Archived Features

Reform Your Own Healthcare

Enough already!

We’ve been listening to the politicians in Washington drone on now for months as they try to figure out how to reform the healthcare system. Meanwhile, employers are facing the steepest increase in healthcare costs in the past 5 years. Enough already!

Well we’ve had enough too, and we’re taking matters into our own hands. We think it’s time for companies to take on their own health reform initiative. Contrary to popular opinion, this is not a problem that is out of our control—we CAN do something to fix the problem!!! But it takes smart people who are committed to solving a difficult business problem.

We can do this—and in fact we don’t have a choice if we want to grow our business and create the kind of jobs we need to grow the economy. We’ve come up with a simple outline of the 10 key steps we think are necessary to reform your own healthcare:

1. Get Mad, or Get Scared: Let’s face it, anger and fear are the best motivations we have for getting things done. If you’re angry about another double digit increase, or scared that you’ll be out of business in a couple of years, then it’s time to start thinking and acting differently. Get mad or get scared-whatever works for you-but commit yourself today to changing the future and get inspired to implement a health reform movement for your own company.
    
2. Get Smart! Knowledge is power, and you’ll be a lot more powerful if you understand the fundamental financial principles associated with health insurance premiums and the key variables that you can control. Pay attention to terms like:
   • Credibility factors
   • Manual rates
   • Experience rates
   • Trend factors
   • Retention factors
   It’s not rocket-science, but it is math. Know the numbers, and how they influence your cost, and zero in on the specific factors that you can control. And from here you can build you plan.
    
3. Focus on the Fundamentals Drivers: The drivers of healthcare cost involve simple economic issues of supply and demand and the most basic human needs and behaviors that drive the market. The root cause of the problem lies in these fundamentals. Health insurers are a big part of the problem, but they are run by people and they can be influenced because they operate according to the forces of supply and demand. And so do your employees, who contribute to the problem because of their attitudes and actions and their behaviors in the market. Fixing the problem takes a keen understanding of these factors and the strategies it takes to change human behavior.
    
4. Own The Problem: Smart people solve problems, and healthcare is just another (big) problem for business. But great companies know how to “own” the problem—diagnosing the root cause at the core, and implementing comprehensive solutions across their enterprise to eliminate it once and for all. If you can “own” and eliminate the problem, you can drive your company’s health reform effort in a way that creates a competitive advantage over your competition that you can exploit to grow your business.
    
5. Know Your People: Just like your customers, one size doesn’t fit all. A fundamental fact you’ll learn in step 2 is that your people are the key to the problem and the key to the solution, so it’s critically important to segment your “market” and to develop unique strategies that target each group. If you really understand your people and approach them with the right media strategies, they will understand the issues and follow your lead to do what’s being asked of them.
    
6. Stay Strategic: All successful businesses have a strategic plan, and the best organizations align their employees behind the strategies and tactics that drive the business. By framing your company’s health reform initiative in a strategic sense, you can communicate the solution so it is consistent with your strategy and inspires positive results. Every employee wants to know where they are going, how they are getting there, and what their job is to help the team.
    
7. Measure It: “What gets measured, gets done…” This popular strategic planning and execution mantra is as critical for tackling the healthcare problem as it is for launching a new product line or implementing a new CRM or rolling out a new quality improvement program—establishing SMART, measurable goals and reporting progress every month will yield the results you expect and need.
    
8. Rally the Troops: Getting your employees behind your own health reform movement is critical—the behaviors of your people have helped create the problem, and they will be an even bigger part of the solution. Keep them motivated with a focused education and communication campaign that gets them excited about your progress and worried about falling short of your strategic goals. Given the opportunity to understand and appreciate the problem, they will be inspired by positive momentum!
    
9. Persevere and Lead!: Like any business challenge that affects the entire organization, the scope of your health reform initiative will touch every employee in the company, which means you’ll encounter serious obstacles along the way. And while these challenges will impede your progress and discourage your staff, effective leadership creates the energy and perseverance it takes to win the day. Stay focused, stay committed, stay positive and lead the way!
    
10. Celebrate: Victories, no matter the size and no matter the scale, are the fuel that drives success. Sharing and celebrating these achievements on a regular basis injects the enthusiasm and momentum that we all need to stay focused and on course, to persevere, and to keep our goals in mind. So be sure to pause, reflect, congratulate and celebrate!
     

So there you have it—start your own health reform movement today. Are you ready to Reform Your Own Health?

Good luck, and let us know if you’re ready to take the plunge. We have a world of great resources just waiting for you to step up!

Upcoming Seminar // HIPAA Privacy Rules

Our expert speaker, Robert Noonan, Esq., will provide a comprehensive explanation of the Privacy Rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). We will discuss what parties are affected by the rules, compliance dates, and scope of the rules. We will also address what employers need to do to comply with these rules.

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//Healthy Measures//


Introducing Healthy Measures, our innovative new portfolio of health and benefit plans that saves money and delivers the benefits that matter most to employees.

Developed according to best practices established by leading research institutions, Healthy Measures achieves sustainable cost control through incentive-based plan design and communication strategies that increase utilization of preventive care and reduce the incidence and burden of chronic disease.

• Targets Employer Healthcare Cost Trend at 5% or below

• 90% - plus Employee Satisfaction Rates

• Integrates Business Mission and “Mission-Critical” Benefit Costs

See how Healthy Measures can help drive better performance in your organization, contact:


Bill Mauke, Health and Productivity Practice Leader
william.mauke@ovationbenefits.com