Open Letter to our Clients

March 3, 2008 —The group health insurance arena is changing so rapidly we felt it necessary to send you a summary of these current transitions.  First let me say, it is all good stuff!

The United States is in the middle of a major cultural transformation as we move from a treatment-oriented society to a prevention-oriented society¹.  This is important to employers as a prevention-oriented workforce is much more cost efficient, misses less work and has less medical expenses overall, resulting in lower health insurance premiums.

Because of the long-term benefit from a prevention-oriented workforce, it behooves employers to communicate health related information to employees, create a ‘culture of wellness’ work environment and educate employees in the connection between their behaviors and lifestyles and their ultimate health outcomes.  The following three areas can be easy to incorporate into your organization and offer high returns.

• Health Risk Assessments – nearly every insurance carrier is now offering an electronic health risk assessment.  We now know 60% or more of next year’s large claims have not yet been diagnosed.  By having employees and their dependents complete one of these forms, it allows the medical staff at the different insurance carriers to review and offer intervention, should the assessment deem it necessary.  As we work with you this coming year, we will recommend incorporating this into your enrollment process.

• Preventive Dental – new statistics now show that 85% of heart attack victims had periodontal disease – 85%!  In addition diabetics with periodontal disease have trouble regulating their blood sugar and premature babies (million dollar babies) can be caused by poor oral hygiene.  The list goes on.
  
  We are beginning to realize that the first line of preventive care may actually be semi-annual teeth cleaning.  We will be suggesting a strong preventive program as we move forward as part of our long-term planning and control of premiums.

• Transparency – In the past, we have chosen doctors based on someone’s recommendation and positive experience.  We now have available to us resources that actually measure a doctor’s performance in their specialty. These measurements take into account the cost, length of time to recover and success without reoccurrence of a particular treatment.

In the past, employers have not felt cost was something they could control, as it seemed to be the responsibility of the different insurance companies.  However, with today’s high deductible health plans and employees having some ‘skin in the game’, cost and recovery are becoming very important points.

Currently United Healthcare has a ‘star’ system where they rate doctors by two-stars (best outcomes least cost), one star and no stars which can either mean the doctor is not rated or their outcomes are terrible.  Anyone can see the UHC doctor ratings on their web site.

Aetna has outcomes available to those they insure via the Aetna website www.aetna.com.  On the website home page, open ‘DocFind’.  Put in the parameters, which will bring you to the desired doctor.  Open the doctor page and look for the ‘survey results’, open this page.  If there is feedback, it will be listed here.  This is still fairly new and we are finding many doctors are not yet rated.

Leapfrog.org is an independent research company, which provides facility ratings.  To find outcomes for any hospital, simply log onto their web site and follow the directions. 

Our staff will continue to discuss these areas and others as we meet with you.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to call.  We will continue to work to provide you not just an insurance agency but trusted advisors that are passionate about health insurance and protecting your employees should they have a serious illness or accident.

We thank you for your business and hope you will recommend our services to others.

Highest Regards,
Victoria J. Braden
President/CEO