Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by cyndynayer in News, People
Michael Taylor M.D., Chairman of the Board of the Center for Health Value Innovation, was recently interviewed by Human Resource Magazine regarding the use of data to drive outcomes.
Reprinted with permission of the Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org), Alexandria, VA, publisher of HR Magazine. © SHRM
Laying Hands on Health Data
Vol. 55 No. 2
Acquiring the underlying facts and figures on your organization’s health costs may be easier than you think—and more worthwhile.
2/1/2010 By Joanne Sammer
Health costs are up, so—not surprisingly—crunching numbers is in. Many employers want to look closely at their health care claims and utilization data to find ways to reduce health expenses. After all, employers can’t manage health costs unless they know what drives those costs. But many HR professionals aren’t sure what health data may be available and whether they can obtain such data cost-effectively—if at all.
The good news is that many health insurers and other health care vendors are making more data available, and not just to large employers. Certainly, major self-insured companies such as IBM have always had sufficient leverage wit h their plans’ administrators to obtain data. But employers with smaller payrolls, especially those that buy health coverage rather than self-insure, historically have been less successful. The reasons have ranged from insurers’ professed inability to segregate one client’s data from data for a multi-employer group, to a small employer’s lack of resources for analyzing such data. Today, howevr, employers of all sizes have more options than they may realize. Sometimes gaining access to information is simply a matter of asking insurers what data are or could be made available. The challenge comes in interpreting and acting on the information. HR executives must understand what they’re looking at and must become familiar with the methods and the rationales for the various ways health data can be cut, organized and interpreted.
Read more here -
CAT–SHRM Laying Hands on Health Data-1
Posted on 28. Feb, 2010 by cyndynayer in People, Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Center for Health Value Innovation Vice President Raymond Zastrow, M.D. Earns BizTimes Milwaukee Health Care Heroes Award at Sixth Annual Awards Ceremony
ST. LOUIS, Mo./MILWAUKEE, Wis. – January 05, 2010 – The Center for Health Value Innovation (www.vbhealth.org), the nation’s premier information exchange for value-based design, announced today that Raymond Zastrow, M.D., FAAFP, president, QuadMed, and vice president for evidence of the Center, was recognized by BizTimes Milwaukee for Corporate Achievement in Health Care during its recent sixth annual Health Care Heroes Awards ceremony.
“Dr. Zastrow exemplifies the Center’s commitment to value-based design, and we are extremely gratified that his work is receiving such high-profile recognition,” says Cyndy Nayer, president and CEO of the Center. “As one of the brightest minds working at the frontlines of health care reform, his ongoing efforts to influence decision-makers in Washington D.C. and Wisconsin, as well as his accomplishments at QuadMed, have been nothing short of triumphant.”
Chosen from a field of nominations by an independent panel of health care professionals, Dr. Zastrow is responsible for clinical quality oversight, clinical process re-design, and health care benefit design for Quad/Graphics. QuadMed, a subsidiary of Quad/Graphics to provide affordable, high-quality health care for the company’s employees, has reduced health care costs to approximately $6,800 per employee – 30 percent less than the average similar-sized manufacturer in the Midwest. QuadMed provides on-site, employer-directed primary care and prevention/wellness programs to Quad/Graphic and several other large employers.
“I was very proud to receive this award, which I accepted on behalf of the entire Quad/Graphics / QuadMed organization,” says Dr. Zastrow. “The health care model developed for our employees is based upon staying healthy rather than attempting to fix avoidable problems after the fact. It’s an approach that empowers primary care and that has allowed QuadMed to serve as an example of excellence in on-site care for companies across the nation.”
About The Center for Health Value Innovation Information Exchange for Value-Based Design
The Center for Health Value Innovation has grown into the nation’s premier organization dedicated to sharing the evidence of improved health and economic outcomes through value-based designs for sustainable health and financial improvement.
www.vbhealth.org
Raymond Zastrow MD-Healthy Heroes Award
Posted on 30. Oct, 2009 by cyndynayer in News, People
The Center has been building a fabulous panel of innovators who are sharing expertise, plan designs, and results. You can learn more about our new members on the Board of Advisors: Michael Jacobs [Buck Consultants], Cindy Johnson [Group Health Cooperative], Frank Johnson [State of Maine], Gregg Kamas [IMA Financial], Jeff Kluever [Journal Communications], and Bruce Sherman MD [Goodyear]. 2009 New Board Advisors
Posted on 25. Sep, 2009 by cyndynayer in Library, News, People
Mike Taylor MD (Chair of the Center), Jack Mahoney MD (Chief Medical Officer of the Center and Global Health Strategist for Pitney Bowes) and Mary Bradley (Director of Health Care Planning at Pitney Bowes) were named CDHC Superstars for 2009! We’re delighted to share their stories here. CDHC Superstar Mike Taylor CDHC Superstar Jack Mahoney and Mary Bradley You can also learn more about Mike and Jack in these updated biographies on their work. Mike Taylor monograph Jack Mahoney monograph
Posted on 27. Jun, 2009 by admin in News, People, Press Releases
Business Week featured Paul Grundy, CHVI board member and director of health-care transformation at IBM, in a piece about the rising prominence of the idea of a “medical home,” which would put general practitioners in charge of coordinating all care for their patients.
This vision has a name: the “patient-centered medical home.” The “home” is the office of a primary-care doctor where patients would go for most of their medical needs. The general practitioner would oversee everything from flu shots to chronic disease management to weight loss, and coordinate care with nurses, pharmacists, and specialists. A 2004 study estimated that if every patient had such a home, the resulting efficiencies might reduce U.S. health-care costs by 5.6%, a savings of $67 billion a year.
Instead, most patients today get a scant seven minutes with a general practitioner, who has time to do little more than ask cursory questions and focus on the problem at hand. The patient rushes to specialists for chronic conditions that could be managed by a regular doctor. (Today, these different physicians rarely coordinate.) Last-minute appointments are almost unheard of—one reason patients with minor complaints flock to already crowded hospital emergency rooms.
This medical home may sound like the “gatekeeper” model of the 1990s, a managed-care creation that was all about holding down costs. But advocates say the new concept is designed to help patients, not insurers. It’s more like doctoring 1950s-style, when a Marcus Welby figure handled all the family’s medical needs. This time it’s juiced up with digital technology.
It also represents a politically painless way to streamline a disorganized and wasteful system that chews up a crippling 18% of the U.S. gross domestic product. That burden is felt particularly by private industry, which covers 60% of the nation’s insured. Since most businesses try to ferret out waste and disorganization in their own operations, the medical home is a concept they can embrace in good conscience.
Grundy’s role in the debate is as a representative of a leading employer, advocating both for the medical-home model and for employers as innovators. Read the full article here.
