Health Care Bulletin Bulletin #9

Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:40 PM
To: Team
Subject: Health Care Bulletin #9

Thank you to those who responded to the previous bulletins. Join the conversation and be heard!

Health Care Costs

There is no disputing that the cost of health care has risen dramatically over the last 50 years. The infographic below illustrates how much costs have risen.

Health care costs increased 1.5X faster than employee wages and are now equal to the cost of new car!

Helping Americans to have better control of this large expense was one of the main reasons why the President and Congress decided to pass PPACA.

Need for Transparency

In the current health care system, there is very little transparency or sharing of information including costs with patients. There is even fewer options for understanding the costs and alternative solutions before a patient has a procedure.

Watch the video below to see the challenges of the current system when compared to shopping.

While very funny (and frighteningly accurate), the video demonstrates why so many people are frustrated with the current system.

Value Driven Health Care Reform

The new requirements of PPACA include a more open and transparent health care system through Four Cornerstones listed below. You can learn more about visiting the links for each cornerstone.

1.     Interoperable Health Information Technology (Health IT Standards) 

2.     Measure and Publish Quality Information (Quality Standards):

3.     Measure and Publish Price Information (Price Standards): 

4.     Promote Quality and Efficiency of Care (Incentives):

The third item, Price Standards, focuses on providing more information on the costs of care before the patient has a procedure. It is also the driver for the new Summary of Benefit Coverage rule that went into effect this year.

The goal of controlling health care costs becomes more attainable when there is the ability to provide the average cost of a procedure, comparison shopping based on outcome and allowing for provider feedback from other patients. In addition to the provider information being published by the government, private companies are now offering comparison tools for employees including the following

• FairHealth - www.fairhealth.org
• HealthCareBlueBook - www.healthcarebluebook.com
• LeapFrog - www.leapfroggroup.org

Your Thoughts

Do you think that costs are out of control?
What are you hearing from our clients and partners?
What are they doing to help control costs?
What is Businessolver doing to help our clients?
What else can we do to help control costs?
What can Businessolver do to promote better cost controls with our clients' employees?

Share your thoughts by emailing me at jgallic@businessolver.com