Posts Tagged “Wellness and Prevention”
ShowHide 3rd Party PapersPopulation Health Institute: County Health Rankings
Pew Internet: 19% of Americans have tried video calls or video chat or teleconferencing online and on cell phones
American College of Physicians: Ethical Considerations for the Use of Patient Incentives to Promote Personal Responsibility for Health
National Institute for Health Care Reform: Employer Wellness Initiatives Grow, but Effectiveness Varies Widely
Annals of Family Medicine: Using knowledge of decision-making psychology to persuade patients to engage in healthy behaviors or to make treatment decisions that foster their long-term goals is ethically justified
MetLife Study: New Insights and Innovations for Reducing Health Care Costs for Employers
Health Affairs: Screening rates are higher in the U.S. than in Europe—for people of all ages—despite the U.S. lack of universal coverage
USPSTF: Screening for Breast Cancer: Recommendation Statement
Trust for American: American Public Supports Investment in Prevention As Part of Health Care Reform
ShowHide Commentary
Effect of Wellness Programs
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, March 21, 2013
The most recent issue of Health Affairs focuses on health and wellness. One of the programs reported found that in a health system’s employee population, hospitalizations were reduced but not overall costs.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Wellness and Prevention
A Review of the Benefits of Wellness Programs
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 25, 2013
Do wellness programs improve quality and cost outcomes? Despite their popularity, from a research perspective the answer remains unclear, but a new review published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine takes a fresh look, which concludes that the evidence remains inconclusive.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Wellness and Prevention
Is Dietary Salt Bad?
by Kevin Roche on Monday, January 7, 2013
How much can you trust research? Not a lot sometimes, as an article in Health Affairs demonstrates, using the issue of salt reduction as an example. It turns out that salt is probably not nearly as bad for people’s health as has been postulated.
The Effect of Smoking Bans
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 4, 2013
Many states and local governments have enacted prohibitions on smoking in certain public places, including restaurants and bars. These bans are founded on public health concerns due to inhalation of second-hand smoke. A new study in Health Affairs finds that the smoking bans are associated with fewer hospitalizations for certain conditions.
CDHP and Preventive Care
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A study published in Health Affairs examined consumers’ awareness of preventive care benefits in their high-deductible insurance plans, finding that many were unaware that these services were available without charge.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Insurance, Wellness and Prevention
2012 Potpourri XXXIX
by Kevin Roche on Friday, December 21, 2012
Our penultimate Potpourri for 2012 is a festive blend of health data, including avoidance of health care due to costs, rates of expected spending increases in 2013, costs for younger versus older physicians, internet versus print health interventions, medical home results and poor health behaviors and health spending.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Insurance, HIT, Medical Homes, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
2012 Potpourri XXXVIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, December 14, 2012
In this holiday season, it is a time for giving presents and our latest Potpourri presents you with many gifts of health information, including some positive news about an ACO program, some cautions for the success of ACOs, an apparently successful disease management program, lung cancer screening, earnings growth for physicians and other health professionals and lessons in bundled payments.
Tags: ACO, Bundled Payments, Disease Management, Health Care Costs, Physicians, Providers, Wellness and Prevention
2012 Potpourri XXXVI
by Kevin Roche on Friday, November 30, 2012
Another in our series of Potpourris, tasty, succulent morsels of health data food, including this week the effect of mammography screening, improving health and health costs, state costs to run health insurance exchanges, family caregiving and the costs of fixing Medicare’s physician reimbursement.
Tags: Elder Care, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2012 Potpourri XXXI
by Kevin Roche on Friday, October 19, 2012
It is cooling down across most of the country, but our Potpourri remains red-hot, with nuggets on the moderation in health spending over the last few years, how to change automatic health behaviors, EHRs and diabetes care, a medical home pilot in Colorado and an ACO demonstration in Maine.
Tags: ACO, Care Management, EHRs, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, medical home, Wellness and Prevention
Aon Hewitt Employer Survey
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, September 20, 2012
Yet another survey of the employer market, this one from Aon Hewitt, which also reflects views of employees covered under their companies’ health plans. Aon Hewitt finds that employers are stepping up their level of action in regard to designing and operating health plans and other programs to encourage better health.
Tags: Consumers, Health Insurance, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2012 Potpourri XXVIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, September 14, 2012
Another brilliant edition of our Potpourri, focusing on individual health insurance rate reform, variation in traumatic care costs, genetic counseling and diabetes, small business and health care costs and savings from wellness programs.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Regulation, Wellness and Prevention
Wellness and Benefits Administration Survey
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A study released by a private vendor evaluates wellness and benefit administration benchmarks in 2012.
2012 Potpourri XXVI
by Kevin Roche on Friday, August 17, 2012
Another sunny Potpourri, brightening your day with rays of data on hospital at home; Medicare care coordination programs; an employer survey on impacts of the reform law; a survey on health habits and employee productivity; first quarter health plan results and ER use and end-of-life care.
Tags: Care Management, End-of-Life Care, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Hospital, Medicare, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
Wellness Incentive Guidelines
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, August 7, 2012
A group of health care organizations has produced a guidance for employer-sponsored wellness programs with incentives, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The statement is supportive of these programs, although expressing some reservations about incentive use.
Engagement in Health
by Kevin Roche on Monday, July 30, 2012
Patient and family engagement in health and managing health care is a necessary condition to seeing real improvement in our health system. A report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality looks at various techniques for creating such engagement in regard to hospital care.
Tags: Consumers, Hospital, Wellness and Prevention
2012 Potpourri XXIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, July 27, 2012
At the height of the summer, with dryness across the land, there is no drought of information in our Potpourri, this week including use of an interactive health record to increase preventive care, Medicare and Medicaid geographical variation, shared decision-making, readmissions for heart attacks and Japan’s all-payer rate setting system.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, HIT, Hospital, Hospital Readmissions, Medicaid, Medicare, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
Wellness Lessons From Germany
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Germany has encouraged wellness programs in a manner similar to the US. A new report from the Commonwealth Fund discusses results from the country’s efforts and draws lessons that may be applicable to the United States.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Wellness and Prevention
2012 Potpourri XVIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, May 25, 2012
We are on the road, but our Potpourri remains, in this issue covering malpractice claims against doctors, wellness program outcomes, the effect of drinking coffee, do EHRs help improve care and a wellness survey of employers.
Tags: Consumers, EHRs, Health Care Costs, HIT, Malpractice, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2012 Potpourri XIV
by Kevin Roche on Friday, April 20, 2012
More delightful health facts for your edification in our most recent Potpourri, including the cost of obesity, an employer survey on wellness programs, opportunities for hospitals to reduce costs, an employer survey on cost expectations in the coming year, Massachusetts’ and health spending control and incentives in health care.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Hospital, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2012 Potpourri IX
by Kevin Roche on Friday, March 9, 2012
Another outstanding collection of summaries from the health research literature, including this week, physicians’ difficulty in understanding the benefits of screening tests, physicians’ feelings about health information technology, AARP’s latest report on prices paid by seniors for commonly used drugs, the real cost of health reform, variation in outcomes and costs of knee replacements and shared decision-making in two common clinical situations.
Tags: Consumers, Drugs, Elder Care, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, HIT, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
Well-Being and Health Care Use
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Wellness programs are popular among employers and payers because of a perception that they can reduce health care spending, at least in the long run. A new study published in the Population Health Management journal tests whether such programs can lead to an enhanced sense of overall well-being among particpants.
2012 Potpourri VII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, February 24, 2012
Our latest Potpourri, a week late and we apologize, covers virtual coaching, the integration of drug and medical benefit management, how doctors chose to handle their own end-of-life care, Medicaid and ER visits, and malpractice and orthopedics.
Tags: Drugs, End-of-Life Care, Health Care Costs, HIT, Hospital, Malpractice, Medicaid, Physicians, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
The Web of Health Care
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
A study on colorectal screening for women compared the effect of a web-based intervention and a print intervention. The most interesting finding, however, relates to how often people signed on to the website versus how often they said they did.
Tags: Consumers, HIT, Wellness and Prevention
2012 Potpourri IV
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 27, 2012
Another zinger of a Potpourri, with nuggets on a GAO audit of NQF work, use of web tools for diabetes management, the Healthways well-being index, the problem with federal health spending, hospital job losses from reimbursement cuts, and reducing unnecessary testing.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, HIT, Hospital, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XXXXIX
by Kevin Roche on Friday, December 23, 2011
Our penultimate Potpourri delivers the quality you are accustomed to (for good or bad), including presents of health information on the Medicare physician payment method, telemonitoring results in the UK, the effect of eprescribing on fill rates, issues relating to use of health information technology in the home, the effect of social network on health behavior and whether imaging results actually influence decision-making or outcomes. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Tags: Consumers, Drugs, HIT, HomeCare, Medicare, Physicians, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
Obesity and Weight Management Interventions
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Obesity is often fingered as a leading cause of health care spending and health spending growth. It also causes significant personal discomfort to those who are overweight. A pair of articles in the NEJM describe the outcomes of interventions to help patients lose weight.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Consumers, Providers, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XXXXIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, November 4, 2011
Winter nears but our Potpourri will distract you from the cold breezes, providing compelling nuggets on prostate screening recommendations, consumer use of technology for health, insurer medical cost trends, what to do about Medicare’s physician payments, heart failure hospitalization and mortality rates and rates of non-filling of new prescriptions.
Tags: Chronic Disease, Disease Management, Drugs, Health Care Costs, Health Insurance, HIT, Hospital, Medicare, Physicians, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XXXII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, August 19, 2011
Our thirty-second Potpourri of the year brings fascinating health items such as how to design wellness incentives, how Medicare could save money, the complexities of improving care, the use of community health centers to save money, designing subjective survey questions and an intervention to reduce hospital readmissions.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Hospital, Malpractice, Medicare, Wellness and Prevention
Health Care Industries and the Future
by Kevin Roche on Monday, June 27, 2011
PriceWaterhouseCooper discusses opportunities for health care business over the next decade, identifying new segments with growth, as well as challenges that must be overcome.
Tags: Health Care Reform, HIT, Telehealth, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XXIV
by Kevin Roche on Friday, June 17, 2011
The week’s Potpourri continues the tradition of presenting excellent nuggets of health information, including EHR use in the VA system, the effect of making surrogate care decisions, screening for ovarian cancer, gaps in health among socioeconomic groups, cancer care guideline compliance, and ER visits in Massachusetts.
Tags: Care Management, EHRs, Elder Care, End-of-Life Care, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, HIT, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XXII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, June 3, 2011
Another round of health tidbits, including the association between primary care workforce and Medicare outcomes, comparisons of Type 2 diabetes drugs, effects of limiting DTC drug advertising, health information exchange sustainability, the effect of the Irish workplace smoking ban and barriers to diffusion of cost-effective care.
Tags: Care Management, Drugs, Elder Care, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, HIT, Medicare, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2011 Potpourri XXI
by Kevin Roche on Friday, May 20, 2011
Once more into the world of health care to find nuggets of useful information, this week including the legality of wellness programs, the switch to ICD-10, pragmatic trials, the status of the workers’ comp industry, consumer health care sentiment, and hospital ER strategies.
Tags: Comparative Effectiveness, Consumers, Health Care Costs, HIT, Hospital, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2011 Potpourri XX
by Kevin Roche on Friday, May 13, 2011
Another Potpourri, this week delivering factoids on drug companies’ use of technology to reach physicians, waiting times in Massachusetts, use of atypical antipsychotics in nursing homes, unnecessary colonoscopies, EMRs and productivity, and a stupid FDA ruling.
Tags: Drugs, EHRs, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, HIT, Medicare, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XIX
by Kevin Roche on Friday, May 6, 2011
Another edition of the Potpourri focuses on CMS and telemedicine, informal caregiver stress, wellness program results, emergency room visits, happiness and suicide, and sources for consumer health information.
Tags: Consumers, Elder Care, Physicians, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
Gaming and Health
by Kevin Roche on Monday, April 11, 2011
An article in JAMA discusses the use of gaming technology to aid in health goals, reviewing the research and discussing potential benefits and risks.
Tags: Consumers, Gaming, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri XII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, March 18, 2011
Our Ides of March Potpourri, featuring two studies of the impact of wellness programs; the link between hospital spending and mortality outcomes; HHS waiving the MLR requirement for Maine; bills to have CMS disclose physician practice patterns; and research on smoking cessation techniques.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Hospital, Medicare, Wellness and Prevention, Wireless
2011 Potpourri XI
by Kevin Roche on Friday, March 11, 2011
Another in our weekly series of health care nuggets, with this week’s Potpourri featuring Medicare beneficiaries and physician supply, the FDA’s position on certain device software, a wellness survey, the AMA’s stance on genetic testing, marketing of drugs, and an integrated disability and health care program.
Tags: Consumers, Drugs, FDA, Genomics, Health Care Quality, Medicare, Mobile, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
Towers Watson Survey on Employee Engagement in Health
by Kevin Roche on Monday, February 21, 2011
A Towers Watson survey describes employee attitudes toward wellness programs and health engagement, with a surprising finding of declines in health as a priority and involvement in programs.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Health Insurance, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri IV
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 21, 2011
On we go into the New Year, already on our fourth Potpourri, this one rich with information on state Medicaid program issues; what makes for a successful wellness program; what makes for a well-run hospital; pushing back on too much medical care; the value of colonoscopy and walking faster to live longer.
Tags: Elder Care, Hospital, Medicaid, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
One Perspective on Health Care’s Future
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, January 19, 2011
CSC put out a report giving its vision of the future of health care, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies may reshape wellness, prevention, early disease detection, treatment and how care is delivered.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, HIT, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
2011 Potpourri III
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 14, 2011
Once more into the Potpourri breach, this week covering CBO’s scoring of a repeal of PPACA; a global wellness survey; Medicare’s failure to use its data to identify abusive providers; Canadians’ view of their health system; Walmart’s preventive care package; and use of electronic messages to improve cancer screening rates.
Tags: Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, HIT, Medicare, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
New Evidence on Wellness Value
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Doubt continues to exist about whether wellness and prevention have net short or long-term cost savings. A new study indicates that a well-designed, comprehensive health program can save money, at least in the near term, and may lower longer term cost trajectories.
Tags: Care Management, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Wellness and Prevention
2010 Potpourri XXXVIII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, October 16, 2010
More health care tidbits in this week’s potpourri, including medication adherence; the benefits of workplace wellness programs; the costs to employers of obesity; hospital prices in Oregon; reimbursement methods for drugs and potential savings from health IT.
Tags: Drugs, Health Care Costs, HIT, Hospital, Providers, Wellness and Prevention
2010 Potpourri XXXIV
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, September 18, 2010
On the menu for this week’s potpourri–savings from wellness efforts for a large employer; drug reimbursement for Medicaid programs; using remote monitoring in a health plan context; the FDA’s regulatory approach to mobile health uses; the effect of tort reform on imaging rates and hepatitis C pay-for-performance measures.
Tags: Disease Management, Drugs, FDA, Health Care Reform, Malpractice, Mobile, Monitoring, Pay For Performance, Wellness and Prevention, Wireless
2010 Potpourri XXXI
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, August 28, 2010
Summer nears an end, but not our Potpourris. This one includes the costs of malpractice, an innovative provider error disclosure program, employer wellness paybacks, blood pressure medication issues, the cost of new technologies, provider pricing power and the mental health of Californians.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Hospital, Malpractice, Personalized Medicine, Wellness and Prevention
Employment-based Wellness Programs
by Kevin Roche on Monday, August 16, 2010
Wellness programs continue to grow in popularity as a method for companies to get health costs under control and to improve productivity. A new report summarizes evidence on what may make these efforts most effective.
Tags: Wellness and Prevention, Workplace
2010 Potpourri XXVIII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, August 7, 2010
Summer begins to wane, but not our Potpourris. Another one full of useful data, including health insurance costs for 2011, a new telehealth joint venture, use of kiosks in physician offices, prostate cancer screening, health care use cutbacks, teledermatology and sharing of physician notes with patients.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Insurance, Monitoring, Physicians, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
2010 Potpourri XXVII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, July 31, 2010
A lot of great items in this week’s potpourri, covering the acquisition of HealthGrades, what encourages men to get screenings, potential cheating on pay-for-performance schemes, the problems of a multi-payer system, improving heart failure care, Canada’s experience with EHRs and autonomous robot surgery.
Tags: HIT, M&A, Medicaid, Medical Care, Pay For Performance, Payor, Wellness and Prevention
Preventive Care Regulations
by Kevin Roche on Monday, July 19, 2010
HHS has issued its draft regulation on what preventive services health plans must cover without cost-sharing by the patient. Someone, of course, has to pay for all these “free” services, and it usually is the consumer.
Encouraging People to Get Necessary Services
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, July 8, 2010
Preventive measures can help patients delay or prevent illness or can lead to early detection and usually better outcomes. Unfortunately many patients fail to take even the most basic preventive steps. A new study suggests just how difficult it is to change that behavior.
2010 Potpourri XVIII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, May 22, 2010
Yet another in our long series of weekend catchup on miscellaneous health care items that we missed in earlier commentaries, including telemedicine, smoking bans, engagement in wellness efforts, the cost of high-risk pools, telemedicine and getting results in health improvement programs.
Tags: Consumers, Health Care Reform, HIT, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
2010 Potpourri IV
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, February 6, 2010
Yet another sampling of health care items, relating to personalized medicine, telemedicine, wellness, disease management and using health data for comparative effectiveness research.
Tags: Care Management, Comparative Effectiveness, Personalized Medicine, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
More Breast Cancer Screening Controversy
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, January 28, 2010
The recommended schedule for mammography screenings to detect breast cancer is examined in a Cochrane report, which finds that the current recommendation probably leads to overdiagnosis and treatment and the women are not being properly presented with the overall risks and benefits.
Tags: Comparative Effectiveness, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Wellness and Prevention
More Evidence That Workplace Wellness Programs Can Save Money
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Health Affairs publishes a study examining a number of workplace wellness efforts. The meta-analysis finds that most programs offer substantial returns on investment, through both health cost and absenteeism reductions. It is becoming clearer that worksite wellness is one of the most promising methods for limiting health care costs.
Annual Survey On CDH Members
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, December 29, 2009
EBRI releases the results of its latest survey of members in consumer-directed, or high deductible, health plans. These members are generally satisfied and exhibit more cost-conscious behaviors and use wellness services more extensively than persons in non-consumer directed plans.
Health Incentive News
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Several groups have recently released reports on the expanding science of using incentives and benefit design to encourage consumer involvement in health and lower costs.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Incentives, Wellness and Prevention
Thanksgiving Potpourri
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, November 26, 2009
No turkeys here, just stuffing you will relish. Don’t cramvery much into your brain at once!
Tags: Drugs, Health Insurance, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
Potpourri V
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, November 21, 2009
Another summary of miscellaneous health care items, including telemedicine and prevention and wellness.
Tags: Drugs, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
Rethinking Screenings
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, October 22, 2009
JAMA publishes an article on some common screenings, suggesting a new strategy that would attempt to identify and screen only high risk individuals and would limit treatment to tumors demonstrated to be likely to cause significant disease.
Vita Advisors, LLC New Research Report on Prevention and Wellness Released
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, October 22, 2009
We have released a research report on The Value of Prevention & Wellness. The report describes various preventive interventions and examines methods of valuing these programs and specific research on the value of prevention and wellness activities.
AHA Endorses Workplace Wellness
by Kevin Roche on Friday, October 16, 2009
The American Heart Association issues a comprehensive set of recommendations for improving cardiovascular health through workplace wellness programs, continuing its efforts to prevent acute coronary disease.
Tags: Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention, Workplace, Worksite Health
Second-hand Smoke
by Kevin Roche on Monday, October 5, 2009
New research confirms that second-hand smoke can cause serious health issues for non-smokers.
Clinical Preventive Care Summary
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has published a review of the cost effects of clinical preventive care measures.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
More Evidence on Obesity’s Cost
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Overweight people are getting blamed for everything, including more workers’ compensation costs.
Tags: Wellness and Prevention, Workers Compensation, Workplace
Inverness Continues to Build Health Management Business
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Inverness Medical has agreed to acquire Free & Clear, a provider of smoking cessation and other wellness services.
Tags: Disease Management, M&A, Medical Care, Services, Wellness and Prevention
Measuring Prevention’s Cost Savings
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A new Health Affairs article suggests a different method to measure cost savings from disease prevention and management efforts.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
A Screening Illustration
by Kevin Roche on Friday, September 4, 2009
Coronary calcium screening provides an interesting example of the potential benefits, costs and uncertainties surrounding various disease screening opportunities.
CBO Explains Prevention & Wellness Scoring
by Kevin Roche on Monday, August 10, 2009
In a letter to a Congressman, the CBO gives its rationale for how it attributes costs and savings to prevention and wellness programs.
Tags: CBO, Government, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
Prevention and Wellness Savings for Medicare
by Vita Advisors on Friday, August 7, 2009
Healthways’ Center for Health Research put our a report estimating that Medicare could save over $100 billion a year if beneficiaries entered the program in better health and maintained good health status.
Tags: Government, Medical Care, Medicare, Wellness and Prevention
Obesity, Obesity
by Kevin Roche on Monday, August 3, 2009
A new study shows increasing amounts of US health care spending are caused by obesity.
Tags: Chronic Disease, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Wellness and Prevention
Individual Health Responsibility
by Kevin Roche on Monday, July 27, 2009
Any health reform needs to ensure that there are adequate incentives to motivate individuals to take responsibility for lifestyle decisions that affect health.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Incentives, Wellness and Prevention
More Innovation From the Private Sector
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, July 8, 2009
A Company mandates that its employees check their health status.
Once Again, Health Care Change is Hard
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, June 18, 2009
Many unions and some disease advocacy groups are objecting to the wellness and prevention provisions proposed in some health reform measures. In a USA Today article, the difficulties of our “system” once again point out the impediments to improvement.
Tags: Consumers, Health Insurance, Incentives, Wellness and Prevention
Safeway’s Health Care Prescription
by Kevin Roche on Monday, June 15, 2009
Safeway Inc. has received a great deal attention around its health care plan and apparent cost savings. The essence of the plan is putting employees and their dependents directly at financial risk for improvements in certain key health-related behaviors.
More on Prevention’s Cost Savings
by Kevin Roche on Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Wall Street Journal article summarized some research results regarding the potential cost savings of prevention and wellness efforts, particularly for persons with chronic diseases. The overall conclusion is that not much money is likely to be saved by such methods, primarily because the cost of these programs when applied to a large population tends to outweigh the health care cost savings which eventually accrue.
Tags: Chronic Disease, Consumers, Disease Management, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
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