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 4th Annual Congress on On-Site Employee Health Clinics
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| Vol 12 No. 1 | December 2010 | |
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Greetings!
Well, it's the holidays. We all just kicked off the holiday season by eating a little too much for Thanksgiving and now we are looking forward to doing the same thing over Christmas. Sometimes there is a brief slow down at most work places between Christmas and New Year's - but not in health care and certainly not with the employer managed health care arena. New conferences and new players are springing up ,and there will soon be a new organization that will track and coordinate information nationally.
Check out the column to the left to see a couple of the headlines that we think might be of interest. Humana purchased Concentra and NBGH published a "toolkit" that addresses on-site programming. We need to keep the newsletter short and try to make it readable, so we are going to highlight links to our companion Web site and let readers click through to items of interest that they may not want to wade through in an e-mail format. (We also added a link to CRC Press. What would delight a holiday gift recipient more than receiving a book that tells them all about workplace clinics?)
We will keep track of it all here, and we hope that readers will log in on the Web page which is updated almost daily. We want to thank all of our readers and contributors for making this newsletter meaningful and for keeping us informed. We have a lot of new stuff coming in the first few months of 2011, so keep tumed in! |
| International Workplace Health Awards | | |
You know things are coming of age when someone decides to have awards for "Innovative Practices Recognized for Changing the Face of Health Care." That's just what two large corporations, each focusing on workplace health, determined when they decided it was time to honor corporations with programs that significantly and positively impact either community or corporate health.
Those two corporations (URAC and the Global Knowledge Exchange Network on Health) recently announced the awards at a symposium in Rome (just this month). Among those honored (for workplace health) were two American corporations who have superior programs. One, Intel Corporation, has a comprehensive program which includes three major components. What were those components? Well, on-site health services was one. The other two were on-site wellness and comprehensive medical benefits. The latter two have been critical components of any comprehensive on-site program since the beginning of employer managed healthcare. |
| Conference Opportunities | | |
As always, check out our conference posting in the column to the left. These are the conferences that are focused on the on-site clinic industry and employers who are operating in that space. However, there are a couple of other organizations to note that routinely address important topics of interest to this community.
MBGH (MIDWEST Business Group on Health) continues to advance business collaboration with a variety of seminars. You can find them by clicking here to see the MBGH calendar for 2011. Among the standard health care seminars coming up in 2011 there are many that deal with ACO's (accountable care organizations), vendors, health care transformation, etc. However, there are few that take the employer's perspective. MBGH is always a good bet for information from that point of view and for networking.
The second group that is worthy of notice is the NBGH (NATIONAL Business Group on Health). They have a conference coming up in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2011. The Employers' Summit on Health Care Costs and Solutions is limited to 75 people - two per company and only human resources, benefits, and corporate medical professionals may attend. The format is designed to allow small group discussion of "plans and the path forward for employer-sponsored health care." This looks like an excellent way to personally network with others who are focusing every day on how to better manage their employees' health. |
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For more on-site clinic news, and to blog about your ideas - visit the FORUM Web site at www.onsiteclinics.org . |
| Data | | |
We're always scanning the net for good data in articles to be able to share with you regarding how other employers are doing with the implementation and on-going management of their on-site services. These "real data" sources are helpful in many ways, not the least of which is just to give encouragement for those in the C-suite as they make tough decisions these days about how to best use scarce resources.
So in the midst of surfing, we found a PowerPoint presentation prepared by Dennis Schultz, MD, MPSH, FACOEM of QuadMed which was given to a large group (mostly employers) in Iowa as follow-up to extensive research done through surveys of Iowans, corporate leadership in Iowa, focus groups, etc. about the quality of health care, access, and other related issues (Iowans Speak Out on Their Health).
To quote Dr. Schultz when he graciously responded to an e-mail inquiry from us regarding the presentation, "Yes. . . you had to be there to understand (the PowerPoint slides)." But with his help, we're going to try to give you some of the data. [You may know or remember that QuadMed has had on-site services for its employees now for nearly 20 years. So they have a wealth of experience in tracking results.]
Some of the data: take a peak at the slide entitled, "Cost: Wisconsin vs. Midwest Trends," which shows that QuadMed's costs were 18% below those of other midwestern corporations in 1998 and continued to a dramatic 31% below in 2008 (by the way, this was based on data produced by Mercer, not QuadMed). And if you look at the slide entitled, "Cost: Wisconsin Members vs. MedStat Benchmarks*," you'll see that the trend through 2010 in terms of annual costs per member moved to a full 28% below the MedStat Benchmark.
There are more slides with great information and stats in them. However, all of them confirm that the provision of care to employees through an employer-managed plan, which incorporates all the concepts of on-site clinics, can achieve stunning results financially. Don't forget, the more important outcome is improved health and well-being for your employees (who are healthier, more committed to your corporation, and more productive as a result). We just have to say it again, it's a win:win! |
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It has been a very successful year for employers with on-site clinics, as well as for our newsletter. This is the one-year anniversary of its publication, and the distribution is growing almost daily which demonstrates that there are many who are working in the field. For all of you who read the newsletter and work on a daily basis to improve the health of others: Happy Holidays and a Healthy New Year! Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Mike La Penna
The La Penna Group, Inc.
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