Posted on 20. Mar, 2010 by cyndynayer in Cyndy's Spot on Health Value, News
Industry Ally to the Center, SeeChange Health has launched the first insurance company built on prevention-wellness and value-based designs. As an Industry Ally, SeeChange Health used the expert guidance and evidence from the Center in crafting their new product, now officially launched in California. Cyndy Nayer, President and CEO of the Center for Health Value Innovation, notes, ” It’s the alignment of incentives to engage consumers with the reimbursement strategy to engage the providers in keeping people well–the very embodiment of outcomes-based contracting–that is so unique. Sustainable behavior change that supports improved health is the goal. Bravo, SeeChange Health and HealthInsight for changing the direction of consumer health improvement.”
SeeChange Health – The New Value-Based Health Insurer Aligns Benefits with Preventive Care and Chronic Condition Management
San Francisco, CA–March 22, 2010 – SeeChange Health today launched the first new value-based health insurance company in California, offering personalized, value-based health plans that provide incentives to encourage individuals to play an active role in their health management and improve their quality of life. As the first value-based health insurance company to launch in the United States, SeeChange Health brings affordable, next-generation insurance designs to the employer group market. The plan will be available initially in Fresno, California, but the company plans to expand their offering to Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, Monterey, Sacramento and San Francisco in the coming months.
Value-based health care encourages individuals to access preventive care, which will identify looming health problems before they become serious – and expensive. Participants who complete a health questionnaire along with age and gender specific preventive examinations, including cancer screenings and basic lab tests, are rewarded with enhanced benefits such as reduced coinsurance and deductibles along with cash rewards.
Unlike typical health insurance companies, SeeChange Health designed its benefit plans to encourage individuals to see their doctor. SeeChange Health covers preventive examinations, including cancer screenings and associated lab tests, at 100 percent.
“We are thrilled to partner with a health plan that rewards its members for building and maintaining a relationship with their doctor,” said Dr. Daniel Bluestone, Chief Medical Officer of Santé Community Physicians. “SeeChange Health promotes healthy behaviors, which will ultimately reduce chronic illnesses and help people live fuller, healthier lives.”
In addition to providing enhanced benefits for completing preventive examinations and related screenings, SeeChange rewards its members with financial incentives for completing health actions necessary for proactively managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes, asthma and coronary artery disease.
“When SeeChange approached us with its groundbreaking solution, we eagerly embraced the only health plan to completely align its benefits with preventive care and chronic condition management,” said Cyndy Nayer, President of the Center for Health Value Innovation, the nation’s premier information exchange for value-based design.
“The reaction and feedback we are receiving from employers is overwhelmingly positive,” said Chuck Trogdon, CEO of Renberg, Trogdon, & Cavale Insurance Services. “Employers are clamoring for affordable health plans with benefits designed to support individual efforts for staying healthy. This approach drives down health plan costs and promotes a healthier workforce.”
Why the initial focus on California? One out of seven residents are uninsured and the number is growing. In the coming months, SeeChange will expand their health insurance offerings throughout California and into twenty-four states where they are licensed to sell value-based health insurance.
“While the nation debates the merits of a national health care plan, the elephant in the room is who is going to pay for it,” said Martin Watson, CEO of SeeChange Health. “With our new plan, we are effectively showing that you can lower health care costs and improve the quality of care while you’re doing it.”
About SeeChange Health
SeeChange Health provides fully-insured, value-based health insurance to employer groups. The company combines value-based benefit designs, data analytics and an interactive personal health record to consistently improve the health profile of individuals. Preventive health actions are assigned and tracked at an individual level. Individuals with disease states such as pre-diabetes, diabetes, asthma and heart disease receive specific health actions based on their medical condition. SeeChange Health is headquartered in San Francisco and is focused on reducing health care costs through proactive health management and early detection of health conditions.
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PRSeeChangeLaunchMarch22-2010
SeeChange Health – The New Value-Based Health Insurer Aligns Benefits with Preventive Care and Chronic Condition Management
San Francisco, CA–March 22, 2010 – SeeChange Health today launched the first new value-based health insurance company in California, offering personalized, value-based health plans that provide incentives to encourage individuals to play an active role in their health management and improve their quality of life. As the first value-based health insurance company to launch in the United States, SeeChange Health brings affordable, next-generation insurance designs to the employer group market. The plan will be available initially in Fresno, California, but the company plans to expand their offering to Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, Monterey, Sacramento and San Francisco in the coming months.
Value-based health care encourages individuals to access preventive care, which will identify looming health problems before they become serious – and expensive. Participants who complete a health questionnaire along with age and gender specific preventive examinations, including cancer screenings and basic lab tests, are rewarded with enhanced benefits such as reduced coinsurance and deductibles along with cash rewards.
Unlike typical health insurance companies, SeeChange Health designed its benefit plans to encourage individuals to see their doctor. SeeChange Health covers preventive examinations, including cancer screenings and associated lab tests, at 100 percent.
“We are thrilled to partner with a health plan that rewards its members for building and maintaining a relationship with their doctor,” said Dr. Daniel Bluestone, Chief Medical Officer of Santé Community Physicians. “SeeChange Health promotes healthy behaviors, which will ultimately reduce chronic illnesses and help people live fuller, healthier lives.”
In addition to providing enhanced benefits for completing preventive examinations and related screenings, SeeChange rewards its members with financial incentives for completing health actions necessary for proactively managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes, asthma and coronary artery disease.
“When SeeChange approached us with its groundbreaking solution, we eagerly embraced the only health plan to completely align its benefits with preventive care and chronic condition management,” said Cyndy Nayer, President of the Center for Health Value Innovation, the nation’s premier information exchange for value-based design.
“The reaction and feedback we are receiving from employers is overwhelmingly positive,” said Chuck Trogdon, CEO of Renberg, Trogdon, & Cavale Insurance Services. “Employers are clamoring for affordable health plans with benefits designed to support individual efforts for staying healthy. This approach drives down health plan costs and promotes a healthier workforce.”
Why the initial focus on California? One out of seven residents are uninsured and the number is growing. In the coming months, SeeChange will expand their health insurance offerings throughout California and into twenty-four states where they are licensed to sell value-based health insurance.
“While the nation debates the merits of a national health care plan, the elephant in the room is who is going to pay for it,” said Martin Watson, CEO of SeeChange Health. “With our new plan, we are effectively showing that you can lower health care costs and improve the quality of care while you’re doing it.”
About SeeChange Health
SeeChange Health provides fully-insured, value-based health insurance to employer groups. The company combines value-based benefit designs, data analytics and an interactive personal health record to consistently improve the health profile of individuals. Preventive health actions are assigned and tracked at an individual level. Individuals with disease states such as pre-diabetes, diabetes, asthma and heart disease receive specific health actions based on their medical condition. SeeChange Health is headquartered in San Francisco and is focused on reducing health care costs through proactive health management and early detection of health conditions.
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Posted on 06. Feb, 2010 by cyndynayer in Library, News
Value-Based Design Programs Improve Employee Health: Survey by Center for Health Value Innovation and Buck Consultants
ST. LOUIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A new study confirms that employers believe value-based design (VBD) improves employee health and productivity. The Center for Health Value Innovation, the nation’s premier information exchange for value-based design, today announced the results of a survey, “Value-Based Design 2009,” conducted by Buck Consultants, a global employee benefits and human resources consulting firm.
“Value-Based Design 2009 – Survey Report January 2010”
The survey is the most comprehensive of its kind in the industry, studying 100 employers in 16 major industries, reporting on more than 1 million covered lives, including retirees.
VBD uses benefit design and delivery to align incentives for workers, employers, and providers to improve health and financial outcomes through behavior change. The survey results validate the Center’s efforts to promote VBD as an effective means to improve total health and performance across communities.
“This survey is the first one that examines the experience of companies of all sizes and sectors who had a value-based design in place for two or more years,” says Cyndy Nayer, President and CEO of the Center. “It validates the work of the Center, and expands the knowledge base of change and innovation for the market. In particular, this survey demonstrates increasing focus on employee assistance programs, depression, and financial counseling, which ties in with our goal to expand the definition of VBD and link it to total health and performance.”
Michael Jacobs, principal for Buck Consultants and member of the Center’s Board of Directors, adds, “The survey responses prove that organizations using VBD understand the vital importance of this approach. Despite the recession – when employers more likely to cut expenses by changing their benefits – few of the organizations using VBD changed their benefits structure.”
According to the survey respondents who currently have VBD incorporated into the health program for employees, 79 percent made no changes in 2009. Additionally, more than one half of these companies (56 percent) anticipate no changes in these benefits for 2010.
Other significant survey results include the use of VB levers to improve stakeholder engagement:
- 87 percent use for prevention/wellness
- 60 percent use for chronic care management
- 80 percent use for disease management
- 63 percent waive employee cost sharing for yearly screening exam
- 40 percent provide insurance premium incentive for completion of a Health Risk Assessment (HRA)
- 54 percent cover depression under care management program
- 70 percent reduce/waive co-pay for utilizing the lowest cost appropriate site of care (e.g., urgent care, convenient care, onsite services, medical travel)
- 58 percent provide incentives for the use of EAP programs
- 35 percent provide incentives for financial counseling
“With this survey we can now point to hard numbers that back up everything that we have been communicating regarding the power of VBD to transform health and the administration of health benefits in this country,” says Nayer, noting that there is still work to be done. “We see a growing expansion of value-based design, linking the health and wealth of the individual to the health and wealth of the organization.”
Nayer and Jack Mahoney, M.D., chief medical officer of the Center and former corporate medical director for Pitney Bowes, have spent the last decade showing the evidence for the widespread adoption of VBD programs. Their collective experience and expertise, coupled with co-author Jan Berger, M.D., culminated in the publication of Leveraging Health (2009). The book uses the experience of innovators in many organizations to document “suites” of levers, a metaphor for plan designs and incentives, showing decision makers how to make informed decisions on benefits and services for better corporate performance.
Dr. Mahoney lauds the Buck Consultants survey: “It is very gratifying to see statistics confirm something we have known for years. One common measurement of improved VBD activity is that 74 percent of survey respondents indicate that employees are now getting preventative exams and annual screenings. We see this as a tipping point and envision landmark changes ahead as more employers embrace VBD to drive change by improving the health and productivity of their workforce.”
To see full results from the “Value-Based Design 2009 – Survey Report January 2010” click here
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
About Buck Consultants
Buck Consultants is a leader in human resource and benefits consulting with more than 1,500 professionals worldwide. Founded in 1916 to advise clients in establishing and funding some of the nation’s first public and private retirement programs, Buck is an innovator in the areas of retirement benefits, health and welfare programs, human capital management, compensation, and employee communication. News and other information about Buck Consultants are available at www.buckconsultants.com. Buck is an independent subsidiary of ACS, A Xerox Company.
CHVI-BUCK VBD 2009 FINAL- Report
