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Category Archives: Health Care

Health Care Price Growth Plummets to 1.1 Percent

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ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

National health care prices grew 1.1 percent in April 2013 relative to April 2012, the lowest reading since November 1997 and a whopping five-tenth drop from the March rise. The 12-month moving average, at 1.8 percent, is the lowest since 1.7 percent recorded in September 1998. National health expenditures, which reflect both prices and utilization, grew 4.2 percent, remaining in the vicinity of the record low levels seen annually since 2009.

Meanwhile, health care employment extended its recent moderation with 11,000 new jobs in May 2013, about half the 24-month average of 23,000. Health sector job growth in the first 5 months of 2013 averaged 18,000 per month, compared to 28,000 per month during the same period in 2012, with most of the slowdown seen in hospitals. With total nonfarm jobs in May growing by a solid 175,000 jobs, the health sector share of total employment dropped slightly to 10.72%, off the revised all-time high of 10.73% seen in April 2013.

These data come from the June Health Sector Economic IndicatorsSM briefs released by Altarum Institutes Center for Sustainable Health Spending. The briefs, covering health care spending, utilization, prices, and employment are at http://www.altarum.org/HealthIndicators.

Economy-wide disinflation continues to be reflected in lower health care price growth, and evidence is accumulating that 2013 will be a year of slower health sector job growth, said Charles Roehrig, director of the Center. Recent media announcements of hospital intentions to shed jobs bolster this conclusion. With pressure from sequestration and a still underperforming economy, our research suggests health spending growth will also remain low for the remainder of 2013.

The health spending share of GDP was 18.1 percent in March, stable from the 18 percent range it has exhibited since the recession ended in June 2009 (after spiking from the pre-recession 16.4% rate). Implicit per capita health care utilization averaged 1.4 percent growth over the last 12 months suggesting a small rebound from the exceptionally low, first quarter of 2012 results.

Altarum Institute (www.altarum.org) integrates objective research and client-centered consulting skills to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. Altarum employs more than 400 individuals and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., with additional offices in the Washington, D.C., area; Atlanta, Ga.; Portland, Maine; and San Antonio, Texas.

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Health Care Price Growth Plummets to 1.1 Percent

Health Barrier: From insurance coverage to simply finding a doctor, health care presents challenges for the …

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Three hours before Michael David Battle starts his day, he begins thinking about binding his breasts, and the questions he might face. What shirt will best conceal his chest? What if someone addresses him by the wrong pronoun?

"It's much different than I really hate my body,'" says Battle. "It's that constant fear and dysphoria that goes with you every single day of your life."

Battle, who identifies as a black man of transgender experience, binds his chest daily and has taken hormones for two years. On Aug. 29, he will have chest reconstruction surgery. He'll pay for the procedure all $6,738 of it with money from fundraising and his own savings.

That's because for Battle and many others, most insurance policies don't cover transition-related health care and in some cases even standard health care for transgender patients. And even if they did, a patient has to find a friendly doctor, something advocates and transgender residents say can be hard to do.

"It's a highly stigmatized issue," says Sandra Soloski, program director at Persad, a Garfield-based counseling center for LGBTQ and HIV-positive people. The center provides referrals for trans clients and has a trans team that coordinates resources, which can be hard to find. "Some doctors are not clinically competent because they've just never looked in that direction," Soloski says. "Some may have attitudes themselves about it."

Indeed, despite living in a city known for its "eds-and-meds" culture with health-care giants UPMC and West Penn Allegheny Health System, the transgender community often gets left out.

While the Allegheny County Health Department provides services to whomever comes through its doors, it doesn't offer specialized services for transgender patients. And while some UPMC/WPAHS physicians do work with trans patients, the lion's share of medical support is being picked up by a small group of physicians and advocates, many of whom work in community-health clinics. Among them, the best-known is Metro Family Practice in Wilkinsburg.

Trans care "[is] not part of people's consciousness," says Metro's Dr. Martin Seltman. "[Doctors] aren't conscious about it and patients have to be pretty comfortable to reveal it."

Finding a trans-friendly doctor in Pittsburgh often relies on word-of-mouth referral, with friendliness defined both by clinical competency knowledge about medial issues like hormone therapy as well as cultural competency. Do intake forms include transgender or gender-non-conforming status? Are the pamphlets and waiting-room materials sensitive to trans concerns? Protocols for providing informed, empathetic care for trans patients have been issued by a number of organizations, including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. But that doesn't mean every doctor uses them or even knows about them.

"The way some doctors communicate about trans patients is demeaning the wording people use, there's not a respect or understanding or an acceptance," says Dr. Stacy Lane, a physician who provides primary care to transgender patients, among others, at West End Health Center. Lane recalls that in one patient's file, for example, a physician described a patient has "a 35-year-old male who wants to be called a woman."

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Health Barrier: From insurance coverage to simply finding a doctor, health care presents challenges for the ...

Altarum Institute to Create Analytical Structure Linking Prevention to Health Care Costs

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ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Altarum Institutes Center for Sustainable Health Spending has been awarded a $400,000 implementation grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to create an analytical structure to demonstrate the value of investments in primary prevention to health outcomes and health care costs. The goal of this work is to develop an economic-analysis tool to assess the impact of nonclinical primary-prevention initiatives on reducing overall health care costs.

We are honored to receive this fifteen-month grant, and are very excited to continue our partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on what will be extremely challenging research, with an enduring impact on how we assess and communicate the value of primary prevention, said Dr. George Miller, principal investigator and Altarum Institute Fellow.

The analysis will be guided by a national advisory panel that brings together some of the nations leading experts in public health, workplace wellness, and community leaders devoted to inspiring the growth of a healthier population, e.g., David Chokshi, Marthe Gold, Michael OGrady, Steven Teutsch, and Steven Woolf.

The Center for Sustainable Health Spending has repeatedly demonstrated their capability to initiate the difficult work required to create an economic tool to help us understand the link between community level primary prevention and health care costs, said Pamela G. Russo, senior program officer for RWJF. Developing a practical analytical structure that incorporates input from a wide array of primary prevention stakeholders allows us to better understand the value of prevention investments, and is critical in assessing the role prevention efforts can play in controlling national health care spending.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nations largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For more than 40 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit http://www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitterat http://www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at http://www.rwjf.org/facebook.

Altarum Institute integrates objective research and client-centered consulting skills to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. Altarum employs more than 400 individuals and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., with additional offices in the Washington, D.C., area; Atlanta, Ga.; Portland, Maine; and San Antonio, Texas.

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Altarum Institute to Create Analytical Structure Linking Prevention to Health Care Costs

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Selects Jiva, ZeOmega’s Care Management Software, for Utilization Management

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FRISCO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

ZeOmega, Inc., the premier provider of software solutions for population healthcare management, announced today that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is expanding its use of ZeOmegas integrated care management software, Jiva to include support for utilization management functions. As part of its expanded use of Jiva, Harvard Pilgrim will also upgrade to the latest version of Jiva, version 5.x.

Harvard Pilgrim selected Jiva in 2009 to further enable its vision for integrated health management. As a result, Harvard Pilgrim was able to enhance its member engagement by using sophisticated clinical analytics that quickly and accurately identify members with or at risk of chronic conditions. With the addition of the utilization management functionality, all of Harvard Pilgrims health management activities will be supported on a single platform.

Harvard Pilgrim is a leader in integrated health management, and choosing ZeOmega as our technology partner has been key to our success, says Anne Metzger, vice president of health management for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Adding utilization management to the functions supported by Jiva provides our team with additional opportunities to engage our members in managing their health.

Jiva, ZeOmegas care management platform, transforms traditional episodic-based care management into proactive and collaborative population healthcare management through EHR-enabled care plans, point-of-care tools, decision support, analytics, and user-configurable workflows. Jiva enables the integration of workflows across the care management continuum, automating intelligently based on client business rules, and providing more effective collaboration among the health plan, its providers and members.

Harvard Pilgrim is known for its innovative programs that focus on member engagement and client satisfaction, says Nandini Rangaswamy, executive vice president for ZeOmega. We are excited to expand this relationship as Harvard Pilgrim continually raises the bar for population health management.

Both companies are attending the AHIP Institute 2013 on Transforming Our Health Care System: Navigating and Succeeding in the New Marketplace, June 12-14 in Las Vegas. Attendees can learn more about ZeOmegas population health management solutions at booth 209.

About ZeOmega

ZeOmegas powerful population health management platform delivers high-value, strategic solutions enabling payers and care-delivery organizations to improve individual health and provider performance. With deep domain expertise and a comprehensive understanding of complex population health challenges, ZeOmega serves as a true-north partner for clients - offering flexible deployment and delivery models that leverage an innovative platform designed to integrate workflow, analytics, content and communication capabilities. By consistently meeting customer expectations and project benchmarks, ZeOmega has earned a sterling reputation in the industry for responsiveness and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.zeomega.com or call 214-618-9880. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

About Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

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Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Selects Jiva, ZeOmega’s Care Management Software, for Utilization Management

Health Care Stocks: Performance Plus Value

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- With Obamacare set to take hold in 2014, is it any surprise health care continues to be one of the top performing sectors in the market?

Of the 60 sectors I track with my Best Stocks Now app, four of the top 10 are currently healthcare related. I rank them on short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term performance.

Data from Best Stocks Now App

I have been heavily weighted in the drug, biotech, and health care sectors for over one year and I continue to reap the benefits from them.

I have also noticed lately that as this current seven-month old uptrend in the market gets longer and longer in the tooth, the leadership in the market continues to get more narrow.

The once, red-hot building and construction sector has cooled off considerably and has fallen from its leadership perch. Although I have cashed in on most of the profits I was able to garner from this sector from earlier in the year, I still believe the housing sector is in the early innings of a multi-year rebound. In other words, this sector will eventually come back into favor once again.

Stocks, sectors and asset classes fall in and out of favor during the cycles the market goes through, and I am a big believer in rolling with those cycles as opposed to fighting them.

Just look at the huge difference in the performance of domestic stocks vs. foreign stocks so far this year. While the home-grown S&P 500 is up about 15% year-to-date, emerging markets (as seen by the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ) are down over 8%, and China is down over 12%.

How important is it to be out of foreign stocks this year? By contrast, how important is it to be in the right asset classes in the market? For this reason I am not a big believer in asset allocation. Why would I want to have any exposure to a bond market that is perched on the edge of a cliff right now? Have you looked at a chart of the bond market lately?

If you haven't, here is a three-year chart of U.S. Treasuries:

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Health Care Stocks: Performance Plus Value

Restoring the City’s Health and Health Care Systems After Sandy: Lessons for the Next Emergency – Video

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Restoring the City #39;s Health and Health Care Systems After Sandy: Lessons for the Next Emergency
Kate McKenzie, Director of Policy and Planning for City Harvest Jack Carvanos, Associate Professor of Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, H...

By: GradCenterCUNY

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Restoring the City's Health and Health Care Systems After Sandy: Lessons for the Next Emergency - Video

Advocate Health Care President and CEO Honored by B’nai B’rith

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DOWNERS GROVE, IL--(Marketwired - June 10, 2013) - B'nai B'rith announced today that it is recognizing Jim Skogsbergh, Advocate Health Care president and CEO, as the recipient of its 2013 National Healthcare Award.

B'nai B'rith, an international humanitarian, human rights and advocacy organization said it selects individuals for the award who showcase a dedicated leadership and commitment to outstanding civic involvement in the health care field, as well as those who work to serve the broader community by supporting philanthropic causes that benefit health, youth and education programs.

"We are so pleased to recognize the leadership and dedication to the community exemplified by Jim Skogsbergh and Advocate Health Care," said B'nai B'rith International President Allan J. Jacobs. "While he leads the largest health care system in Illinois, Jim doesn't lose sight of the impact of health care decisions on the community at large. This is exactly the commitment we look for in bestowing this honor."

Named among the nation's Top 5 largest health systems by Truven Analytics this year, Advocate partners with schools, townships, churches and community organizations across Chicagoland and Central Illinois to provide health care outreach, education and more to those who need it most.

"Jim is committed to ensuring Advocate enhances the health of the communities we are privileged to serve through quality and compassionate care," said Mark Harris, Advocate Board member. "In 2011 Advocate provided more than $550 million in community benefits-touching more than one million lives."

Take a look at a brief video that highlights just a few of Advocate's community programs, which showcases Advocate's culture of service under Jim Skogsbergh's leadership.

About Advocate Health CareAdvocate Health Care, named among the nation's Top 5 largest health systems by Truven Analytics, is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. Advocate operates more than 250 sites of care, including 12 hospitals that encompass 11 acute care hospitals, the state's largest integrated children's network, five Level I trauma centers (the state's highest designation in trauma care), two Level II trauma centers, one of the area's largest home health care companies and one of the region's largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $571 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2011.

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Advocate Health Care President and CEO Honored by B'nai B'rith


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