I had an interesting encounter this past week with one of the originators of on-site programming, Dr. Jack Mahoney.  Many readers will recognize him as the person who started on-site health programming at Pitney Bowes.  The program, now under the direction of Dr. Brent Pawlecki, is one of the few that has sites managed by vendors, local providers, and by its own staff.  Dr. Mahoney is one of the people to whom I turned when I began researching the history of on-site clinics.  His wisdom in the original design of the Pitney Bowes program is still a guiding part of that company's strategy to contain costs and manage health.

 

He recently gave a presentation on the topic of "Value Based Healthcare."  Some people might refer to this as "contracting", and others might include the word "insurance" or "benefits" in the title.  We have reported on this trend in the past, and there are many employers using this concept.  However, the point I would make is that this is simply a new term for an old process and one that many employers were using before we knew what to call it.  Simply put, this is contracting for performance and taking the time to design benefits that complement the contracting process.

 

Frank Tiedeman, a health care strategist, former hospital marketing executive and CEO with whom I have worked, calls this the "Ferris wheel of concepts and ideas" which plagues health care.  By this I believe he meant that in healthcare we have many good ideas which we just rename and re-circulate from time-to-time.  Everything old is new again. 

 

Between newsletters, keep checking the Web site, www.onsiteclinics.org, to see what we have added, and please add your own comments, ideas, complaints, or questions.  All are encouraged and welcomed!