| VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2010 | http://www.rmpllc.biz |
At Risk Management Partners LLC, our focus is "fixing healthcare from the bottom up (one employer at a time)…and from the top down (at the public policy level)." This focus will continue, regardless of what happens this week with Obamacare. Our country retains its employer-based health-insurance system no matter what, which means employers need to continue to figure out how to provide the best health benefits at the lowest possible cost. The public policy debate will also continue with or without Obamacare. If it passes, there will be fixes. If it fails, there will be fixes—WE STILL NEED HEALTH REFORM!This month, we focus our attention on another of the Ten Steps to Fixing Your Company's Healthcare: developing a multi-year strategy for controlling costs. Given the importance of healthcare spending and the cost of health benefits to the financial viability of any organization, it's surprising how many organizations don't think beyond the next 12 months. We can show you that it doesn't have to be that way—and how our clients have achieved planned, tangible savings 2 or 3 years after developing and implementing a multi-year strategy.
| David Edman Managing Partner Risk Management Partners, LLC |
Do You Have a Multi-Year Strategy for Controlling Healthcare Costs?
Do you know of any successful businesses that don't have a well-designed business strategy and financial plan? Since health benefits represent one of the largest expense items in your budget, why wouldn't you have a healthcare-spending plan? You can and you should! Knowing where your organization stands now in relation to employee healthcare spending and benefits is important. So is determining where you want to be in the next 3 to 5 years. Read more.Case Study Update: Horsham Veterinary Hospital—
A Multi-Year Strategy Delivers
We first introduced you to Horsham Veterinary Hospital in April 2009. They were just finishing their first year working with RMP, and we had just completed a successful renewal. Now they're moving into their third year of a "multi-year strategy" and controlling their healthcare costs: The results are quite good—a slight increase in benefits for their employees and a slight decrease in costs. Learn how they did it and how they're now well positioned for the future. Read more.Case Study: Bending the Cost Curve—How Indiana
Does It
On March 1, 2010, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels wrote an opinion column for The Wall Street Journal called Hoosiers and Health Savings Accounts. We support Governor Daniels in his advocacy for consumer-driven healthcare in general and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in particular. Why? Because there is compelling evidence that 30% of what we spend on healthcare in this country is wasted—the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calls it overuse, underuse, and misuse of health care in the United States. Governor Daniels and the state of Indiana are finding solutions and setting an example for the rest of the country, so let's see what we can learn from their experience. Read more.A Compendium on Health Reform—Pros and Cons  We are nearing the end, at least as it relates to Obamacare. Around the time of the scheduled publication of this newsletter, we'll know if Obamacare will become law or if we have to start over on health reform. If you're a regular reader of this newsletter, you know where I stand on Obamacare (and if not, you can catch up at our Blog). This month, as we reach the home stretch of health reform, we invite you to read and revisit those issues important to you, and we provide you with a compendium of the issues surrounding the debate over health reform in the United States. |
|||
| What's Wrong with Healthcare in the United States? |
|||
 |
The Medicalization of Life (Los Angeles Times) |
||
|
Experts Say Even Obama Getting Too Many Med Tests (Yahoo! News) |
||
| Comprehensive Versus Incremental Health Reform |
|||
|
Can Incremental Health Reform Provide a Path Forward? (Kaiser Health News) |
||
|
The President's Health Plan Won't Cut the Budget Deficit (Kaiser Health News) |
||
| The Politics of Health Reform |
|||
|
Editorial: Obama Is Right on Health Care: If Not Now, When? (MercuryNews.com) |
||
|
Abortion Is Bill's Remaining Hurdle (Politico) |
||
|
The Endgame (Los Angeles Times) |
||
 |
||
| Whether or not you live a healthy lifestyle is the most important determinant of your health…and your productivity in the workplace. Read more. |
||
 |
||
| How's Your Pedometer? As we move into spring, the opportunities for being active increase dramatically. Many weekend warriors will resume their jogging or mountain biking, while the rest of us ponder how to enjoy the great outdoors. Dr. Oz, a health expert, mentions setting a goal of walking 10,000 steps a day, indoors and outdoors. With a $10 pedometer, you'll be able to judge your level of activity. Even small changes in our overall activity can yield major health benefits. Invest in a pedometer and find out whether you're close to your daily objective. Every step counts! Read more. | ||
About RMP
RMP draws on more than three decades of experience inside the healthcare industry, using a risk-management approach to create smarter purchasers and consumers of healthcare — exposing wasted spending and helping clients get consistent maximum value for their health-care dollar.
Contact Us
We'd love to hear from you! Click here to let us know what you'd like to read about in future newsletter articles.
| Subscribe | Privacy Policy |
David Edman, Managing Partner
175 Strafford Avenue, Wayne, PA 19087
610-975-4415
http://www.rmpllc.biz
© 2010 Risk Management Partners, LLC. All Rights Reserved. This newsletter produced by FulcrumTech, LLC.