Profiting from health: The self-insurance story
For decades self-funding has been the method of choice for very large companies, but now companies as small as 20 employees are looking to get out of fully-funded plans.
What’s the outlook for 2017 employee healthcare costs?
Moderate cost trends in the large-employer market seemingly contrast with those in the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces.
The Funding Model for Cancer Innovation is Broken — We Can Fix It
Closing cancer health equity gaps require medical breakthroughs made possible by new funding approaches.
Startup DoctorGlobe seeks to turn price transparency on its head
DoctorGlobe, which serves members and sponsors of self-insured employer health plans, displays patient out-of-pocket responsibility rather than the price providers bill the employer for.
What’s driving increased catastrophic claims for self-insured employers? (Infographic)
The 10 most common conditions for stop-loss payments accounted for more than half of all such claims in the last three years, according to Sun Life Financial U.S.
Arbitration agreement showdown pits Sutter Health against employers, splits insurers
The current fight centers on larger employers that tend to self-insure because they have the financial resources to pay their own medical claims. They often hire an insurer to negotiate with hospitals for discounted rates as part of their health plan network for employees.
ACA changes on consumer out-of-pocket costs for medical care vexes employers
Many employers face a major plan design change or revision to the pricing structure to accommodate the additional cost
Health Executives on Digital Transformation in Healthcare
Hear executives from Quantum Health, Surescripts, EY, Clinical Architecture and Personify Health share their views on digital transformation in healthcare.
Report highlights ethical concerns, questions financial gains of employer wellness programs
The interest in employers cutting healthcare costs has purred the growth of companies claiming their employer wellness tools can make it easier for employers to satisfy those goals. But a new report sheds some light on the downside of employer wellness programs, particularly the invasiveness people feel in their personal lives and concerns by patient […]
Corporate wellness entrepreneurs: Carrot and the stick is the wrong model
As I said at the close of the first day of ENGAGE, I heard this phrase much more often than I expected to: We have to meet people where they are. I am surprised at how fast this “how do we get employees to be healthy?” conversation has shifted, even since ENGAGE 2013. The focus […]
Employer-sponsored health insurance gets ‘skinny’ as 16% of firms offer bare-bones plans
Nearly one company in six in a new survey from a major employer group plans to offer health coverage that doesn’t meet the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for value and affordability. Many thought such low-benefit “skinny plans” would be history once the health law was fully implemented this year. Instead, 16 percent of large employers in a […]
Obligations, options, focus: How the ACA has transformed how employers buy health insurance
Dr. Robert Galvin is chief executive officer of Equity Healthcare, where he works with executives of nearly 50 companies that purchase health coverage for 300,000 people. Galvin says the 2010 Affordable Care Act has made employers more engaged in health benefits while encouraging their workers to be savvier health care consumers. “I think what the […]
Reducing Clinical and Staff Burnout with AI Automation
As technology advances, AI-powered tools will increasingly reduce the administrative burdens on healthcare providers.
Some workers set to be automatically enrolled in health plans under controversial Obamacare provision
Newly hired employees who don’t sign up for health insurance on the job could have it done for them under a health law provision that may take effect as early as next year. But the controversial provision is raising questions: Does automatic enrollment help employees help themselves, or does it force them into coverage they […]
Boeing sets up employer based ACO deals to give workers access to first class healthcare
Boeing and some of the Northwest’s largest health care providers are teaming up to provide what they say will be higher-quality, more-affordable care for some of the aerospace giant’s employees. To accomplish this, the company will work with accountable care organizations, or ACOs, an increasingly popular strategy for health-care delivery that puts more responsibility on […]
Will ‘defined contributions’ become the post- ACA incarnation of employer-sponsored health plans?
What if employers started giving workers a chunk of cash to buy health insurance on their own instead of offering them a chance to buy into the company plan? Are workers ready to manage their own health insurance like they do their 401(k)? The idea that employers might decide to drop their health plans and replace […]
Keckley to Congress: Let the ACA work or we’ll lose more employer health insurance
Paul Keckley sees one result of all the financial and policy battles going on around the Affordable Care Act: higher costs for everyone. In his second weekly memo as a consultant, he wants Congress and state leaders to drop the partisan gamesmanship and lift the ACA out of the political fight. He lists three reasons: […]
Leapfrog’s calculator helps employers put a price tag on hospital errors
$6.9 million. That’s the error tax “average US employer” pays for hospital errors, given 1,000 admissions in a year for all covered lives. The Leapfrog Group got that number from its new calculator. It’s designed to help employers figure out the hidden tax that comes from getting care from C, D or F hospitals. The […]