Blue Shield’s plan to distribute $180 million to insured policyholders, help build information technology systems for doctors and hospitals in California and provide grants for a healthcare safety net foundation certainly strikes the innovative alarm. Read…

Here are a few topics that have kept us chatting:  some states are still asking if they should accept the bill as legal while most of us have moved on to question how we will pay for the care of millions who don’t have care, small business owners want to know how to stop the rising cost from negatively affecting their bottom line, and finally everyone wants to know if the consolidation and integration of care and communication systems will increase or decrease the cost of care.

Having written in previous blogs on most of these topics, I smiled as I read an article that shines light on the idea of innovation.   After all, it was innovation that created the first Ford automobile, today’s electric car, the first apple computer and today’s I-Pad.   Innovation turned basic products into simpler, easier and more cost effective products.  I know these are analogies that have nothing to do with the cost of health insurance or health care reform.   However, true innovation is looking at the problem with ideas and solutions that are completely foreign to the subject.

Consider, the PPACA  an innovative bill in progress.  Also, consider that innovation on a state level can turn the PPACA into an affordable program that ensures every American has access to health care.   Is it just me, or are you also beginning to think with excitement about the solutions that can occur with true innovation and change.   read…

Specifically, how do we encourage patients to participate in reducing the cost of their care, by consistently taking their medication as prescribed?  Not an easy task, since unlike simply changing a system this is a behavioral question.   If you grew up with elders in your family, I am sure you heard the statement “a little bit of honey helps the medicine go down”.  One translation, we educate the patient on the anticipated outcome of taking the prescribed medication.  Simply put, we educate and prescribe as opposed to just prescribing.

The article states an astounding number of people die prematurely each year in the US because quite frankly they would not or could not, take their blood pressure medicine correctly.  As an insurance company we find the statistics quoted in this article overwhelming. This leads me to believe we are missing opportunities to understand the objections, opportunities to educate and certainly opportunities for doctors and pharmacists to collaborate on follow-up care, with patients using prescribed meds for conditions that can be life threatening.

 As we examine and determine how we can “fix” the health care system, we should not overlook how collaboration between doctors, hospitals and pharmacist can change behavior, save lives and ultimately reduce cost… more

Here is a caveat.  Accountable Care Organizations are in my limited opinion a good model, as long as rewards for medical providers are based on the positive changes that occur in a patient’s health.  And yet, I still have concerns regarding how all of this plays out without creating consolidated systems that use their clout to increase cost… Read More…

 Many people agree that HRAs are not a very good measurement tool but go on to argue that they can be a good engagement tool. They think that HRAs can help get people to adopt new health habits and get them on the path to wellness. “It’s not the HRA that changes habits,” goes the thinking, “but what you do with the results that matters.” Read More…

For more information about how our services can help make the administration of  HR and benefits, eaiser and more cost efficient go to www.bray-associates.com

 The article suggests that large hospital systems command a higher cost than areas where there is a combination of private and independent hospitals.  “Aetna and Blue Shield of California charge 30% to 40% more,” respectively, for insurance in Northern California than they charge in Southern California.  The difference in cost is based on the amount each spends per patient per day in a large consolidated hospital system.  According to the article, hospital systems such as Sutter in Northern California, (one of the largest) have an opportunity to “negotiate cost from a position of strength and clout because they represent more beds and lives”.

 The consolidation of hospitals may be a wave of the future in states and counties where independent hospitals are finding it difficult to keep their doors open because of cost.  Nationally, the idea of consolidation is a two-edged sword. When you consider small towns in mid-America, merging hospitals and doctor groups could “provide a wider base of providers, thereby increasing the quality of care”.  However, the same practice which has been gathering speed in the last two years across the country could also create higher hospitalization cost as it reduces competition and creates a trickle down effect on the cost of medical coverage.  How healthcare reform will affect the growth of mergers among hospitals and doctor groups will remain to be seen but Duke Helfand points out some very thought provoking facts in his article.

For more information about how our services can help make the administration of  HR and benefits, eaiser and more cost efficient go to www.bray-associates.com