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Where you go to get information
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Benefits Tools
- A Purchaser's Guide to Clinical Preventive Services: Moving
Science into Coverage, produced by the National Business Group
on Health, this guide is a comprehensive reference for benefits
design professionals. It provides guidance for the selection of
clinical preventive services, disease prevention, early detection,
and the economic benefits of these strategies. To have a guide
and CD sent to you call our office at 214.382.3036 or contact
us via Web.
- PBM Purchaser's Guide, produced by NBCH and URAC, this
important "how-to" resource guide will help you evaluate and manage
your PBM service. For employers, large and small, knowing what
to ask for and what to be aware of can make a difference in meeting
your benefits objectives for cost, quality, accessibility, and
member satisfaction.
View
the PBM Purchasers Guide
View
the Executive Summary Purchasers Guide
- The
Center for Health Value Innovation, a collaborative community
of stakeholders, led by employers of all sizes and sectors, who
are improving health status while reducing total cost trends using
value-based designs. We learn and share as a community of thought
leaders, as a knowledge resource, and as innovators for new trends.
- Summary
of key research findings from Benfield Group's Wellness Research
Survey
For Your Employees
- Hospital Comparison
- HealthAnswers.com
provides objective ratings, profiles and directories of 400 health
plans, 5,000 hospitals and 600,000 doctors for health care consumers.
The web site also has maps, driving directions and links to many
individual sites located in the database.
- SafeMedication.com
features detailed drug information from the American Society of
Health-System Pharmacists that helps consumers find detailed information
about their medicines.
- HealthGrades,
promotes quality health care by informing consumers of the vast
quality differences among the nation's hospitals, by assisting
high performing hospitals in promoting their programs, and by
helping poor performing hospitals to improve their quality. HealthGrades
works closely with the Leapfrog Group to disseminate information
on hospital patient safety activities to consumers, payers, and
employers. The site also features detailed reports that contain
invaluable health care quality information on Nursing Homes, Physicians
and Hospitals.
- The
USDoL Health Benefits Advisor, the Advisor is designed
to help workers and their families better understand employer
and employee organization (such as a union) provided group health
benefits and the laws that govern them, especially when they experience
changes in their life and work situations — such as marriage,
childbirth, job loss or retirement. The Advisor may assist employers
in understanding their responsibilities under the applicable laws.
- Counting
Costs and Calories, this report by Texas Comptroller Susan
Combs tells the story of obesity in Texas, its costs to Texas
employers and the devastating health effects on today's workforce
and our children — the workforce of tomorrow. Obesity is reaching
epidemic proportions. In 2005, there were 3 million more obese
adults in Texas than in 1990. Employers bear the majority of costs
associated with obesity. If nothing is done to reverse or slow
this trend, the cost to employers could reach $15.8 billion by
2025. Ultimately, we must become a society focused on preventing
obesity, rather than treating the diseases it causes.
- Ask Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) launched the Ask Medicare initiative in 2008 with
the goal of helping those who care for Medicare beneficiaries.
CMS developed several tools to support this initiative:
- URAC
Workforce Development Initiative, URAC's new Workforce
Development initiative offers consumers several free multi-media
tools they can use to make better health care decisions, assume
more "ownership" over their health care, and increase their ability
to take on new behaviors to improve their health and the quality
of care they receive. Included in this set of consumer resources
is a free eLearning course, "Understanding Your Health Insurance."
The course covers key areas including defining health insurance
concepts; identifying the impact of rising health care costs;
comparing the different types of health insurance plans; and defining
important elements of health insurance, including prescription
coverage, case management, and wellness.
Coalitions
- National Business
Coalition on Health, this organization has a membership
of 90 employer led coalitions across the United States, representing
8,000 employers and 35 million employees and their dependents.
NBCH and its members have a common goal of market-based health
care reform including improving the value, meaning the quality
and cost, of health care provided through employer-sponsored health
plans, as well as the health care delivery systems of entire communities.
Termed the coalition of coalitions, NBCH represents each community
coalition at the national level and serves as a resource, clearinghouse
and information center linking all coalitions. As the national
voice for Community Health Reform to regions with employers yet
to be organized into a collective power. Providing expertise resources
and a voice to its member coalition across the country, NBCH is
dedicated to making the coalition movement the vehicle for meaningful
change in the health care system throughout the United States.
- LeapFrog
Group, the Leapfrog Group's goal is to initiate breakthroughs
in the safety and quality of health care in the US. The Leapfrog
Group has just launched a web-survey to gather information from
hospitals nationwide about their practices on three hospital patient
safety standards. Leapfrog purchasers will share results with
enrollees and the general public.
- Texas
Coalition for Worksite Wellness, a program of TBGH, is
dedicated to finding positive, innovative solutions to the challenges
posed by our current health care system by emphasizing prevention,
wellness and disease management in our workplaces and health benefit
systems. Many tools and resources are available on this site.
- Texas
Coalition for Worksite Wellness Newsletters, the Texas
Coalition for Worksite Wellness' mission is to improve the health
status of the Texas workforce by increasing the number of Texas
businesses that incorporate employee prevention, wellness and
value-based benefit design into their corporate business and health
care strategies. Click the link above to view their newsletters.
Disease Management
Legislative
- Texas Association
of Business, representing companies from the largest multi-national
corporations to small businesses in nearly every community of
our state, TAB works to improve the Texas business climate and
to help make our state's economy the strongest in the world.
- Texas
Health Facts—The Center for Health Statistics (CHS) provides
comprehensive health data for Texas. Popular features such as
Texas Health Facts ("County Fact Sheets"), the Texas Health Data
query system and all Texas workforce information from the Health
Professions Resource Center, as well as a variety of on-line reports
published by CHS. The newest addition to these is the Vital Statistics
Annual Report tables.
Quality Improvement
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