Tackling The Obesity Epidemic: Scary Stats Employers Should Know
More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and childhood obesity has tripled in the past two decades, according to Dr. James Rippe, cardiologist and founder of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute. He shared insights about the economic and health consequences of obesity in the workplace during a standing-room only pre-conference session at last week's summit on health, productivity and absence management, sponsored by the National Business Group on Health and the Integrated Benefits Institute.
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Obesity.
Rising Health Care Costs Cause Positive And Negative Reactions
The majority of Americans are not satisfied with health care costs, and many have been forced to change the way they use the health care system. Some changes have been positive, such as an increased attempt to take better care of themselves, and others have been negative, such as skipping prescriptions or delaying doctor visits, according to a
report released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute yesterday.
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Health Insurance.
CDHPs Can Cut Medical Inflation By Half, New Survey Finds
Inflation is half as high among consumer-driven health plans as it is among HMO and PPO plans, according to a recent study of more than 430,000 CIGNA members.
The two-year study suggests that medical costs were much lower for CDHP members (as compared with HMO and PPO participants), while use of preventive care increased for CDHP members. Out-of-pocket costs and use of best practices remained constant. CDHP users continued to receive recommended care at similar compliance rates as traditional plan members, and their medication compliance improved, the study indicates.
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Employee Benefits News.
Focus On Health Plan Design Paying Off For Employers
Health care costs are projected to rise more in 2008 than they did this year, but some employers are making progress with cost-containment strategies, according to
two studies released yesterday by Hewitt Associates and Towers Perrin.
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Health Plan Design.
Workers Not Seeing The Bigger Health Care Picture
New research indicates that the majority of American workers don’t understand key health insurance terms, which could cause them to make poor plan selections and severely underestimate the cost of health care in retirement.
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Health Care.
Drugs That Go Untaken
Too often, lifesaving medicine is prescribed but not used.
Damian Galvan knew it was time to own up. The nurse overseeing his cancer treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston had summoned him from his home in Brownsville, Texas, saying his latest lab results indicated his disease—chronic myelogenous leukemia—had returned. The lifesaving medications Galvan was on must not be working, he said. "I asked the nurse to close the door," Galvan, now 33, remembers. "I said, 'I have to be honest with you—it's not that the medications aren't working. I haven't been taking them for six months.'"
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Drugs.
America's Best Hospitals 2007
What it takes to be the best. Just 173 made the cut . Here's how the select handful did it.
For most people most of the time, the hospital their doctor recommends is fine—the majority of hospital care is fairly routine. That's not a word normally associated with hospitalization, but consider this: In 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, fewer than 6 percent of hospital visits—including those for surgery—necessitated even an overnight stay. Compare that with 7 percent in 1995 and 13 percent in 1985. Besides, many community hospitals are perfectly capable of performing operations formerly reserved for elite medical centers. Going to a hometown hospital means being close to family and friends, whose watchfulness might keep things from going wrong. And patients draw strength from their comforting presence.
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U.S. News and World Report.
CDHP Critics Want Plan Designs To Benefit The Average Patient
Is health care consumerism really driven by consumers? Some policy analysts believe the answer is no, arguing that Americans primarily want affordable health care.
Speaking at the National Consumer-Driven Healthcare Summit on Thursday, Sara Collins, assistant vice president at the Commonwealth Fund, told attendees that the No. 1 health care concern for consumers is cost. Patients are especially concerned about whether they are protected from catastrophic events and whether they can get preventive care.
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Consumer Driven Health Plans.
U.S. Playing Catch Up In Health Care IT
Health care IT in the U.S. lags behind that of many other countries, such as Denmark and New Zealand, but the prognosis is for gradual improvement if the country continues a steady regimen of investment and development.
Dr. Paul Grundy, director of health-care technology and strategic initiatives at IBM Corp. in Armonk, N.Y., said the U.S. HIT (Health Information Technology) system is fragmented but is slowly progressing.
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Heatlh Information Technology.
