Consumer-driven health plans (CDHP)

I have a modest proposal for Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Scott said that businesses should assume more of a leadership role in addressing the U.S. healthcare crisis, reducing waste and inefficiency in …

> Perceptions of end-of-life care vary substantially between African Americans and Caucasian patients, according to recently-published research. African Americans were much more likely than Caucasians to want extensive end-of-life treatment. The study was very small, however, and didn't use statistical sampling. Article

> Assisted living facility operator Emeritus and a real estate investor are jointly spending …

A new report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers argues that with lots of high-profile scrutiny under way, non-profit hospitals need to do a much better job of measuring and communicating the community benefit and charity care they provide. What's more, PWC suggests, hospitals will need to develop patient-friendly pricing schemes to compliment their community-friendly policies. The consulting firm breaks down its recommendations across reporting, pricing and business relationship strategies, and …

Two New York Blue plans--BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and BlueShield of Northeastern New York--have become what they claim is the nation's first health insurer to offer a health advocacy service to all of its members at no cost to them. The plans' parent company, HealthNow New York, is partnering with Health Advocate Inc. Health Advocate, for its part, already works directly with several large employers, including BankAtlantic and Comcast-Spectacor, but this seems to be its …

> On the Hill, policy wonks are predicting that many health plans offering Medicare Part D drug coverage will leave the market next few years. Article

> A group of advocacy organizations and provider groups have joined together to promote awareness of the still-unsolved problem of stillbirth. The group says one in 150 babies are stillborn. …

Wal-Mart is jumping on the CDHP bandwagon. The nation's largest employer announced that it will offer only the high-deductible policies to new employees, but that current employees who chose to renew their existing plans won't have to switch. While the plans have monthly premiums as low as $11, some deductibles will run as high as $6,000 a year. Wal-Mart says that in the long run, the new health plans will save employees money. Critics, on the other hand, blast the company for shifting …

During a speech at the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health, Ann Mond Johnson, president of Chicago-based Subimo, identified employers' responsibilities to their employees if they offer CDHPs instead of traditional health plans. Simply providing the health plans isn't enough: Employers must also make their employees smarter healthcare consumers, which means making sure that they have access to cost and quality data. Ms. Johnson heads a company that compiles publicly-available quality …

In a recent interview with Mark Hochstetler, M.D., vice president of clinical affairs with the VHA, we discussed the issues of price and quality transparency and the effect that these trends are having on the healthcare industry. There have been quite a few price and quality transparency initiatives lately, driven by the current administration's support of CDHPs. Dr. Hochstetler noted that while this has caused quite a stir in the healthcare industry, it has had very little impact on …

What makes healthcare so expensive? There's no doubt that this is a loaded question and there's guaranteed to be a lot of finger pointing (and maybe even some name-calling), no matter who answers it. But as the Denver Business Journal points out, maybe we should be blaming ourselves for our high monthly premiums. When it comes to our health, all of us want the best treatment money can buy…until it comes time to pay the bill. Americans complain about the skyrocketing costs of …

Throwing fuel into the CDHP fire, WellPoint announced that it will make all of its CDHP products available in all markets to both employers and individuals beginning on January 1, 2007. Execs say that consumer interest in CDHPs led the insurer to make the plans more accessible and estimates that it could save patients up to $400 dollars a year over traditional plans. "More informed consumers can make better health care decisions and improve their health, which can help to …