sheet announcing the Hospital Engagement Networks. Learn more about the Partnership for Patients and the Hospital Engagement Networks here.

Catalyst for Payment Reform provides purchasers with maternity care payment resources

2011-12-14T09:51:00.002-05:00

Labor and delivery account for nearly a quarter of all hospitalizations for many employers, and costs associated with pregnancy and its complications are a driving factor in the rising costs of health care. Cesarean deliveries, elective labor inductions and scheduled deliveries before 39 weeks are also the rise. The growing use of medically unnecessary interventions is increasing costs and the incidence of complications among mothers and babies, with no evidence of improved outcomes.

There are a variety of payment alternatives that can align incentives for providers and hospitals to adhere to evidence-based practices that improve outcomes for both infants and mothers and decrease the growth in health care spending for maternity care services. CPR has put together an Action Brief for health care purchasers that provides both an overview of the payment reform opportunity and steps purchasers can take to begin implementation.

In addition, CPR has crafted health plan request for information (RFI) questions on the topic that purchasers can use as part of their health plan sourcing process, allowing employers and other health care purchasers to query health plans about their current provider payment practices and plans for future reforms. Specifically, the RFI will help health plan clients monitor the amount of total physician and hospital compensation that is tied to performance through various value-based purchasing programs. The RFI embodies a strategic menu of reform areas that gives health care purchasers and plans the capacity to plan, implement and evaluate payment policies that promote high-quality and cost-effective care.

Working with the National Business Coalition on Health, CPR will continue to evolve the RFI and integrate it into eValue8, NBCH’s health plan RFI, used by many regional employer coalitions across the country. CPR invites all health care purchasers and plans to use its RFI and welcomes suggestions for improvement.

An Employer Gets Into Health Care

2011-12-13T18:17:00.001-05:00

In a December 12 article, Anna Wilde Mathews, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, examines the future of U.S. health care and finds the industry lines are beginning to blur. Employers are starting to take a far more active role in their workers' care.

Kaiser Permanente offers free employer toolkit to help employees avoid holiday weight gain

2011-12-13T18:15:00.000-05:00

Kaiser Permanente has made available a free and easy workforce health program. While they recommend employers start planning for this program in mid- to late-October, the information include great tools and tips for helping employees hold off the holiday pounds, including:
· Maintain Don't Gain checklist—a planning tool for you and your wellness team, the checklist includes a calendar and an explanation of the promotional and campaign materials
· Campaign emails (eight in total)—the center of your campaign, each prewritten email shares a challenge, tip, and resource to help your employees stay healthy and maintain their weight
· Promotional materials—get your employees excited about your program with emails and materials you can post around the office
· Employee pledge sheet—allows employees to publicize that they're participating in your program
· Employee tracking tool—gives each employee a place to record their personal progress every week

Download the toolkit.

CDC Releases Heath Risk Assessment Framework

2011-12-13T13:10:00.000-05:00

This week the Office of Prevention through Healthcare published an online report, titled, A Framework for Health Risk Assessments Providing Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Services to Medicare Beneficiaries.

The Framework provides guidance that medical providers, wellness vendors and others can use for implementing requirements for Section 4103 of the Affordable Care Act related to the components of the Annual Wellness Visit, including Health Risk Assessment. The Framework is available here.

Leading by Example- Creating a Corporate Health Strategy: The Kansas City Collaborative Experience

2011-12-07T15:46:00.003-05:00

Leading by Example is a longstanding CEO-to-CEO worksite health promotion initiative. The new report documents the success of the Kansas City Collaborative (KC2), and includes real-world examples of the processes and practices used by the 16 employers that make up KC2 to improve employee health.

***NOTE: NBCH Coalition Members can find this and more in the Members Only section under Coalition Resources: http://nbch.org/Coalition-Resources***

Louisiana Business Group on Health Announces Worksite Wellness Toolkit

2011-12-07T15:44:00.000-05:00

The Louisiana Business Group on Health (LBGH) announced today the release of their Louisiana Worksite Wellness Toolkit and Resource Guide. The Louisiana Worksite Wellness Toolkit and Resource Gide is a tool to assist worksites with implementing strategies that have been proven to be effective.

The toolkit provides information to implement a broad range of strategies and/or programming: some will require very little or no resources while other strategies may require considerable resources. The toolkit shows employers ways to get started and make a difference in the health of employees, regardless of the size of the worksite and its available resources. Download the toolkit here...

***NOTE: NBCH Coalition Members can find this and more in the Members Only section under Coalition Resources: http://nbch.org/Coalition-Resources***

V-BID Registry Launched

2011-12-07T15:41:00.000-05:00

The University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID Center) is proudly launching the V-BID Registry at www.vbidregistry.org.

The registry is a free resource designed to gather and share examples of value-based insurance design from across the US and abroad. Submitted examples are reviewed by the V-BID Center and posted to the registry site, where anyone -- employers, plan designers, policy makers, researchers -- can sort by location, targeted disease state or keyword to find the most relevant V-BID programs.

Calif. Hospital Report Cards Likely To Go Away

2011-12-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

On the Cal Hospital Compare website, conscientious consumers in California can look up scorecards for their local hospitals. How well does the hospital control infections? How often do patients die from complications that can be treated? How satisfied are most patients with their experience? Read the full article...

Employers offer carrots to get workers healthier, while sticks lurk in the background

2011-12-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

Companies keep increasing carrots to get workers to lead healthier lives, but some are considering sticks for unhealthy behavior.

For a decade, Baptist Health South Florida has been a leader in urging its 13,000 employees to lead healthier lifestyles — offering such benefits as free 24/7 gyms at work and discounted low-fat meals in the cafeterias.

When it came to choosing the carrot or the stick for promoting wellness and reducing skyrocketing healthcare costs, Baptist has offered the carrot. Many major employers are making similar moves elsewhere in South Florida and around the country. Read the full article...

Comprehensive Workplace Health Programs to Address Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Tobacco Use in the Workplace

2011-12-07T15:35:00.000-05:00

The Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund is supporting a $9 million national initiative to establish and evaluate comprehensive workplace health programs to improve the health of workers and their families. Through a competitive process, two contractors have been chosen to support this initiative. Read on...

The Innovation Center at One Year: Much Progress, More to Be Done

2011-12-07T15:34:00.000-05:00

One year ago, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation was launched to find new ways to reduce costs and improve quality. As the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance released last month by the Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System shows, health care in the United States is the most expensive in the world, and the quality of care available to many Americans does not match that high level of spending. But the potential for achieving access to better care, as well as lower costs, exists—we already see it at work in select high-performing organizations and regions. Read the full post...

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Down, But Not Out

2011-12-07T15:32:00.002-05:00

Presents findings from twelve metropolitan areas about employers' efforts to control employee healthcare costs in response to the recession and national healthcare reform by firm size. Projects employer trends through 2014, including greater cost sharing. Download the full report...

Webinar: Overview of the CDC National Healthy Worksite Program

2011-12-07T14:18:00.001-05:00

Register Here

Tuesday December 20, 2011

2:00PM-3:00PM EST

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently began a program to engage and recruit 70-100 small, medium, and large businesses and lead them through the process of building a core workplace health program. A webinar will be held on Tuesday December 20, 2011, 2PM-3PM EST to discuss the goals, objectives, and activities involved in the National Healthy Worksite Program. Register at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/703198246.

Leapfrog Group Announces Top Hospitals

2011-12-07T13:01:00.001-05:00

Sixty-five hospitals earned The Leapfrog Group’s annual “Top Hospital” designation, equaling 2010’s record-setting total. The “Top Hospital” designation, which is the most competitive national hospital quality award in the country, recognizes hospitals that deliver the highest quality care by preventing medical errors, reducing mortality for high-risk procedures like heart bypass surgery, and reducing hospital readmissions for patients being treated for conditions like pneumonia and heart attack.

The hospitals were honored at the Leapfrog Group’s 2011 annual meeting in Washington on December 6, where several NBCH-member coalitions that serve as Leapfrog Regional-Roll Out Leaders including the Memphis Business Group on Health and the Midwest Business Group on Health were in attendance.

The 2011 Top Hospital list is culled from a field of nearly 1,200 hospitals that voluntarily and publicly report their performance by participating in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

A complete list of 2011 Leapfrog Top Hospitals and the survey results for all participating hospitals are posted on a website at www.leapfroggroup.org. The site is open to patients and families, the public, and employers and other purchasers of healthcare.

United Health Foundation’s 2011 America’s Heath Rankings®

2011-12-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the United Health Foundation released the 2011 America's Health Rankings finding that troubling increases in obesity, diabetes and children in poverty are offsetting improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. A link to the news release can be found here.

The report finds that the country’s overall health did not improve between 2010 and 2011 – a drop from the 0.5 percent average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010 and the 1.6 percent average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s.

Additional findings include:

Modest decreases in smoking and preventable hospitalizations
Dramatic increases in obesity and diabetes, combined with still-too-high levels of tobacco use, are putting more people at risk for preventable illness and higher health expenditures
2011 is the first year no state had an obesity prevalence under 20 percent

Webinar: Employer Health and Wellness: Best Practices in the Design and Use of Health Risk Assessments and Biometric Screening Programs

2011-12-07T11:48:00.003-05:00

Webinar: Register Here

Tuesday, 12/13/2011
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM EST

Cheryl Larson, Vice President, Midwest Business Group on Health, will explain industry trends and developments among leading employers in the design and use of Health Risk Assessments, biometric screenings and employee incentive programs. MBGH data and observations are based on the results of a comprehensive employer benchmarking survey encompassing self-insured public and private employers of varying sizes. The presentation will also cover how to design and implement successful employee incentive programs, increase engagement and participation rates, and design effective member communications.

NBCH Action Brief December 2011

2011-12-01T14:29:00.003-05:00

Weigh the Benefits of Bariatric Surgery

For appropriate candidates, bariatric surgery (e.g. gastric bypass and gastric banding) has proven to be one of the most effective and long lasting treatments for morbid obesity and the resolution of comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and sleep apnea. An estimated 220,000 people in the United States had the surgery in 2008 alone, and more employers are considering the value of bariatric surgery for their eligible employees. This Action Brief highlights the advantages, costs, and outcomes of bariatric surgery as well as how health plans are responding by using data from eValue8- a resource used by purchasers to track health plan performance. The brief concludes with actions employers can take to ensure that bariatric surgery is an appropriate option for qualified employees.

Related Webinar:
NBCH Employer Webinar: The Obesity Care Continuum & Appropriate Treatment Options
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
1-866-951-1151; ID5062618
Register Here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/247749314

Employers can help employees be more responsible for their health: Analysis

2011-12-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

The Midwest Business Group on Health has released a series of recommendations to better structure the design, communication and delivery of benefits, wellness incentives and health management activities.

The recommendations are included in a white paper based on the findings of a five-year research project focused on understanding employer and employee perspectives on health care and health benefits. Read the full article...

NBCH Employer Webinar: The Obesity Care Continuum & Appropriate Treatment Options

2011-11-30T16:19:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

1-866-951-1151; ID5062618

Register Here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/247749314

In partnership with Ethicon Endo-Surgery, the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) is pleased to offer the following webinar open to coalitions, employers, or any stakeholder interested in learning more about the obesity epidemic and particularly, the continuum of treatment options. Employers are making great strides in creating healthier worksites and supporting wellness initiatives, and for many, prevention is a powerfully effective tool. However, for the one-third of U.S. adults who are obese (BMI over 30), other treatment options are often necessary, and for appropriate candidates, bariatric surgery has proven to be one of the most effective and long lasting treatments for morbid obesity and the resolution of comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Featuring...

Dr. Christopher Still, Gastroenterologist, Geisinger Health System—to outline the care continuum of obesity and appropriate treatment options
John Dawson, Senior Vice President and Actuary, Human Capital Practice, Willis Group—to discuss the economics of treating morbid obesity with bariatric surgery
Caryol Hendricks, Executive Director, Employers’ Health Coalition—to tell her personal story of successfully undergoing bariatric surgery

NBCH VBP Committee Call Open to All Members

2011-11-30T16:15:00.000-05:00

Thursday, 12/15/11 2-3:30PM EST
1-866-951-1151, conference code 6806452
This call is open to all NBCH members
Please pre-register for the webinar portion of the call here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/866277370

Allison Robbins from Imagine Health will be presenting on what Imagine does to identify the best specialists and hospitals in an employer's geographic area to create an employer-sponsored performance network called a Smart Employer Network (Smart E Network®). An employer-sponsored network is designed to include healthcare providers dedicated to improving clinical care and reducing the cost of care. Smart E Networks are created expressly for significant employer sponsors with a large concentration of employees in a geographical area or areas. Smart E Networks often compliment employer-sponsored primary care centers.

Health Care Innovation Challenge Update

2011-11-30T16:13:00.000-05:00

The Health Care Innovation Challenge will award up to $1 billion in total grants to applicants who can rapidly implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, particularly those with the highest health care needs.

Upcoming Webinars – December 6th and December 13th:

To learn more about the Innovation Challenge, CMS Innovation Center staff will be hosting two additional webinars. The first webinar will be held on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 2pm ET to provide guidance on the application process with specific attention towards project proposal design. A second webinar will be held the following week, Tuesday, December 13, 2011 which will delve deeper into the application process with special focus on quality measurement and financial plans. More information about the December 13th webinar will be posted on the Innovation Center website shortly.

WHAT: Webinar: Health Care Innovation Challenge: Project Design Discussion
WHEN: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:00pm – 3:45pm (EST)
WEBCAST: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=83923

Participants wishing to listen to audio must dial 877-261-8937 and enter code 31613148#. Reminder, participants will only be able to ask questions via chat feature online. A recording will be available following the webinar.

***For more information, including a fact sheet, FAQs and the Funding Opportunity Announcement, please see the Health Care Innovation Challenge initiative web site at: www.innovations.cms.gov or send your questions to InnovationChallenge@cms.hhs.gov.

NEW CPR Action Brief

2011-11-30T16:09:00.001-05:00

Most of us would like to revamp the way we pay doctors and hospitals entirely. But changing payment won’t happen overnight. In fact, while we work to innovate with new forms of payment, we will be living with the existing payment system, including fee-for-service (FFS), for quite some time. So, it pays to ask: “How can we improve it?”

Today, Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) released an action brief on reforms that seek to counter some of the perverse incentives rooted in our current approaches to payment. While these reforms are less far-reaching than bundled or global payment, they can reduce costs and increase value in the short term. Read more...

End this medical secrecy

2011-11-30T16:05:00.000-05:00

Transparency in health care is one of the key tools consumers have to help them judge the quality of health care. Transparency allows the public to see where mistakes have been made. Unfortunately, that transparency has been steadily disappearing under the misnamed "Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act," which not only allows data about medical mistakes to be hidden, it makes disclosing quality problems at providers a crime for anyone except the providers involved. Read the full article...

Study: Employers Could Dump Sickest Employees On Public Health Care

2011-11-30T16:02:00.000-05:00

Carolyn Pare, president of the Minnesota Buyers Health Care Action Group, doubts that large employers would engage in what the professors termed "target dumping" of their sicker workers.

Pare represents about 40 businesses; about half are large employers based in the Twin Cities, such as 3M, General Mills, and Medtronic.

She said companies must balance their financial bottom lines against the cost of harming their reputations. And from a public relations perspective, dumping workers is a bad idea.

"I don't see the financial benefit to just dumping your sicker patients into a public program or a health insurance exchange," Pare said. "And I really don't see the savings as great enough to incent them to do that." Read the full article...

Part II: Utilizing Cost and Resource Use Measures in Payment, Public Reporting, and Improvement Programs

2011-11-30T15:57:00.008-05:00

December 14, 2011, 2pm-4pm ET

Part II: Utilizing Cost and Resource Use Measures in Payment, Public Reporting, and Improvement Programs

In this forum, we will hear how cost and resource use measures are being used in payment, public reporting, and improvement programs to drive better value in the private sector. We will discuss successes and challenges and how to spread what works to other private and public sector programs.

This forum is accessible to everyone via webinar only (no in person option). More information on accessing the webinar will be sent with an agenda. Please RSVP to Dena Mendelsohn (dmendelsohn@pbgh.org).

Implementing Reform: Funding And Flexibility For States On Exchanges

2011-11-30T15:54:00.000-05:00

As 2011 comes to a close, we draw ever closer to January 1, 2014, the day when the most significant changes wrought by the Affordable Care Act will come into effect. Indeed, we are only weeks away from the halfway point between March, 2010, when the ACA was signed into law and October, 2013, the date when the exchanges will open for enrollment. Read the full post...

Healthier Americans for a Healthier Economy

2011-11-30T15:52:00.001-05:00

High rates of chronic diseases are among the biggest drivers of U.S. health care costs and they are harming our nation’s productivity. In fact, more than half of all Americans currently live with one or more chronic disease, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. High rates of these diseases, which in many cases are preventable, are associated with increasing health care costs.

Recently, Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released a report, Healthier Americans for a Healthier Economy (http://www.healthyamericans.org/report/90/), that features six case studies focused on the relationship between health and economic development. Read the full post...

President Obama nominates Tavenner to take Berwick's post at CMS

2011-11-30T15:50:00.000-05:00

The Obama administration on Wednesday nominated CMS principal deputy Marilynn Tavenner to replace outgoing administrator Donald Berwick, MD.

Berwick, in tandem, announced his resignation – which comes after a political impasse, in which Republicans effectively blocked a Senate confirmation. Read the full article...

Initial costs up, but Alexandria firms like investment in employee health clinic

2011-11-30T15:48:00.002-05:00

Costs from employee claims have gone up since Gilchrist Construction Co. and Martin Companies established an outside-the-box model for meeting their employees' health-care needs.

Yet the two companies couldn't be happier.

"We expected our claims costs to go up," said Diane Davidson, employee benefits manager with Martin Companies. "We are uncovering a lot of health issues, and when you do that, your costs go up. But how many things are we avoiding in the future? That's what I'm really excited about." Read the full article...

The Rise of Private Exchanges: Implications for Insurers, Employers and the Health Care Consumer Webinar

2011-11-23T12:38:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Sponsored by Atlantic Information Services, Inc., publisher of Inside Health Insurance Exchanges Hear experts from Aon Hewitt, Bloom Health and Extend Health (which has been operating the nation's largest private Medicare exchange for five years) detail their work in private exchanges. They will outline their plans for expanding private exchanges and project how the exchanges are likely to impact insurers, employers and enrollees. Visit http://aishealth.com/marketplace/c1m42_121311-e955 to learn more and to save $30 on your registration.

Community Based Care Transition Program Stakeholder Call

2011-11-23T12:37:00.004-05:00

The Community Based Care Transitions Program (CCTP) will be holding a conference call on Tuesday, November 29th, from 1:00pm-2:30pm (ET), to allow stakeholders to hear directly from some of the newly selected sites. CMS staff will provide additional information about the program and be available to answer questions. Call in #: (800) 837-1936 Conference ID: 29693317

WHAT: Community Based Care Transitions Program Stakeholder Call

WHEN: Tuesday November 29th 1pm-2:30pm (ET)

CALL IN: (800) 837-1935 Conference ID: 29693317

Click here for the first site selections for the Community Based Care Transitions Program: http://www.cms.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/downloads/CCTP_FirstSiteSelections.pdf. Comments or questions can be sent to: CareTransitions@cms.hhs.gov. For more information about the Community Based Care Transitions Program, visit http://go.cms.gov/caretransitions.

America's Health Rankings Lunch Briefing

2011-11-23T12:35:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, December 6, 12:30PM - 2:00PM EST

On behalf of United Health Foundation, Partnership for Prevention and the America Public Health Association, I would like to invite you to attend an upcoming lunch briefing on December 6, 2011, to celebrate the launch of the 22nd Edition of America's Health Rankings: A Call to Action of Individuals and Their Communities. First published in 1990, America's Health Rankings provides the longest-running state-by-state analysis of our country's health and the factors that affect it.

To RSVP, click here. To learn more about America's Health Rankings, please visit www.americashealthrankings.org.

Crosswalk of the First Set of Priorities for the Pediatric Healthcare Quality Measures Program Centers of Excellence with the CHIPRA Initial Core Measure Set

2011-11-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

This chart cross-references CHIPRA topics and measures from the initial core set of children's health care quality measures with the first set of priorities identified for the Pediatric Quality Measures Program and the lead Center of Excellence and principal investigator that will be addressing each topic/measure. See the chart here...

Health-care groups laying groundwork for post-election debate over cost cuts

2011-11-23T12:29:00.000-05:00

Regardless of whether Congress’s supercommittee meets its deadline for finding ways to reduce the federal deficit, budget and policy experts are braced for Washington to soon face the painful task of finding even more savings — and they anticipate that health spending, which makes up more than a fifth of the federal budget, will be a main target.

Some health-care leaders are already laying the groundwork to redirect a debate they’re expecting in 2013, after the 2012 election. They hope to prevent spending from simply being shifted from one part of the system to another. Read the full article...

Health Care Exchanges: National Governors Association Advising Six States

2011-11-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

The National Governors Association will be helping six states facilitate discussion on the creation of health care exchanges, which are required to be in place nationwide by 2014 as a provision of President Obama's health care.

The group will be working with officials from Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, Utah and Washington to discuss how states should create the exchanges to best provide the "one-stop shopping" for health insurance outlined by Obama. Read the full article...

AAFP Foundation's Behavioral Economics Roundtable on Diabetes Summary Report

2011-11-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

The American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation recently released a new report that examines how behavioral economics can address the social and environmental nature of diabetes. The Behavioral Economics Roundtable on Diabetes Summary Report is an outcome of the AAFP Foundation’s Behavioral Economics Roundtable on Diabetes, which took place June 2, 2011, and was supported by Sanofi US.

More than 30 primary care physicians, diabetologists, behavioral economists, public health and behavioral scientists, government officials and diabetes stakeholders contributed to and shaped the findings of the report. Click here to download the report...

The Smokers’ Surcharge

2011-11-23T12:25:00.000-05:00

More and more employers are demanding that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol shoulder a greater share of their health care costs, a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthy lifestyles rather than rewarding good habits.

Policies that impose financial penalties on employees have doubled in the last two years to 19 percent of 248 major American employers recently surveyed. Next year, Towers Watson, the benefits consultant that conducted the survey, said the practice — among employers with at least 1,000 workers — was expected to double again. Read the full article...

Wellness programs boosted by incentives

2011-11-23T12:23:00.000-05:00

Melissa Van Dyke of the Incentive Research Foundation said the foundation's report found offering incentives increases employee wellness participation by a minimum of 60 percent.

"Incentives also have a long-term impact," Van Dyke said in a statement. Some of the promotional products used in incentive programs range from body mass index calculators and jars filled with almonds instead of candy to wristbands, pedometers and backpacks. Many carrying printed cards with health tips, Van Dyke said. Read the full article...

We Can't Wait...

2011-11-16T15:26:00.003-05:00

Health Care Innovation Challenge

The Health Care Innovation Challenge will award up $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, particularly those with the highest health care needs.

The objectives of this initiative are to:

Engage a broad set of innovation partners to identify and test new care delivery and payment models that originate in the field and that produce better care, better health, and reduced cost through improvement for identified target populations.
Identify new models of workforce development and deployment and related training and education that support new models either directly or through new infrastructure activities.
Support innovators who can rapidly deploy care improvement models (within six months of award) through new ventures or expansion of existing efforts to new populations of patients, in conjunction (where possible) with other public and private sector partners.

Application Information:
http://www.innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/innovation-challenge/index.html

Important Dates

Letter of Intent: December 19, 2011
Applications are due, January 27, 2012
Anticipated Award Date: March 30, 2012

**CMS Innovation Center staff will be hosting an informational webinar on the Health Care Innovation Challenge for all interested individuals and organizations on Thursday, November 17, 2011 from 2:00-3:30pm ET. Staff will provide an overview of the initiative and be available to answer questions from the audience.

Please visit the webinar site to join. No advance registration is required.

Participants wishing to only listen to audio may dial 888-567-1602 or 201-604-5049 and request "Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Webcast" (no passcode). Reminder, participants will only be able to ask questions via chat feature online.

A recording will be available following the webinar.

For more information, please direct your questions to InnovationChallenge@cms.hhs.gov

Related Articles:

We Can’t Wait: Health Care Innovation Challenge will improve care, save money, focus on health care jobs
New funding available for next generation of health care innovations
Up to $1 billion dollars will be awarded to innovative projects across the country that test creative ways to deliver high quality medical care and save money. Launched today by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Care Innovation Challenge will also give preference to projects that rapidly hire, train and deploy health care workers.

We Can’t Wait: Agencies Cut Nearly $18 Billion in Improper Payments, Announce New Steps for Stopping Government Waste
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today announced that the Administration cut wasteful improper payments by $17.6 billion dollars in 2011 as part of the Obama Administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste, fueled by decreases in payment errors in Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, and Food Stamps. Combined with the improper payment cuts in 2010, agencies have avoided making over $20 billion in improper payments in the two years since President Obama issued an Executive Order initiating an aggressive campaign against wasteful payment errors.

CMS Fact Sheet
The Health Care Innovation Challenge will support public and private organizations including clinicians, health systems, private and public payers, faith-based institutions, community-based organizations and local governments. Innovative approaches from these organizations that can begin within six months of award and demonstrate a model for sustainability post-award will also be given priority.

Supreme Court to hear challenge to Obama’s health-care overhaul

2011-11-16T15:22:00.000-05:00

The Supreme Court decided on Monday to review President Obama’s 2010 health-care overhaul, promising a high-profile hearing on the question dominating American politics: the constitutional limits of the federal government’s power.

Next March, around the second anniversary of the act’s passage, the nine justices will hear arguments in the case, taking on the role of constitutional referee between those who see the law as a trespass on individual and states’ rights and those who consider it an extension of a safety net to Americans regardless of where they live or work. Read the full article...

New Maryland health program promotes care for the whole patient

2011-11-16T15:19:00.000-05:00

The state launched a program that offers financial incentives for comprehensive patient care. Doctors are encouraged to come up with coordinated care among health-care providers to place a focus on preventing illness, rather than waiting until it needs costly treatment. Read the full article...

RWJF Call for Nominations: Community Health Leader Awards

2011-11-16T15:17:00.001-05:00

The CHL award is the culmination of a three-stage selection process described in more detail in the full call for nominations brochure. Nominations for this solicitation must be submitted electronically. Visit http://www.rwjf.org/cfp/chl and use the Apply link for this solicitation. You will be required to register at MyRWJF before you begin the application process. Nominators without computer access should contact the national program office for direction.

Click Here for Overview of the 2012 Call for Nominations

Up to 10 awards in the amount of $125,000 each will be made in the 2011 cycle. Each new leader will receive a personal award of $20,000 to recognize his or her accomplishments and $105,000 to support a defined two-year project at the organization with which the leader is associated. Deadline: November 28, 2011. Click here for more details...

Roadmaps to Health Community Grants

2011-11-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

The Roadmaps to Health Community Grants, which support two-year state and local efforts among policymakers, business, education, health care, public health and community organizations, are managed by Community Catalyst, a national consumer health advocacy organization.

These grantees are working to create positive policy or systems changes that address the social and economic factors that impact the health of people in their community. Read on to see the first round of awardees...

Free heart meds reduce heart attacks, heart failure but not revascularization rates

2011-11-16T15:02:00.000-05:00

Study Highlights:

Compared to patients who had prescription co-pays, heart attack patients whose insurance company picked up the entire tab for their heart medications had fewer subsequent heart attacks and heart failure, but no reduction in the rate of revascularization to reopen clogged arteries.
Patients who got the free medications were more likely to take their medicine as prescribed.
Free medicine saved patients money while not increasing overall healthcare costs.

ORLANDO, FLA., Nov. 14, 2011 ― Heart attack patients who got free medications had lower rates of rehospitalization for heart attack or heart failure compared to patients who had prescription co-pays, however, they did not have a reduction in the rate of revascularization to reopen clogged arteries, according to late-breaking research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011. Read the full article...

The Politics of Prevention

2011-11-16T15:00:00.002-05:00

If there’s one thing everyone in Washington can agree on it’s that prevention is good. And that’s about as far as the agreement goes.

As for the rest of it – who is responsible for prevention, how to define prevention, what is the government’s role in prevention, how much to spend on prevention and when to spend it – is not so clear, and wrapped up in the bitter politics (and difficult economics) of the day. Read the full post...

AHRQ awards $34M in 2011 to fight healthcare-associated infections

2011-11-16T14:58:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced this week that it has awarded grants totaling more than $34 million in 2011 in the fight against healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

HAIs are bacterial, viral and fungal infections that patients get during the course of receiving medical care. They affect patients across all healthcare settings and current estimates indicate that at any one point in time may affect as many as 1-in-20 hospital patients. Read the full article...

Wellness Programs Save Money, Nonprofit Group Argues

2011-11-02T15:53:00.001-04:00

“The employer community is increasingly looking at this as an economic, business imperative,” Andrew Webber, president and CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health, told a Hill briefing about the report on Tuesday. Chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer affect more than half the American population, according to Trust for America’s Health, putting a big drain on both government health care providers and employers who need to provide insurance.

Employers are finding that it’s cheaper to encourage employees to maintain a healthy weight, eat right, and encourage their kids to do the same, than to face a bill for medical crises related to preventable disease, Webber said. Healthy workers are also more productive. Read the full article...

Why Employers Will Continue to Provide Health Insurance

2011-11-02T15:50:00.001-04:00

An issue brief funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its Quick Strike Seriesconsiders how employers might react to provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and offers an analysis of factors that are likely to influence their decisions to drop or retain employer-sponsored insurance (ESI).

The Urban Institute authors state that the ACA will leave ESI largely intact, but that decisions to continue or drop ESI will come down to whether employers and their employees stand to benefit more from ESI or coverage available through state insurance exchanges. The authors contend:

Better-paid workers remain better off with ESI.
Employers will likely only drop coverage if most workers would benefit from switching to the exchange.
Employers are unlikely to drop coverage due to complexities in assessing employees' preferences.
Employers are unlikely to make decisions to encourage some employees to drop coverage and not others.

Download the issue brief here...

In implementing health reform, governors are turning to unilateral action

2011-11-02T15:47:00.000-04:00

Governors in five states -- Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Rhode Island and now Minnesota-- have used executive orders to move forward on the law. And when you count states that have pursued grant money through their executive branch, that number rises to 15, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That includes all the medium-blue states on this map (an interactive version). Read the full article...

Contest Seeks Online Apps for Health Care Quality Comparisons

2011-11-02T15:43:00.002-04:00

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced a contest calling on software developers to create online tools to help consumers find health care quality information, the Newport News Daily Press reports (Salasky, Newport News Daily Press, 10/28).

The contest is part of the foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative (Goedert, Health Data Management, 10/28). The initiative is designed to improve the quality of health care in 16 communities around the U.S. Read more...

Insurers Pressured To Improve Online Data Regarding Medical Costs

2011-11-02T15:40:00.000-04:00

Several major health insurance companies, including WellPoint and UnitedHealth Group, are working to upgrade their online services to offer consumers more data about the costs of medical services, the Wall Street Journal reports.

As more U.S. residents choose high-deductible health insurance plans, they are seeking more information on the cost of care. Read the full article...

The New Wave of Innovation: How the Health Care System Is Reforming

2011-11-02T15:38:00.001-04:00

This report shines a light on emerging innovations, providing examples from different sectors across the country, to inform journalists and others of the different ways in which the system is reforming itself. It may also provide ideas for journalists who are interested in exploring the early effects of health reform and the implications for the future. Download the report here...

Clinical Decision Support System Not Linked to Better Patient Outcomes

2011-11-02T15:30:00.000-04:00

A clinical decision support application run through an electronic health record system did not contribute to improved vascular outcomes, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, MedPage Today reports. Read the article...

Researchers found no significant differences between the two patient groups for clinical outcomes.
However, the study found that patients in the intervention group reported improvements in their:

Ability to improve their vascular health; and
Continuity of care.

Insurers Agree to Share Data

2011-11-02T15:24:00.000-04:00

Seven more health insurers have agreed to disclose the details of their requests for insurance-rate increases in New York, bringing a standoff with state regulators closer to an end.

The arrangement with the health insurers—Aetna Health, EmblemHealth, Empire HealthChoice, Excellus Health Plan, HealthNow, Capital District Physicians' Health Plan, and Connecticut General Life Insurance Co.—comes after the state's largest medical insurance company, UnitedHealth, agreed to disclose such information. Read the full article...

HHS announces refined survey standards to examine and help eliminate differences in care based on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, or disability

2011-11-02T15:23:00.000-04:00

“Many racial and ethnic minorities, people with limited English proficiency, people with disabilities, and other populations face unique health challenges, often have reduced access to health care and often pay the price with poorer health,” said Garth Graham, M.D., MPH, HHS deputy assistant secretary for minority health. “Today we are implementing an important provision of the Affordable Care Act that reinforces our commitment to reducing these health disparities. These new standards will help us carry forward the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and our work to address disparities in people with disabilities as well.” Read the full release...

HHS Regional Listening Sessions Around Essential Health Benefits

2011-11-01T11:16:00.001-04:00

The Affordable Care Act ensures Americans have access to quality, affordable health insurance. To achieve this goal, the law ensures plans offered in the new Affordable Insurance Exchanges offer a package of essential health benefits, which are to be defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The statute directs the Secretary to consider the scope of benefits provided under a typical employer plan in defining essential health benefits. To inform the Department, HHS received a survey of employer-sponsored coverage conducted by the Department of Labor as well as recommendations from the Institute of Medicine on the criteria and methods for defining and updating essential health benefits.HHS is committed to receiving broad public input on essential health benefits from all stakeholders, including States, patients, providers, employers, legislators, insurers, and all other interested Americans.

To that end, we are pleased to invite you to comment sessions for regional, state, and local stakeholders on essential health benefits. Senior HHS officials will be in attendance to listen to stakeholder feedback. If you plan to attend the session, we ask that you consider these questions in preparing your comments:

In keeping with the title of the Institute of Medicine report “Essential Health Benefits—Balancing Coverage and Cost”, how can the Department best meet the dual goals of balancing the comprehensiveness of coverage included in essential health benefits and affordability?
How might the Department ensure that essential health benefits reflect an appropriate balance among the categories so that they are not unduly weighted toward any category?
What policy principles and criteria should be taken into account to prevent discrimination against individuals because of their age, disability status, or expected length of life as the Affordable Care Act requires?
What models should HHS consider in developing essential health benefits?
What criteria should be used to update essential health benefits over time and what should the process be for their modification?

To register for the event, please send an email with your name, organization, title, email address and phone number to the designated RSVP by the RSVP Due Date listed above. (NOTE: In some locations, RSVPs are needed for building security and will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis)

If you have any questions regarding this meeting, please contact Brian Chiglinsky, HHS Office of External Affairs at 202.619.1066 or brian.chiglinsky@hhs.gov<mailto:brian.chiglinsky@hhs.gov>.

The table below provides the details for each of the finalized Regional Listening Sessions:

Chicago
4-Nov
9:30 AM- noon
233 N Michigan Ave, 13th floor (Room 1329)
Chicago, IL 60601
Bryan.Schulz@hhs.gov<mailto:Bryan.Schulz@hhs.gov>

Boston
8-Nov
1-3 PM
John F. Kennedy Federal Building
15 New Sudbury St., Conference Room 2075 (20th floor)
Boston, MA 02203
R1-ORD@hhs.gov<mailto:R1-ORD@hhs.gov>

Philadelphia
8-Nov
10 AM -noon
Public Ledger Building, 150 S. Independence Mall West, Conference Rm 419, Philadelphia, PA 19106
aryanna.abouzari@hhs.gov<mailto:aryanna.abouzari@hhs.gov>

Dallas
9-Nov
10 AM - noon
Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak Street, Dallas, TX 75204
shelby.gooden@hhs.gov<mailto:shelby.gooden@hhs.gov>

New York
14-Nov
10 AM - noon
26 Federal Plaza, Suite 3835
New York, New York 10278
Joynetta.Bell@hhs.gov<mailto:Joynetta.Bell@hhs.gov>

Kansas City
15-Nov
10 AM - noon
Bolling Federal Office Building
8th Floor SSA Conference Room
601 E. 12th Street
Kansas City, MO 64106
Cindy.Cento@hhs.gov<mailto:Cindy.Cento@hhs.gov>

Atlanta
16-Nov
10 AM - noon
61 Forsyth St. SW, Suite 5B95, Atlanta, GA 30303-8909
ORDAtlanta@hhs.gov<mailto:ORDAtlanta@hhs.gov>

Seattle
17-Nov
2 - 5 PM
Jackson Federal Building, 915 2nd Ave, South Auditorium, Seattle, WA

Denver
18-Nov
9 AM - noon
999 18th St. South Terrace, Suite 400 Denver, CO 80202
Ezra.Watland@hhs.gov<mailto:Ezra.Watland@hhs.gov>

San Francisco
21-Nov
3 - 5 PM
90 Seventh Street, Suite 5-100
San Francisco, CA 94103
region9ord@hhs.gov<mailto:region9ord@hhs.gov>

NBCH Action Briefs

2011-10-26T12:19:00.006-04:00

Customizable Action Briefs! (http://www.nbch.org/NBCH-Action-Briefs)

An additional benefit for all NBCH coalition members is the opportunity to customize Action Briefs and distribute to employer members and stakeholders. Members wishing to customize can change as little or as much as they’d like (e.g., changing logos, replacing with local eValue8 results, inserting employer member case studies, etc.) For those wishing to make changes on their own, we can supply the appropriate file type. NBCH is also working with a graphic designer who charges a reasonable rate, and we are happy to work with you and coordinate further. All customization inquiries should be sent to Alyssa Ketterer.

September 2011 - Hospital Patient Safety

Hospital-acquired conditions, readmissions and serious reportable events are significant issues impacting employee health and the health care claims costs incurred by employers. For example, $30 billion is lost annually due to avoidable costs such as longer hospital stays. Employers can play a key role in improving patient safety and reducing preventable occurrences.

October 2011 - Stem the Obesity Epidemic

About one-third of U.S. adults and approximately 17% of children and adolescents are obese (a body mass index or BMI over 30). Employers must act now to mitigate the cause for overwhelming health care costs and loss of productivity associated with obesity. Employers can play a key role in improving the health and well-being of their workforce.

HC21 featured in IBI's Pub: Workforce Health and Productivity: How Employers Measure, Benchmark and Use Productivity Outcomes

2011-10-26T12:03:00.000-04:00

Interest in health and productivity evolved from a pilot program that HC21 was offering to its members. Called the Chronic Care Network, it is dedicated to the management of major chronic diseases and risk factors that have a high impact on productivity. The HC21 Data Cooperative provided the data integration and analysis required to launch its health and productivity initiative, which allows employer members of all sizes to extend their analytical capabilities. It’s an important step in understanding the connection between employee health and performance. Read more...

Partnership Congratulates Bruning on Retirement

2011-10-26T11:56:00.000-04:00

Partnership Advisory Council co-chair and longtime friend to the Partnership , William L. Bruning, JD, MBA, retired in June after 11 years leading the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care as president and chief executive officer.

Under Bruning's leadership, the Coalition grew to become a unique collaborative model comprising major employers and healthcare delivery stakeholders, including physicians and medical societies, health plans, hospitals, unions, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, public health agencies, and bi-state governmental units. Read more...

***Thank you Bill, for your leadership and collaboration with NBCH. We wish you the best with your retirement!***

Affordable Care Act to help improve care for Medicare beneficiaries

2011-10-26T11:48:00.000-04:00

500 federally qualified health centers to receive funding, participate in a program to improve care

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 500 community health centers in 44 states across the country will receive approximately $42 million over three years to improve the coordination and quality of care they deliver to people with Medicare and other patients, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced.

“Health centers are integral parts of our communities,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Donald M. Berwick, M.D. “This initiative will give participating health centers the help they need to improve care for many people with Medicare who rely on them as their main source of care.” Read the full release...

More information on the Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project, including a fact sheet, and a list of participating health centers can be found at: http://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/fqhc/.

Want to Show Employees Your Appreciation? Provide Good Benefits

2011-10-26T11:46:00.000-04:00

New Mercer study also shows employees are concerned about health care changes.

Almost 80% of workers said that the benefits they receive is one of the reasons they choose to work for a particular company. Benefits cause employees to feel that their company appreciates them, according the 2011 Mercer Workplace Survey.

While benefits help with recruiting and retention, it can have other positive benefits such as "greater engagement, personal accountability and overall satisfaction," said Suzanne Nolan, partner, Mercer's U.S. Outsourcing business. Read the full article...

Health Reform Won't Dismantle Employer Coverage, Report Says

2011-10-26T11:39:00.002-04:00

Health reform won’t lead most companies to drop insurance benefits, according to an analysis out today from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.

The new report’s conclusion: Companies won’t drop coverage en masse. Employers that offer insurance today do so because they compete for labor. That competitive pressure will remain once the health law takes effect. Employer-sponsored coverage is already subsidized (because it’s compensation that’s not taxed), and most employees that already have coverage wouldn't get better deals buying plans through exchanges. Read the full article...

ACO Final Rule

2011-10-26T11:36:00.001-04:00

ACO Final Rule Addresses Perceived Barriers To Participation
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services today released the long-awaited final rule on the Medicare Shared Savings Prorgram, which sets standards for the creation of accountable care organizations. ACOs are designed to encourage physicians, hospitals, and other providers to coordinate with each other and provide better quality care more efficiently.

Value-Based Payment, Accountable Care, And The ACO Final Rule: Are We Making Progress?
With the Final Rule, CMS again has made a significant contribution to the national dialogue on accountable care and the important role ACOs can have in helping to achieve the Triple Aim. Moreover, while all stakeholders may not agree with every revision made in the Final Rule, CMS clearly has responded carefully and thoughtfully to the over 1,300 comments received by stakeholders on the Proposed Rule. At the very least, this represents a healthy public-private dialogue on an important topic, which is how rulemaking is supposed to work.

HHS announces new incentives for providers to work together through Accountable Care Organizations when caring for people with Medicare

2011-10-26T11:34:00.000-04:00

New tools help doctors and other health care providers improve quality of care

People with Medicare will be able to benefit from a new program designed to encourage primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, and other health care providers to coordinate their care under a final regulation issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Created by the Affordable Care Act, these final rules on Accountable Care Organizations add to the menu of options for providers looking to better coordinate care for patients and will make it easier for providers to deliver high quality care and use health care dollars more wisely.

The Shared Savings Program final rule can be found at: http://www.HealthCare.gov/law/resources/regulations/index.html. (See Final Rule on Shared Savings Program: Accountable Care Organizations)

The Advanced Payment solicitation is posted at: http://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/advance-payment/.

For more information, fact sheets are posted at: http://www.HealthCare.gov/news/factsheets/2011/10/accountable-care10202011a.html and http://www.cms.gov/ACO/.

Wellness: 10 Costliest Blunders

2011-10-26T11:32:00.000-04:00

If anything’s working to control healthcare cost increases today, it’s wellness programs. But they can quickly turn into money pits if you make one of the classic mistakes.

Wellness program experts, Debra Wein and Courtney Hernandez of Wellness Workdays, a corporate wellness program provider, recently authored “Top Ten Wellness Program Mistakes,” which was published in Benefits Magazine. Read more...

Dear eValue8 Users and NBCH Member Coalitions:

2011-10-19T15:22:00.001-04:00

As you may know we've been working to revamp the eValue8 communications materials to provide updated information to be used in marketing eValue8. Pasted below please find the eValue8 Mission and 2017 Vision as well as the “About eValue8” statement that will be used on the website and as the boilerplate for all press-related materials.

We are also in the process of finalizing additional materials that can be used as is or customized for your own market including an eValue8 fact sheet, teaser/sell sheet and a purchaser advantage one-pager. The media guidelines on the eValue8 website are also being updated.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Foong- Khwan Siew, Director of eValue8, NBCH (fsiew@nbch.org)

Dennis White, Senior Vice President of Value-Based Purchasing, NBCH (dwhite@nbch.org)

Mission: eValue8™ is a transformational resource to help NBCH member coalitions lead in improving health and value of health care services in their communities by advancing value-based purchasing.

2017 Vision: In 2017, eValue8 is the essential resource used by coalitions and purchasers to align purchaser-plan strategies that advance value-based purchasing.

About eValue8™
eValue8 was created by business coalitions and employers like Marriott and General Motors to measure and evaluate health plan performance. eValue8 asks health plans probing questions about how they manage critical processes that control costs, reduce and and eliminate waste, ensure patient safety, close gaps in care and improve health and health care.

Health plans provide detail on how they educate, engage and incent consumers to promote health and manage disease, as well as measure and pay providers. Plans and purchasers receive objective scores enabling comparison of plans against regional and national benchmarks and a roadmap for improvement. As a result of face-to-face discussion of findings and roadmap, plans learn what they need to do to align their strategies with purchaser expectations to maximize the value of the health care investment and ultimately, improve health and quality of care.

For more information on eValue8...

Hospital safety practices may not be as effective as hoped

2011-10-19T14:58:00.000-04:00

Whether or not trauma centers meet national safety standards says little about a patient's risk of dying or getting an infection while there, according to new research.The findings add to evidence that quality measures meant to improve hospital outcomes may not be as effective as hoped.

Earlier this month, for instance, another study found that hospitals scoring high for their treatment of children with asthma aren't better at preventing those kids from ending up in the emergency room with asthma attacks.

The latest results, published in the Archives of Surgery, show that hospital scores on the so-called Leapfrog Safe Practices Survey weren't linked to either death rates or hospital-associated infections. Read the full article...

Purchaser-Driven Health Coalitions

2011-10-19T14:54:00.001-04:00

Check it out!

IOM panel: Insurance exchanges will fail unless cost factor is faced

2011-10-19T14:37:00.002-04:00

A report for the Dept. of Health of Human Services notes that greater use of standardized, evidence-based medicine could reduce health spending.

Federal officials must balance cost and comprehensiveness when crafting the minimum benefits package required for health insurance exchange plans, according to an advisory group. Otherwise, these coverage expansions in the health system reform law will fall short. Read the full article...

Repeating Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for health-care equity

2011-10-19T14:27:00.000-04:00

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reflects on her brush 50 years ago with Martin Luther King Jr. and how equity in health care must be a priority for society.

Two generations ago, when Dr. King issued a stinging indictment of the inequalities of the health of Americans, I had no idea how much his words would affect my life, or all of our lives. He said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane."

He was spot on then and it's spot on today. America simply cannot reconcile the differences that divide us without also reconciling the inequality and injustice that's embedded so deeply in the health and health care of our people. Read the full article...

Obama Administration’s regulatory reductions to save health care system nearly $1.1 billion

2011-10-19T14:24:00.001-04:00

Scaling back outdated rules is part of Administration’s effort to cut red tape

New proposed rules released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would reduce unnecessary, obsolete, or burdensome regulations and save hospitals and healthcare providers nearly $1.1 billion each year and over $5 billion over 5 years. The new proposals regarding the rules for hospitals that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients were developed in response to President Obama’s call on all Federal agencies to eliminate burdensome and unnecessary regulations.

“The President and I have challenged agencies to hunt down burdensome regulations,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “Today’s steps will remove outdated, duplicative, unnecessary burdens on hospitals - saving money and improving care.” Read the full release...

Related Article:

HHS loosens Medicare red tape as part of Obama plan - Reuters

Essential Health Benefits: Balancing Costs, Coverage, And Necessity

2011-10-19T14:22:00.001-04:00

The much anticipated Institute of Medicine Report on essential health benefits (EHB) was released last week with a series of recommendations that answered some questions and raised many more. The report offers a very important opportunity for researchers, policymakers, providers and patients to fill in some of the white space between the recommendations. Read on for the full post...

Related Articles:

The Role of Social Media and Technology in Reaching Consumers

2011-10-19T14:19:00.001-04:00

Complimentary Workshop at AHIP’s Fall Forum*

"Companies may be able to avoid official social media involvement for a time, but these platforms will continue to grow in importance. It's better to become fluent in its language earlier and adapt, instead of clinging as long as possible to a more guarded communication style." — Lee Aase, SMUG Chancellor and Director of Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, and so many other social networks. They’re significantly changing the delivery of health care. Patients are communicating with each other and better managing their own treatment and physicians have better access to state-of-the-art clinical information and practices.

Are you taking advantage of social networks? Whether yes, or no, you’ll want to attend this complimentary* half-day workshop at AHIP’s Fall Forum, November 14-16 in Chicago, IL.

Call for Nominations: Weight of the Nation 2012 Awards

2011-10-19T14:17:00.000-04:00

Weight of the Nation is accepting nominations from organizations to showcase innovative practices that achieve maximum reach, impact and improvements in health outcomes through environmental, economic, social, or cultural shifts establishing healthy eating and active living as social norms. For more information, or to submit an application check out the site...

Health Policy: Latest News- IOM Issues Recommendations on Essential Health Benefits

2011-10-12T15:04:00.001-04:00

On October 6, the nonpartisan Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM) issued its 297-page report providing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with a set of criteria and approaches for developing a package of “essential health benefits,” as applicable to individual and small group coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). HHS is expected to issue the final standard by mid- 2012. Read more...

To link to the IOM report, please go to: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Essential-Health-Benefits-Balancing-Coverage-and-Cost.aspx