Obesity Gets an Early Start
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that obesity is one of our nation's biggest public-health dangers. In fact, an epidemic of obesity has swept the globe and threatens to erode the lengthening life spans we enjoy in our modern day. As the New England Journal of Medicine reported last week, those who carry excess pounds into their 50s and 60s pay for it with a shorter life. But shrinking the middle-age bulge will not be achieved or sustained unless we address the roots of obesity, ones that reach back early into life.
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Obesity.
Bush Compels Price And Quality Transparency In Health Care
President George Bush signed an executive order on Tuesday to promote quality and price transparency in health care for federal beneficiaries.
It requires four federal agencies to use health information technology that meets interoperability standards, measure quality of health care providers, develop practices that encourage high-quality care and tell patients the prices of common treatments and procedures. The Health and Human Services Department, Veterans Affairs Department, Office of Personnel Management and Defense Department, which provides health care to soldiers, must adhere to the new rules by Jan. 1.
Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, remarks, “It is a huge deal. As the largest purchaser of health care in the world, whatever the federal government does drives the market. Employers have long wanted these things--advanced HIT, interoperability, transparency, the right data to measure quality and safety-- so having the largest purchaser insist on these standards as a condition of doing business is what we have wanted for a long time. These actions will make all of the difference in the world."
Some private insurers have taken similar steps. For instance, Aetna announced on Monday that it is expanding physician-specific information on health care costs, clinical quality and efficiency on its Web site.
Some doctors oppose efforts to publicly disseminate provider-specific quality information, claiming it causes misunderstandings because clinical quality is complicated to define and difficult to comprehend, given the wide disparities in patient demographics and severity of disease.
Bush comments, "Health care policy ought to be aimed at bolstering the consumer, empowering individuals to be responsible for health care decisions. Medicine is really behind the times when it comes to information technology. We can reduce costs by 25% to 30% with the advent of electric medical records."
Article provided by BenefitNews, August 24, 2006
Americans Not Shopping Smart For Medical Services
A new survey shows that Americans rate health care as a high priority, but the majority would not put forth the effort to shop around for lower prices and higher quality. The results indicate that most adults are not utilizing the plethora of health care information that has been made available in recent years by health insurers and Medicare, states Destiny Health, which commissioned the survey of 1,000 American adults.
Only 10% of adults said they would be “extremely likely” to shop around for medical services if they could obtain information on the prices and quality of doctors and hospitals, Destiny finds. Another 29% indicated they would be “very likely” to look for improved health care services. That means the total percentage of respondents likely to shop for medical services is lower than 40%, a figure that Destiny calls too low.
This laissez-faire attitude among patients also was reflected in the time they spend on health care decisions. Adults spend 20 days researching their last major household purchase, but only 9.7 days on research to select a doctor.
“The sad fact is, consumerism is making an impact in every corner of the American economy but the doctor’s office,” says Barry Swartzberg, executive director of Destiny Health’s sister company, Discovery Health. “That needs to change if we are to gain control of rising health care costs.”
Article provided by BenefitNews, August 24, 2006.
Study: Even a Few Extra Pounds Risky
Being a little overweight can kill you, according to new research that leaves little room for denial that a few extra pounds is harmful. Baby boomers who were even just a tad pudgy were more likely to die prematurely than those who were at a healthy weight, U.S. researchers reported Tuesday.
While obesity has been known to contribute to early death, the link between being overweight and dying prematurely has been controversial. Some experts have argued that a few extra pounds does no harm.
"The cumulative evidence is now even stronger," said Dr. Michael Thun, chief epidemiologist of the American Cancer Society who had no role in the research. "Being overweight does increase health risks. It's not simply a cosmetic or social problem."
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U.S. News & World Report.
The Generic Onslaught
All told, pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts estimates that giving generics instead of brand-name pills for common diseases whenever possible could save up to $25 billion this year alone. Generic versions of pills are generally between 30% and 80% cheaper than the brand names.
In coming years, things only look worse for Big Pharma--and better for health insurers and consumers. By 2011, up to a quarter of the drug sales booked this year will have been eroded by generics. Pfizer's cholesterol pill Lipitor, the world's best-selling drug (worldwide sales: $12 billion), and the antipsychotic Zyprexa, Eli Lilly's top seller, are among the nearly two-dozen drugs that could face patent expiration that year.
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Pharmaceuticals.
Prices Soar For Cancer Drugs
Spiraling prices for new cancer therapies - up to $10,000 a month for a single drug - are causing alarm among patients and insurance companies.
"These costs are out of control," says Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which is planning a conference focused on drug costs in the fall. "We can't allow it to continue."
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USA Today.
Health Plans Use New Strategies to Control the Soaring Costs of Oncology
The same medical advances that are transforming cancer from a life-threatening acute condition to a chronic issue are challenging health insurers and other payers struggling to pay for the soaring costs of treatment. In response, insurers are focusing on both the condition and the cure, rolling out intensive disease management (DM) programs to improve care for oncology patients while also tackling the soaring cost of cancer medications.
Cancer trails only heart disease as the leading cause of death in America, and is diagnosed in more than 1 million people each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Disease Management.
Mixed Views On Impact Of Authorized Generics
Two competing groups disagree about the effect authorized generics will have on drug prices. An authorized generic is a brand drugmaker’s product repackaged and marketed under a different name through a subsidiary or third party.
A new analysis from the Generic Pharmaceutical Association shows authorized generics are causing a decrease in the number of companies competing to produce pharmaceuticals and reducing access to cheaper drugs.
The analysis states that authorized generics “significantly reduce incentives for independent generic firms to challenge invalid brand name patents and to develop non-infringing processes.” When authorized generics are marketed during the 180-day exclusivity period authorized under the Hatch-Waxman Act, they reduce incentives for generic firms to sell their own versions of the same drug, the researchers find.
This article can be viewed in its entirety at BenefitNews.com, August 3, 2006.
DM Programs Can Fill 'Gap' Left by Suboptimal Rx Treatment
Disease management (DM) programs incorporating pharmaceuticals can lower overall health care costs for payers by helping fill in the "treatment gap" that often results in suboptimal or interrupted drug therapy, according to industry insiders and health plans that have implemented such initiatives. And a related strategy of lowering drug copayments in exchange for patient participation in DM programs has proven to be well worth the investment for some payers.
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Disease Management.
Wellness Should Be First Step In Any Consumer-Driven Strategy
Since launching an extensive wellness program four years ago, the 420 employees at Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) have lost a ton of weight — literally. Collectively, employees there have shed more than 2,000 pounds over the past four years. One employee, who lost 167 pounds, credits the program with saving her life.
RBHA is a public outpatient behavioral health facility based in Richmond, Va. Michael Parker, director of human resources, discussed the success of his organization's wellness program during a June 27 session at the Society of Human Resource Management's annual conference in Washington, D.C.
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wellness program.
States, Businesses Snuff Out Smoking
Lighting up isn't as easy as it used to be.
Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico passed a public smoking bans this year. More than a dozen states have banned smoking in most public places and government buildings in recent years, and many cities and counties in other states have followed suit. In addition, some cities in states where a smoking ban already exists have passed their own, more restrictive laws.
At the same time, the number of private employers cracking down on smoking continues to mount. In fact, 36% of employers offer a smoking cessation program, while 20% prohibit smoking at the worksite and 7% charge smokers higher medical premiums, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
"The number of employers engaging directly is growing by leaps and bounds," says Sean Bell, vice president of product management at Free & Clear, which provides tobacco cessation programs.
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Employee Benefit News • August 2006.
Medication Error Rate Is High, IOM Says
Medication errors are among the most common medical mistakes, harming 1.5 million people every year, reveals a new report from the Institute of Medicine.
The extra medical costs of treating drug-related injuries at hospitals alone amounts to $3.5 billion a year, and this estimate does not include lost wages and lost productivity, IOM reports.
On average, there is at least one medication error per hospital patient per day, although error rates vary widely across facilities. Not all errors lead to injury or death, but 1.5 million preventable injuries occur because of medication errors each year, IOM estimates. About 400,000 of those injuries occur in hospitals.
The report calls for all prescriptions to be written electronically by 2010. Paper-based prescribing is associated with high error rates, and electronic prescribing is safer because it eliminates problems with handwriting legibility and automatically alerts doctors to possible interactions, allergies and other problems, IOM concludes.
"The frequency of medication errors and preventable adverse drug events is cause for serious concern," says Linda Cronenwett, nursing professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "We need a comprehensive approach to reducing these errors."
Mark Merritt, president of the Pharmacy Care Management Association, calls the IOM recommendations "common-sense reforms that can improve all Americans' quality of life and save the health system tens of billions of dollars. A national, uniform e-prescribing standard will go a long way toward reducing medication errors and providing huge savings to the system."
Article published by BenefitNews, August 3rd, 2006.
Health Insurance Rate Rise Slows, Survey Finds
Early results of two consulting firms' health care insurance rate surveys forecast that 2007 will see lower premium increases in recent years.
A preliminary survey by Milliman Inc., Seattle, estimates January renewal increases averaging 9.7% for health maintenance organizations, almost 1% lower than last year's result of 10.6%.
Results for preferred provider organizations show an anticipated 2007 renewal rate increase of 10.7%, 1% lower than last year.
Information provided by National Underwriter Magazine, July 24, 2006.
