Initiated in 2008, Deloitte’s longitudinal study of health care consumers is designed to provide a comprehensive view of health care consumerism in the United States, a view that goes beyond the conventional boundaries of what health and health care are commonly thought to encompass. more»

If all the talk in Washington about using electronic medical records to cut health-care costs makes your eyes glaze over, it might help to consider the experience of Holly Jacobson.

For two years, the 41-year-old employee of an educational nonprofit in Sacramento, Calif., has been using the My Health Manager Web site provided by her health plan, Kaiser Permanente, to access her electronic medical records. When she has her cholesterol checked, or one of her two children is tested for strep throat, she goes there to click on links that explain the test results. more»

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As health care costs continue to rise, more companies are adopting consumer- directed health plans that would lower their own costs but potentially raise costs for employees. more»

In the world of technology, inventors are hailed as heroes. Yet it is more subtle forms of innovation that typically determine the impact of a technology in the marketplace and on society. Clever engineering, smart business models and favorable economics are the key ingredients of widespread adoption and commercial success. more»

NEW YORK, NY, February 19, 2009 — Today, The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, announced the formation of the Alliance Healthcare Initiative, a collaborative effort with national medical associations, leading insurers and employers to offer comprehensive health benefits to children and families for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of childhood obesity. more»

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elsie Macky of Grovetown, Ga., was having difficulty affording the medications that help control her chronic health conditions. Humana Cares was there to help. more»

"Value-based insurance design" (VBID) is being embraced by a growing number of employers, especially those who self-insure, as they seek the twin goals of optimizing employee health and containing costs. more»

Consumer-directed healthcare (CDH) remains a potentially cost-saving, patient-empowering movement, but member buy-in is still not there yet—and the success or failure of these plans may decide whether private health insurers survive. more»

"Value-based insurance design" (VBID) is being embraced by a growing number of employers, especially those who self-insure, as they seek the twin goals of optimizing employee health and containing costs.

The main pillars of VBID are providing employees with greater incentives to seek out high-value health services while erecting disincentives to low-value services viewed as over-prescribed by medical professionals, explained A. Mark Fendrick, MD, professor of internal medicine and health management at the University of Michigan. Fendrick was among the keynote speakers at the 2009 Health and Human Capital Congress held on Feb. 5, 2009, near Washington, D.C. more»

New York - The economic stimulus bill before Congress is certain to include billions of dollars to bring electronic record keeping to the healthcare industry, moving patients' records and doctors' prescriptions out of the era of carbon-paper triplicates and undecipherable handwriting. more»

The numbers are enough to make any CFO, benefits manager or HR director ill at ease, if not outright sick: Five straight years of double-digit increases in total corporate health care costs. Nearly three-fourths of the average company's health care costs spent on just 8% of employees. Almost one-third of employee populations at risk of developing serious medical risks like diabetes and heart disease in the next year. more»

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health care spending could drop by half a trillion dollars over 10 years if policymakers make broad changes like adopting electronic prescriptions and relying on drugs and procedures proven to work best, consulting firm Deloitte LLP said on Thursday. more»

NEW YORK, NY — January 6, 2009— ActiveHealth Management (ActiveHealth®), today announced new portability options for members with the ActivePHR personal health record. Members who have ActivePHR through their employer or health plan will now be able to transfer their health information to the consumer version of ActivePHR or to Microsoft® HealthVault™, a Web-based consumer health platform. These new options allow members to create a lifelong record of their valuable health information even if they change jobs or health plans. more»

The National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), a non-profit organization of employer-based health coalitions, today released the 2008 findings for the eValue8™ RFI (Request For Information) tool. Used by NBCH and its member coalitions to compare the quality and efficiency of America's health plans, the findings indicate that purchasers are increasingly requiring plans to focus on the quality of health care delivered to consumers. more»

NEW YORK, NY — December 8, 2008— ActiveHealth Management (ActiveHealth®) today announced that it will be expanding its clinical alert offerings to include patient safety alerts based on FDA safety alerts. Communicated through the ActivePHRSM personal health record, the patient safety alerts will inform members about potential problems with a medication, including risks associated with combining certain drugs, and encourage them to contact their doctor if certain symptoms occur. more»

Ruth Hunt is a principal and national thought leader for organizational and change communications with Buck Consultants. With more than 27 years experience, Ms. Hunt specializes in strategic planning to address issues involving human resources, benefits, compensation and organizational change. more»

(Dallas – November 18, 2008) – Broadlane announced today that Brim Healthcare has renewed its exclusive relationship with Broadlane. Brim Healthcare will continue to access Broadlane's unparalleled national GPO portfolio of consumable supplies, equipment, pharmaceuticals and purchased services to help manage its approximate $150 million in annual spend for 35 hospitals across the country. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. more»

At a medical conference in New Orleans, Intel announced that it will conduct pilots of its new telemedicine technology at several health care organizations, the Wall Street Journal reports. more»

Presidential Elect Barak Obama's "No. 2 Priority," the health care system is expected to be a costly reform. When coupled with the $700 billion committed to rescuing banks, President Obama may find the burden of these two conflicting expenditures a major setback in completing health care reform in his first term. Paul H. Keckley, Ph.D., offers his insights into these issues and more on the upcoming administration’s challenges in enacting health care reform. more»