| On My Mind: Outpatient Procedures and Tests Report |
| By Cheryl Demars, CEO
 The Alliance is working on a new tool that will help you and your employees understand and compare the cost of outpatient procedures and tests. The QualityCounts™ Outpatient Procedures and Tests Report will provide cost information on some of the most common, outpatient surgeries, procedures and tests at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers that participate with The Alliance.
The report covers common, non-emergency outpatient procedures and tests that are typically provided outside of a routine office visit - in other words, procedures where consumers have an opportunity to shop. These include:
- Common outpatient surgeries - Adenoidectomy, Arthroscopic Knee Surgery, Cataract Surgery, Laparoscopic Gallbladder and Hernia Surgeries, and Ear Tube Insertion.
- Tests - Bone Density Study, Cardiac Perfusion Scan, Colonoscopy, Mammogram, and Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
- CTs and MRIs - of various parts of the body.
A Tool to Help Employees Shop for Outpatient Care
The QualityCounts™ Outpatient Procedures and Tests Report will help employees understand how costs compare from one facility to another. Using this information, along with information about benefit plan coverage, will help employees make more informed and potentially more cost-effective decisions about where to get care.
Report will be Available through the Online Provider Directory
The QualityCounts™ Outpatient Procedures and Tests Report will be an online report available through www.qualitycounts.org and The Alliance's Online Provider Directory through the "Find a Doctor" function. At both sites, employees will log in to view the information.
Because the information is specific to Alliance enrollees and contains sensitive cost information about the providers we contract with, the report will only be available to those who use the employer's plan which accesses The Alliance network at member organizations. We are working with benefits representatives at Alliance member companies who may need access, but who do not have it because they do not access that plan.
We will provide more information about the report in the coming weeks and as it is released. We are preparing a piece which will help you understand what is in the report, without sharing specific cost information.
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| The Alliance is Moving |
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The Alliance is moving from our current location on Madison's west side to a new building in the New Venture Center on the Fitchburg Technology Campus.
Our phone numbers, fax and P.O. address will not change. Medical claims will continue to be sent to our current P.O. Box.
The move will allow us to continue to offer excellent service to our current members and provide for growth in the future so we may help even more employers manage the total cost of ensuring the health and well-being of their employees.
We expect the move to happen by February 16. After that, our new physical address will be:
5510 Nobel Drive, Suite 200
Fitchburg, WI 53711
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| Have you taken the Mental Health and Addiction in the Workplace Survey? |
Last week we held our latest Alliance Learning Circle. Our speakers provided valuable information about mental health and addiction in the workplace.
If you attended and you haven't filled out the survey yet, please do so. If you weren't able to attend, we'd love to hear from you as well so that we may learn what factors may have prevented you from attending. We'll use the information from the survey to ensure that our events meet your needs. Take the survey today.
Also, as CEO Cheryl DeMars mentioned to attendees, we are currently recruiting to fill our Director, Sales and Member Services. To learn more about the position, visit our Web site.
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Share Your Story with Alliance Members
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The Alliance features member employers in case studies. If you work with an Alliance member who has a success story to tell about their experience providing value-based benefits, we'd love to hear from them. In Your Words gives member organizations a chance to share their story. To get started, they simply complete this questionnaire. We'll be in contact to learn more from them. We hope to share information from In Your Words with other members in this newsletter, in case studies and on the Web. Learning from one another is one of the best ways to improve health benefits.
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| The Alliance Health Policy Platform |
The Alliance Health Policy Committee has finished The Alliance's Health Policy Platform. The platform focuses on "bending the trend" of health care costs while improving the quality and safety of care. The platform includes the following four planks:
- Plank One: Cost and Quality Transparency - The Prerequisite to Meaningful Change in Health Care
- Plank Two: Aligning Incentives for Providers - Redesigning Payment Mechanisms to Promote Better Value
- Plank Three: Supporting Consumers
- Plank Four: The Health Care Marketplace - Preserve What Works, Fix What Doesn't and Remain Open to Change
The platform will guide the committee's work throughout the year. At a recent event, the health policy committee and Alliance Board members had the opportunity to hear from legislators involved in these efforts. Legislators included:
- Representative Chuck Benedict, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Public Health
- Representative Jon Richards, Chair of the Assembly Health and Healthcare Reform Committee
- Senator Jon Erpenbach, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Health Insurance, Privacy, Property Tax Relief and Revenue
To read more about the Health Policy Platform and the Health Policy Committee, please visit our Health Policy page at www.the-alliance.org.
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Healthy Living Discounts Help Employees Stay Fit
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The Alliance wants to help our members' employees be healthy, active and fit. To improve their body, mind and spirit, our Healthy Living Discounts offer them special savings at:
- Health clubs and fitness centers
- Hearing aid centers
- Acupuncturists
- Chiropractors
- Yoga centers
- Nutrition and weight-loss centers
- Karate studios
To receive discounts they simply show their medical ID card with The Alliance logo at the participating business. No sign-up is necessary. For a complete list of Healthy Living discounts, visit http://www.the-alliance.org/health_wellness.aspx and click on Healthy Living Discounts.
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| Tell Us What You Think |
Help us bring you the information you need and want. Take a short survey about this newsletter and tell us what you think.
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| QualityCounts for Employees |
The Alliance encourages employers to distribute the QualityCounts for Employees information piece to their employees.
- Surgery: It Pays to Know What Questions to Ask: Asking the right questions before surgery can help your employees understand their options.
Did you know you can find past issues of QualityCounts for Employees in the Employer Resource Center? After you log in, select "Consumer Newsletters" from the Employee Health and Education tab. Your employees can access them too at http://www.the-alliance.org/health_wellness.aspx.
You can also connect with this direct link to the Employer Resource Center but you will need to log in first. If you don't know your password, call Jen Linden, 800.223.4139, ext.6635, and she will be happy to assist you.
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| News You Can Use |
The Alliance highlights health care and benefit management news for employers in News You Can Use with a link to take you to the original story or report.
- Employees' Readiness to Adopt Value-Based Benefit Design Strategies - The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) surveyed employers across the U.S. to determine employee readiness to adopt value-based benefit designs (VBBD). Includes key findings and recommendations.
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| About the Agent and Consultant Briefing |
Each month, The Alliance Agent and Consultant Briefing delivers the latest news to insurance agents and consultants about Alliance services, programs and events as well as information on health benefit trends, issues, and ideas of interest to our mutual clients. Subscriptions are available on a complimentary basis. To subscribe, please send an e-mail message with your name and agency to the Sales and Member Services Department. Read past issues of this newsletter on-line at www.thealliance.org/agentresources.aspx.
Reader comments, suggestions, and topics are always welcome.
Cathy Lanser, Editor
Melanie Cannon, Designer | |
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Comparing Outpatient and Inpatient Visits: |
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According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association 2007 Hospital Fiscal Survey:
- In 2007 there were more than 14 million outpatient visits in Wisconsin compared to 617,000 inpatient admissions.
- The average charge for an outpatient visit at a Wisconsin hospital was $882.
- The average charge for an inpatient stay was $21,575.
- The average length of an inpatient stay in Wisconsin acute-care hospitals was 4.2 days.
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The Alliance encourages employers to distribute the