Meeting of interest
 Hosted in Carbondale
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
There is no charge for event.
Aspen Glen Club
0545 Bald Eagle Way, Carbondale
Colo. Health Care Reform:
What's the Employer Response?
We'll
update employers on health care reform efforts and capture their
responses to proposed changes. The Business Health Forum will lead the
discussion.
Join us to review legislative proposals &
recommendations from a blue ribbon commission on health care, and give
us your feedback to take back to the Capitol. The latest survey
technology will capture your opinions - and those of your peers - for
on-the-spot sharing and discussion.
RSVP by contacting the Carbondale Chamber at 970-963-1890 or email chamber@carbondale.com.
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The Business Health Forum is funded by several foundations, including The Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Trust.
Stay tuned for info. about upcoming business health care forums in your community.
To learn more about the Forum, contact Renee' Mowers at rmowers@bizhealthforum.org or call 303-866-9658.
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Greetings!
As
health insurance premiums continue to soar and Colorado examines
wide-scale health care reform, there has never been a more important
time for the business community to engage in the debate. The Forum is a
new project to help you connect the dots and weigh in on solutions.
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Grand Junction biz leaders weigh in on reform
Nearly 30 members of the Grand Junction business community told
representatives from the Business Health Forum, a nonprofit
organization, they would like to see the Legislature mandate that all
Coloradans secure some basic form of health insurance.
Those
business leaders also agreed - by a nearly two-to-one margin - that
policymakers should avoid mandating that businesses provide health care
coverage for their employees. The results were part of surveys conducted Tuesday at a meeting hosted by the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce
The quality of available health care shouldn't depend on the type of
job a person has, said Steve Hurd, executive director of the Marillac
Clinic.
Amy Fletcher, associate director of the Business Health
Forum, said even though the health care issues confronting Mesa County
are similar to Colorado's rural areas, the polls showed area businesses
to be in agreement with their peers on the Front Range.
"In terms of mandates ... I'd say (the concerns) are very similar," Fletcher said. The Daily Sentinel
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Top health care news
Kaiser Permanente returning $155 million to Colo. customers
Kaiser
Permanente Colorado has reached an agreement with the state, announced
Wednesday, to return $155 million to its customers over the next two
years.
"It is a win for Colorado consumers and for health care in
the state," Gov. Bill Ritter said of the agreement with the state's
largest HMO, which took more than a year to hammer out.
Kaiser
Permanente will provide a credit of $287 per individual subscriber in
2009 and again in 2010. That amount is about the average monthly
premium to cover a single adult. Employers also will receive a credit
for $287 in each of those years per enrolled employee. They can keep
the credit, pass it on to their employees or boost the benefits offered
in their plans.
As a nonprofit, Kaiser Permanente doesn't have to
pass on a dividend to shareholders. It has built up reserves of about
$700 million, an amount state insurance commissioner Marcy Morrison
considered excessive. "It is up to my discretion when reserves exceed
those minimums to step in," Morrison said. Denver Post
Wellpoint employees rewarded for improved patient care
WellPoint Inc. employees earned a bump in their annual bonuses this
year thanks to a new program that monitors care for the health
insurer's patients.
WellPoint met or surpassed most goals for
improvement in the first year of its Member Health Index program. That
means employees saw their bonuses increase by about 10 percent, the
company announced Wednesday.
The nation's largest health insurer
by membership introduced its index program in April 2007. It measured
whether more members were receiving recommended care in 20 clinical
areas. Those were broken into four categories: care management,
clinical outcomes, screening and prevention, and patient safety.
WellPoint set goals for each clinical area and then decided that the
numbers it saw had to increase at least 5 percent toward those goals
for their employees to earn a higher bonus.
The company hit or
surpassed that targeted increase in 17 of the 20 areas it measured. It
missed in compliance for diabetes and hypertension care and in asthma
emergency room visits." Associated Press
Walgreens adding 13 health clinics in Colorado by year's end
Take Care Health Systems is expanding in Colorado from three clinics to 16 by year-end.
The new clinics in the Denver area, Boulder-Longmont and Colorado
Springs will make Colorado one of Take Care Health's largest states in
number of clinics. The company, a Walgreens subsidiary, manages 181
clinics in 22 markets throughout 14 states,
Three clinics in the
Denver area now are walk-in, professional health care centers open
seven days a week with extended evening and weekend hours.
"Take
Care Health Clinics have been very well-received in the Denver area -
our first Colorado market - since opening in May," said Peter Miller,
Take Care Health Systems' president and CEO.
Clinics are staffed
by board-certified nurse practitioners who treat patients 18 months and
older for common illnesses such as strep throat, ear and sinus
infections, pink eye and poison ivy. They are licensed to write
prescriptions. Rocky Mountain News |
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