Employers

Part 1 of a 2-part webinar series by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions addressed issues in health care coverage affordability and how equitable health benefits and value-based design can reduce cost while improving employee engagement.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, vice president of health services research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, discusses opportunities for growth regarding value-based benefits.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, vice president of health services research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, discusses value-based benefit design strategies for high-deductible health plans.

Key opinion leaders discuss the state of mental health in the US workforce, persistent unmet needs, and efforts to improve coverage and uptake of behavioral health services.

Findings presented at the 2021 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting showed that patients with concomitant psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) reported greater incidence of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, as well as a higher likelihood of work inability than those with only psoriasis.

Appeals court affirms decision to place a hold on the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers; rising Medicare premiums linked with controversial Alzheimer drug; 3 states expand COVID-19 booster shot eligibility to all adults.

Pfizer and BioNTech expect to seek emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 booster vaccine in all adults 18 years and older; the Biden administration urges appeals court to not block employer vaccine mandate; nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe or are unsure of false COVID-19 information.

The Department of Labor rules will affect employers with 100 or more workers.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of the Business Group on Health, on the findings from her organization's 2022 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey.

Provision of enhanced access to behavioral health services by a large employer to its employees is associated with reductions in all-cause care utilization and cost.

The Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society issued guiding principles for employers on designing optimal work shift durations in the workplace, which address risk factors, countermeasures, and shared decision-making implications.

This study examines the ability of self-insured employers to negotiate hospital prices and the relationship between hospital prices and employer market power in the United States.

Health insurance companies are anticipating a swell in pent-up demand for delayed or forgone health services in 2020, as well as increased costs associated with distributing COVID-19 vaccines to millions of Americans. To offset the potentially precarious business impact caused by these converging factors, insurers are turning to technology for help.

Patients worldwide are reluctant to visit clinics and hospitals amid fears of COVID-19. Implementing virtual care capabilities can not only relieve the patients of this fear by minimizing in-person exposure and preventing the virus from spreading, but also improve patient-centered care delivery.

Agility has long been a big buzzword, but its salience and importance has been growing. Gallup’s research on agility finds that there are 7 fundamental shifts common to highly agile leaders—driving these changes through a hospital can help significantly advance a culture of agility.

The Accurate Healthcare Insights survey identified notable changes in human resources policies and practices for health care organizations during the pandemic, with technology use projected to increase by 60% compared with prepandemic levels.

Stakeholders discuss barriers and solutions to employer engagement on value assessment, which includes redefining goals to that of the employer and patient, and moving beyond the scope of cost and clinical outcomes.

If 2020 was dominated by the news of how COVID-19 spread across the globe, then 2021 has so far been focused on ending the pandemic through vaccine distribution.

The World Health Organization simplifies the names of COVID-19 variants; updated Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance suggests employers can mandate COVID-19 vaccines; study finds a record 1.1 billion smokers were reported worldwide in 2019.

As working women have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, solutions to address what has been coined a “she-cession” include targeted communications, flexible work schedules, and increased education/tutoring resources.

In 2016, long working hours were associated with 745,000 deaths and 23.3 million disability-adjusted life-years from ischemic heart disease and stroke combined.

This article is co-written by Suzanne Delbanco, PhD, MPH, executive director, Andréa Caballero, MPA, program director, and Julianne McGarry, MPP, director of projects and research, for Catalyst for Payment Reform, and Robert S. Galvin, MD, chief executive officer, Equity Healthcare, LLC.

A survey by West Health and Gallup found that Black workers and those making less than $48,000 in the United States were more likely to stay in unwanted jobs out of fear of losing their health benefits.

An analysis by the Integrated Benefits Institute estimates that the total cost of lost time from work due to the COVID-19 pandemic could reach $50.5 billion, marking a 117% increase from prior projections.