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| Roughly twenty years ago, Jeffrey Baumeister moved to California and joined a large HMO in the Sacramento area – Foundation Health. Over the next twenty years, he would hold progressively more responsible management positions with large health plans including Health Net and Blue Shield of California. Read More... |
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Wes Weller recently developed a regression model for predicting health care costs that has as one of its variables the relative cost of each day of the week.
Below is a table showing how the predicted costs compare to actual costs (the R Squared is above .95 in this example). The relative costs by weekday for this data was:
Saturday
34%
Sunday
2%
Monday
132%
Tuesday
155%
Wednesday
146%
Thursday
138%
Friday
94%
Average
100% Read more...
PwC’s Health Research Institute has predicted the top 10 issues facing healthcare in the coming year. Insurance exchanges, consumer trepidation, drug shortages and the need for organizations to prove value promise to be among the hallmarks of a ‘seminal’ year.
With the presidential elections looming, the Health Research Institute polled 1,000 adults and found nationwide agreement about many healthcare issues: Read more...
- Healthcare and the national deficit rank equally as the second most pressing election concern after job creation on the minds of the American public.
Is it just me – or do current 30 – somethings have a work life of drudgery to look forward to?
I remember when office “high tech” meant a mimeograph machine, an IBM manual typewriter and maybe a fax machine. An administrative assistant answered your phone, opened mail, filed documents and typed letters. If you were out of the office for the day, no one expected you to return their call until you returned.
Now, with e-mail, cell phones and laptop computers employees are expected to be “on” and respond immediately 24/7. A stress free vacation seems to be a thing of the past. Many members of work teams never meet face to face. Read more...
Ok, perhaps my view into the future is a little harsh, but it got your attention. And there is definitely a grain of truth in it. This post is a continuation of my dialogue on the challenges that executives face. The last three posts generated numerous personal emails from executives seeking new positions, as well as from recruiters, HR leaders and career strategists. Read more...
On October 11, 20ll Aon Hewitt and Polakoff Boland presented
a webinar which discussed the results of our 2011 Employer Driven
Accountable Care Organization report (see ACO strategy tab at
numerous questions were generated.
To be responsive to the webinar attendees as well as other key
stakeholders we have authored a briefing document entitled
Frequently Asked Questions about Accountable Care
We hope you find it informative. Please don’t hesitate to contact Polakoff/Boland
| The healthcare industry has been under fire lately both in the press and in Washington, D.C. That’s why I was so pleased when my colleagues Tom Main and Adrian Slywotzky had the opportunity to publish an article in The Atlantic that shows how the private sector has already begun to lead a healthcare revolution.
The article shares the story of CareMore, which is compelling in its own right, but also provides the industry with an irrefutable example of how high quality and low cost can coexist, and how healthcare companies can shift from volume to value and ultimately set American healthcare back on track.
I hope you find the article insightful and infectious. As you read it, I am sure you will see how elements of CareMore’s “value formula” will work in your business. If you have any questions, or any thoughts on how we can continue to get the word out, let me know.
Regards, Read more...
Jim |
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Now on the provider side I see some challenges looming in the guise of value based benefit design. I see from recent behavior by Anthem and BSC regarding hard channeling of hip and knee surgery, that buying services along product lines, as opposed to broad network restriction might be the wave of the future. What do you think, and how can delivery systems who have invested in service line development protect themselves and/or get in the game?
Beginning in 2014, an additional 16 million people will become eligible for Medicaid under the health care law. People with incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level ($14,403 for an individual or $29,326 for a family of four in 2010) will qualify. In many cases, Medicaid recipients will be required by their states to enroll in managed-care plans.
According to a recent article by Phil Galewitz in the Kaiser Health News, this large expansion in the Medicaid roles will come with some risks. Read more...
The September 3rd edition of the Wall Street Journal contained an article about a new web site – simple.com – launched in June of 2011. Currently, this free site allows consumers to record all of their medical expenses in a single format and use dashboards to track covered versus non covered costs, how many appointments each family member has had and total doctor’s charges.
Future enhancements will show the variations in what doctors charge for the same service and also make recommendations as to the most economical health plan choice given the services the family is actually using.
Exercise and fitness bring with them a number of benefits. Be it physical or mental health, the health benefits from getting regular exercise are numerous. On top of many of the well known benefits we are also coming to find that fitness and exercise may help fight and prevent certain forms of cancer. Read more...
Posted in Articles, Exercise, Medical, Studies
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Tagged air, benefits, better, cancer, exercise, health, help, lung
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Don Straits
