Dive Brief: Morgan Stanley is the latest big employer to take a more active role in tackling rising healthcare costs, hiring its first chief medical officer and head of human resources data and analytics earlier this week. The new hire is David Stark, assistant professor and medical director from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, a spokesperson confirmed to Healthcare Dive. Stark is a doctor who has worked at New York-based Icahn as an assistant professor of health system design and global health and served as medical director of the Institute for Next Generation Healthcare since July 2016. Business Insider first reported the new role. Stark will seek ways to stem the tide of healthcare costs while boosting wellness for the 57,000 employees at the bank. Stark created Lab100 earlier this year, a clinic and research lab at Mount Sinai that leverages data and analytics to help patients try to improve their own health and behavior. Dive Insight: Morgan Stanley … [Read more...] about Morgan Stanley hires first CMO to combat rising healthcare costs
Healthcare cost solutions
Healthcare, freelanced: Where will gig economy workers get coverage?
NEW YORK - There are plenty of problems lurking on America’s career ladder, but here is a big one: our healthcare systems are designed for the workforce of 1950. FILE PHOTO: A technician stocks the shelves of the pharmacy at White House Clinic in Berea, Kentucky, U.S., February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston/File Photo If you have a lifetime corporate 9-to-5 gig, then you probably have group health insurance. But what if that is not the kind of job you have? Well, good luck with that. More Americans than ever are falling into that second category, a scrappy mix of the self-employed, solo entrepreneurs, freelancers and contract workers. More than 57 million Americans, or 36 percent of the workforce, freelance, according to a recent study by the Freelancers Union. Among millennials, that number rises to 47 percent. By 2027, if trends continue, the majority of the workforce is expected to be freelance. Such a scenario will require new initiatives. Stride Health, a … [Read more...] about Healthcare, freelanced: Where will gig economy workers get coverage?
As Va. budget fight resumes, hospitals balance benefits of expanding Medicaid, cost of tax to pay for it
Almost four years ago, three of Virginia's private nonprofit health systems proposed to tax themselves to help pay for hospital indigent care and medical education.Sentara, Inova and Carilion Clinic health systems presented the idea in late 2014 to impose an assessment on their hospital revenues that would serve as matching funds to gain an equal amount of federal Medicaid money. Those supplemental payments would then subsidize their costs for uncompensated health care and medical education.That proposal was the unintended seed of a plan that now towers over a state budget battle that will resume Monday. The Virginia Senate returns to special session after a month's absence to consider a pair of budgets — one for the fiscal year that ends June 30, the other for the two fiscal years starting July 1 — proposed by the House of Delegates.The House plans would rely both on accepting billions of dollars in federal money to expand Medicaid coverage for hundreds of … [Read more...] about As Va. budget fight resumes, hospitals balance benefits of expanding Medicaid, cost of tax to pay for it
UnitedHealthcare says its bundle model shows improved health, reduced costs
Dive Brief: UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest private payer, said its Spine and Joint Solution program reduced hospital readmissions by 22% and complications by 17% compared to nonparticipating facilities for members that had joint replacement surgeries. The payer said readmissions after spine surgeries were reduced by 10%, and patients experienced 3.4% fewer complications compared to nonparticipating facilities. Participating employers saved nearly $18 million, which was an average of $18,000 per procedure. Members saved more than $3,000 in out-of-pocket savings per procedure, UnitedHealthcare said. Dive Insight: Healthcare officials often point to value-based care as a way to both improve outcomes and lower costs. Reducing low-value care is easier said than done, however, even though it costs billions and can harm patients. One way that payers and employers are implementing value is by turning to Centers of Excellence. The bundled payment programs contract … [Read more...] about UnitedHealthcare says its bundle model shows improved health, reduced costs
Marion County commissioners concerned about skyrocketing medical costs for inmates
Donald Blansett Donald Blansett Photo by Contributed Photo /Times Free Press. JASPER, Tenn. — For the second month in a row, the Marion County Commission had to approve a budget amendment to cover the skyrocketing medical costs for county inmates. County Mayor David Jackson announced in March that Marion's budget for inmate healthcare was all but empty with four months left in the fiscal year, and the board had to approve $131,000 from its general fund to cover the overage. At the board's April meeting, he said inmates racked up $149,600 in healthcare costs in the last month. Marion has spent nearly $700,000 on inmate medical care so far during this fiscal year. "It's a tough pill to swallow to have to do this," Jackson said. County officials are working to find solutions, he said, and some meetings on the topic are scheduled next week. After Commission Chairman Gene Hargis did some further research into the matter, Jackson said it was determined Marion is "pretty much … [Read more...] about Marion County commissioners concerned about skyrocketing medical costs for inmates