A patient engagement and reporting program linked to financial incentives yielded multiple improvements in health measures for employees of UnitedHealth Group, according to a study published in the August issue of Health Affairs.
UnitedHealth employees enrolled in the health insurance company's Rewards for Health program were able to earn points good for premium reductions as high as $1,200 for family coverage. The rewards program used health screenings targeting diabetes, cancer and other diseases as well as more general weight control based on the worker's body mass index.
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It's hard to get doctors to follow practice guidelines.
Despite the publication of numerous guidelines on the management of routine back pain, physicians surprisingly are not following the advice, and “guideline-discordant care” is on the rise, according to a study posted on the JAMA Internal Medicine website.
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It comes as no surprise to many observers that regional health information exchanges are struggling financially.
Research published this week in Health Affairs concluded that “there is a substantial risk that many current efforts to promote health information exchange will fail.”
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Patients are more likely to fill prescriptions that treat costly, chronic diseases when health insurers offer them a financial incentive to do so through value-based insurance design. That's the good news in a research review just published by the journal Health Affairs.
The bad news? Research has yet to show any significant drop in overall medical spending, wrote authors of the review, which examined prior studies of value-based design and proper medication use.
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First Aetna, and now UnitedHealth.
United, the nation's largest health insurer based on enrollment, followed in the footsteps of Aetna's move last month and decided to exit California's individual market. That includes leaving the state's individual health insurance exchange after saying it would participate, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
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