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Publications
Recent NBCH Publications
September 2011 - Hospital Patient Safety Hospital-acquired conditions, readmissions and
serious reportable events are significant issues impacting employee
health and the health care claims costs incurred by employers. For
example, $30 billion is lost annually due to avoidable costs such as
longer hospital stays. Employers can play a key role in improving
patient safety and reducing preventable occurrences. | 
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The Road to Health Care Delivery Reform: Payment Reform and Accountable Care Organizations
In March 2011, the NHLC met in San Francisco, CA, to discuss another timely critical topic-the need for payment reform, particularly as such reform relates to accountable care organizations (ACOs). Success will require industry, suppliers, and government to come together to develop effective messages so that consumers understand the importance for reform and the need to make important, thoughtful, decisions when choosing providers and treatments.
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2010 Health Plan Diabetes Care Performance
In this fourth eValue8 Employer Report on Diabetes, we examine health plan activities and external forces that impact management of diabetes. 2010 was a landmark year in which the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was enacted and then faced immediate legal and legislative challenges. It remains a challenge to turn health coverage into actual improved health. The eValue8 Employer Report on Diabetes is an annual pulse check for employer-sponsored health plan performance. Engaging patients, preventing disease and closing gaps in care quality for diabetes remains the imperative. |
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Patient-Centered Medical Home: Has the Time Come?
In June 2010, the NHLC met in Portland, ME to discuss another timely, critical topic—the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The recent reform legislation focused primarily on expanding coverage and insurance reform. But true reform must go further by redesigning health care delivery to improve efficiency, quality, and value. The focus needs to move away from acute care, “downstream” services to “upstream” services, including prevention, primary care, population health management, and chronic disease management.
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eValue8 2010 Annual Report
A critical element of a purchaser’s value-based purchasing strategy, eValue8 was used by employers and coalitions to gather health care data from 64 health plans across the nation, representing more than 100 million Americans. 2010 highlights include waste reduction, identifying gaps in care, implementing payment reform, and improving consumer engagement. The top performing 15 percent of plans for each category are also reflected in the report. |
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Tailoring Health Care Benefits to Your Employees
In today’s challenging fiscal environment, firms that sponsor health care benefits are looking for benefit solutions to help them do more with less. Such solutions might involve closer scrutiny of health plan data or the creation of new partnerships with coalitions, brokers, plan managers, and employees. Large and small employers alike use strategies like these. This report on employer forays into “Total Health Benefit Management” and their successes suggests ways in which your company can tackle
the challenge of rising health care costs and improve employee health in the process. |
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Aligning Incentives & Systems: Promoting Synergy Between Value-Based Insurance Design and the Patient Centered Medical Home
The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, in collaboration with NBCH, this week released "Aligning Incentives and Systems" which presents the mechanics of both strategies and reviews the evidence for their clinical and economic value. The business value case for employers and steps employers can take to implement this synergistic strategy are included. Ten case studies--from employers, health plans, state governments and a municipality--explore how combining VBID and PCMH can enhance quality of care while lowering costs." |
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2009 Health Plan Diabetes Care Performance
In the past decade diabetes has emerged as a crucial health care cost driver for many employers, one that hand in hand with obesity is on the rise. Employers are increasingly seeing that it is a bottom line issue to prevent diabetes, identify it early, and treat it “to goal” in their employee population. This imperative must be carried out in partnership with health plans and other health vendors to control the personal and financial costs of diabetes exacerbations and complications. In this third Annual eValue8 Employer Report we examine data from leading health plans that report to business coalitions on their health management activity. |
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Health Plan Capabilities to Support Value Based Benefit Design
Recognizing the importance of consumer decision-making on health care costs, employers are trying innovative programs to engage their enrollees in making healthy lifestyle and medical care decisions. One such strategy is called Value Based Benefits Design or VBBD, which builds specific consumer incentives into plan design benefits or premium contribution structure to steer consumers to make high value decisions. NBCH’s eValue8 RFI collects information on a range of health plan initiatives and includes questions that address specific health plan capabilities required to support a VBBD program. The information in this Guide is based on the 99 validated health plan responses and indicates that many plans have the capability to effectively support VBBD. |
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