Pennsylvania Gains One in America’s Health Rankings, But Shows Little to Cheer

Earlier this week, the United Health Foundation released the 22nd Edition of America’s Health Rankings®: A Call to Action for Individuals and Their Communities.

Pennsylvania moved up one spot to #26 from last year’s rankings, but this is certainly nothing to celebrate. While we saw an overall decrease in the number of smokers and improvement in high school graduation rates and other indicators, Pennsylvania, like the rest of the country, saw significant increases in the number of residents who have diabetes and/or are obese. But we do not have to continue this downward slide.

I would like to share with you the blog that Reed Tuckson, M.D., United Health Foundation board member and executive vice president and chief of medical affairs, UnitedHealth Group, posted earlier this week that not only illustrates the dire predicament we as Americans find ourselves in, but ways in which we can together address our stagnating health. I hope you find it as thought-provoking as I did.

Dr. Tuckson writes:

“Disappointingly, our nation’s health is stagnating. Today’s report finds that troubling increases in obesity, diabetes, and children in poverty are offsetting modest improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations, and cardiovascular deaths. What this means is that the overall health of the nation did not improve at all between 2010 and 2011 – a decline from the 0.5 percent average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010 and the 1.6 percent average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s. A compelling example of this stagnation is smoking and obesity: The Rankings found that, for every person who quit smoking in 2011, somebody became obese.

The result is millions more individuals with preventable illnesses, a veritable tsunami of chronic disease washing into an already overburdened health care system. With chronic disease affecting 130 million Americans and accounting for nearly 75 percent of these costs, we owe it to ourselves and future generations to act more urgently and creatively to confront these issues.

When it comes to challenges of this magnitude, it’s important to realize that 'we’re all in this together.' Government leadership is essential, but government cannot do it alone. The private sector, philanthropy and community-based organizations all need to join in a data-driven process to determine priorities and then recruit the broad range of assets necessary to address these priorities.

Individuals clearly play a role too. The subtitle of this report remains A Call to Action for Individuals and Their Communities. These are not just words but an urgent plea for comprehensive, innovative and sustained engagement. Whether it’s making a personal change like quitting smoking or exercising; supporting community initiatives that create safe and healthy environments in which to live and work; or creating health enhancing policies or programs, the point is that too much is at stake to leave these issues unaddressed. Now is the time!”

To find out more about the 2011 America’s Health Rankings, visit http://www.americashealthrankings.org/. You can also find and follow America’s Health Rankings on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericasHealthRankings and Twitter at @AHR_Rankings. Dr. Tuckson encourages us all to exchange ideas, share information and learn from each other as we work to turn the tide on the health challenges facing the nation – and Pennsylvania.

Recognizing Women of Distinction

Earlier this week, I was honored to be among 25 women business executives being recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal as “Women of Distinction.”

The Philadelphia Business Journal celebrated its 14th anniversary of recognizing women leaders who are having a positive impact on our businesses, our communities and our families here in the region – and I am humbled to be among the outstanding women who have received this honor. The women I shared the dais with this year are paying it forward, because, as fellow honoree Clara Rivas of WWSI Telemundo Philadelphia said, “We owe it to other women to light the road.”

In lieu of acceptance remarks, Lyn Kremer, publisher of the PBJ, challenged each us to write an 11th Commandment. Each and every response was inspiring, providing us a glimpse of what makes each woman a great leader and a sense of where her passions lie. For example, Patricia Miller of Nobel Learning Communities, Inc. deemed that “Thou shalt provide educational opportunities for all children – the cornerstone of a strong society.”

Improving our communities and ourselves, and educating our young people, were common themes, and each honoree was taking significant steps to address these issues – putting her words to action.

But like Clara, many of these distinguished ladies focused on their responsibility to lend other women a “helping hand” so they also might achieve their own lofty goals in business, the community and the home. Here are a few that stood out to me, and, while they may not be verbatim, I hope I have captured their essence.

Kamil Ali-Jackson of Yaupon Therapeutics Inc., reminded us all to do no harm to women who are trying to balance their lives, while Eunice Heath of The Dow Chemical Co. encouraged us to remove barriers so women can reach their full potential. That means helping those in need as well as accepting help from others, as encouraged by Irene Chang Britt of Campbell Soup Company.

We all cannot be Wonder Woman – and should not strive to be – but we can be the best CEO of our own lives, which means having a great team around you. In talking with many of these very special women, this philosophy is key to their success. While enabling others to reach their goals, they are also confident enough to ask for help in reaching theirs.

I think Lisa Nutter, awarded for her work with Philadelphia Academies, Inc., summed it up best – “Those who say it could not be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” These inspiring women are helping change Philadelphia, the Commonwealth and beyond – so get out of their way.

I leave with you with my 11th Commandment, which partially echoes a UnitedHealthcare mantra and I try to remember it every day:

Don’t sleepwalk through life. Be present. Be here now. As Maya Angelou said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.” I'm trying hard not to miss a single one of those moments, like tonight.

Wellness Comes to Philly Businesses – With Healthy Results

Well, we all know that an apple a day is no longer the trick. Maybe because we dip that apple in caramel. Maybe because a day has morphed into a week.

Whatever the reason, we know that it’s become more difficult to get healthy and stay healthy, and the cost of keeping the doctor away has reached new heights.

And, if you watch certain reality TV shows, it looks like if you want to be fit and healthy, you need to work out seven hours a day and eat cardboard. So it is no wonder that millions of Americans throw up their hands and quit before they start.

But studies have found that it is the small, incremental changes that have the most long-lasting impact on our health. Employers can play an instrumental role in helping employees live healthier lives, which may also have a positive impact on their bottom line. The Wellness Council of America estimates that for each $1 invested in a wellness program, employers can save as much as $3 in health care and productivity costs.

This is why we teamed up with Philadelphia magazine for its Be Well Philly Challenge, an eight-week corporate wellness competition. The results were outstanding! The four finalists lost a combined total of almost 1,000 pounds! These teams came together at Lucky Strike last Wednesday to crown the 2011 Be Well champion, enjoy healthy food and bowl. Advance Audio Visual Sales took the top prize, garnering almost 1,500 pound and wellness points.

To build an effective wellness program, consider what the Be Well Philly Challenge participants and other area businesses are doing to create sustainable wellness programs:

• Develop a detailed plan that includes short- and long-term objectives.
• Set up a wellness committee and identify wellness champions who will help drive the program’s scope and implementation.
• Review data from past insurance claims, employee surveys, health assessments and biometric screenings to make sure you select wellness programs that combat the most common health challenges affecting employees.
• Offer onsite wellness programs, such as biometric screenings, health fairs and walking clubs.
• Encourage employees to participate in wellness programs by offering incentives like gift cards, lower health insurance premiums, cash bonuses, discounts and contributions to health savings accounts.
• Make sure you communicate often.
• Provide employees with online tools that simplify important tasks like keeping track of health care costs.
• Track results to evaluate both the wellness programs and how individual employees in the programs are doing.

We are committed to helping individuals live healthier and supporting companies that share that goal. While following these tips may help employers and their employees achieve results like our Be Well Philly finalists did, we look forward to partnering with more companies and community organizations to improve the health of our employees, families and friends here and across the country.

Have a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

Learn more about Philadelphia magazine’s Be Well Philly Challenge

Reform Through Cultural Transformation

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of participating in the Philadelphia Business Journal’s inaugural “Health Care Innovation Awards” program. The event not only recognized some of the most innovative thought leaders in the area but hosted one of the most engaging health care panels I have heard in a long time.

When we talk about fixing the health care system, we often hear about innovation and technology driving change, but the panelists discussed a novel concept for the health care industry – the need to change the health care culture.

The main premise – to achieve long-lasting positive change, we need a culture in which ideas, visions and responsibilities are shared across all key stakeholders. When we can do that, we can break down barriers, develop multi-faceted approaches to solving problems and take advantage of opportunities to improve health care in this country.

But, cultural change is slow. It will require hard work and investments on many levels. Will it be worth it? The panel of experts said, “absolutely,” identifying five areas in which health providers, insurers and regulators could come together now in a “culture of collaboration” to improve our health system:

• Establish universal access to electronic health records;
• Improve coordinated care;
• Make hospitals safer;
• Share outcomes data and develop best practices to improve quality of care; and
• Enable nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other medical experts to practice to their fullest training.

I draw on the insights of one of the panelists, Rich Miller, CEO of Virtua and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2011 Health Care Innovation Awards’ “CEO of the Year,” to illustrate the concept. In the past, hospitals set goals based on occupancy rates – “heads in beds,” as he described it. Today, hospital leaders are discussing the need to keep patients out of those beds. Physicians will need to change their practice patterns, providing greater focus on wellness than sickness. Patients must change how they think and act when accessing the health care system. For example, non-critical care and preventive care services can be performed outside the hospital or doctor’s office – at their local pharmacies, for example.

Insurers will need to move away from their fee-for-service model, which rewards activity without regard to outcome. It will require that insurers become less transaction oriented and engage more as an insurer-activist… embracing sophisticated technology that leads to more and better data that is shared broadly to improve the health of the system and society as a whole.

Our collective goal should be a culture of care in which the five improvements mentioned above play a critical role, where patients receive the most clinically efficacious, cost-effective care in the right setting and at the right time by an appropriate medical professional to ensure the best clinical outcome.

We have learned from cultural changes of the past that results come from actively working together toward common goals – in the case of health care, an economically stable health care system and healthier Americans.

To learn more about the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Health Care Innovations Awards and the 2011 winners, go to http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2011/11/11/business-journal-healthcare-innovation.html.

Take a Stroll Down Health Care Lane

With snow comes thoughts of the upcoming holidays, and walking down shopping streets and malls looking for the ideal gifts. But for UnitedHealthcare and millions of Americans, thoughts are on annual open enrollment season – and selecting the best health benefits for them and their families. But, according to a 2010 study by UnitedHealthcare, Americans spend more time choosing a car than they do selecting health benefits.

In a recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) survey, approximately 36 percent of all U.S. adults lack the necessary skills to read and understand basic information to manage their health. The study also revealed that 88 percent of all adults are less than proficient when it comes to understanding complex health care topics.

At UnitedHealthcare, we’re working to change that by arming employers and consumers with resources to help them make informed choices about their health plan options. We’ve found that accessibility to such information leads to better decisions and better health, which ultimately promotes affordability.

So we invite you to take a stroll down Health Care Lane.

Health Care Lane is both an online experience and a “brick-and-mortar” exhibit that bring the interactive website to life. Both versions of Health Care Lane are designed to improve consumer health literacy and help employers experience the many different health care programs they can put in place for their workforce.

As individuals stroll through this highly interactive town – either in person or online, they may visit the “Public Library” to learn about various health insurance terms and what UnitedHealthcare is doing about health literacy; the “Pharmacy” to get more information on managing prescriptions, keeping costs low and understanding the differences between brand-names and generics; the “Fitness Center” to find out more about wellness and preventive programs and healthy lifestyles; the “WiFi Café” to use online health tools and cost calculators; and the “Town Bank” to learn about financial tools and accounts, such as Health Savings Accounts.

While Health Care Lane is an engaging way to learn about health benefits, it is one of hundreds of Internet sites that provide consumers with good basic health and health benefits information. Or, visit a real library or fitness center or doctor’s office to get more information for better health.

As we near the beginning of the holiday season and the end of benefits open enrollment season – and our pending New Year’s resolutions, we encourage a trip down Health Care Lane or other health information destinations to get more educated and more engaged – so you and your family can live healthier lives.

Health Care Lane arrives in Philadelphia on Tuesday, November 8. For more information, visit www.healthcarelane.com/philly. We look forward to seeing you there. If you cannot join us in person, please take a stroll down Health Care Lane at www.healthcarelane.com.

The Challenge to Lead Change

Last Friday, I had the honor of spending the morning with Gail Boudreaux, UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, while she was in Philadelphia keynoting The Forum of Executive Women’s 2011 Leadership Breakfast.  Gail asked

the 600 business leaders, both women and men, in attendance to consider taking a more active role in transforming the health care system.

Gail encouraged the group to engage in the health care conversation as leaders, knowing that rising to the challenge involves change – not just thinking or talking about it, but accepting its inevitability, believing in its possibilities, and leading the charge to use it for inspiration.

Gail shared with the audience her own experience of adapting to change, describing UnitedHealthcare’s recent partnership with Sesame Street Workshop.  “Accepting change urges us to think differently.  Did I think a year ago that my business partner would be a Muppet?”  Over the giggles of the audience, Gail added how excited she was that Elmo and the gang have joined forces with UnitedHealthcare to promote healthy eating in a fun and engaging way.  She emphasized that it is partnerships such as this and opportunities to work collaboratively that will help solve the tough problems facing our health care system today. Remaining optimistic and solution-focused are also critical to making a positive difference in the future of our health care system.

I thought Gail struck a chord with her three challenges to the group: 

·         Go beyond your boundaries and embrace collaboration in a transparent way.  Breaking new ground, we have to be open to something uniquely different to take advantage of the expertise inside all of us.

·         Drive change through your organization.  Each person casts their own ”leadership shadow” – and your actions can inspire others.    

·         Take time to personally make your employees aware and engaged in their health care choices.  Do you take time to ensure that your employees are utilizing their health care benefits the way they should?  Do you make your own health and wellness a priority, and do you see yourself as a role model? 

One of the key themes that resonated with me from Gail’s presentation was that there are steps we can all take – both in and out of the office – that will help us be informed and engaged consumers, including understanding the costs of health care and making decisions based on research and data.  In essence, Gail challenged the group to embrace what we tell our customers and employees as our own personal health care model.

I accept the challenge. Will you do the same?

UnitedHealthcare is bringing Health Care Lane to Philadelphia on Tuesday, November 8.  For more information, visit www.healthcarelane.com/philly.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Evolving Role of the Broker

As temperatures begin to cool and the days get shorter, thoughts turn to the holidays and the hope for some time to reenergize before kicking off a new year.  However, at UnitedHealthcare, we are busier than ever helping businesses find high quality, affordable health benefits solutions options for 2012.

But I did take time out of this hectic schedule to pause and spend some time looking beyond January 1, 2012.  Recently, I had the pleasure of joining leading health insurance executives at a panel discussion hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Association of Health Underwriters.  I thank GPAHU president Jerry McGlone and all GPAHU leaders for once again hosting a lively discussion on the issues impacting health care coverage today and in the future, including the evolving role of technology to empower consumers, the increasing focus on evidence-based guidelines, the heightened emphasis on wellness and the post-2014 benefits plans mix.

We also spent some time talking about health care exchanges and the ever-changing role of the broker.  I have a special place in my heart for health insurance brokers since I spent about half my career working as a broker.  A lot is being made about the imminent demise of the broker, but as Mark Twain once said “reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Brokers are needed more now than ever before… and that will only increase as health care reform continues to roll out throughout the states. Brokers already have a “trusted adviser” status with many of their client businesses yet must evolve even further. 

Employers will still play an integral role in either offering plans themselves or helping employees navigate as-yet developed health care exchanges.  Businesses, especially smaller ones, will not have the time or resources to wade through the myriad of plan options, reform regulations and business incentives that will continue to roll out across the states and/or through federal health care reform… and this will be to their detriment.

Brokers can help employers take advantage of certain changes but must shift away from low-value tasks to make time for ones of greater importance to clients, such as helping create health and wellness solutions to address unique health and affordability needs.  For example, our brokers have played an important role in helping us develop new plan designs and wellness programs and we stand ready to partner with them as we continue to meet the benefits needs of businesses.

And, brokers will become the “consumer educators.”  Consumers who traditionally have been given one benefit plan – or maybe two options – will now have many choices especially when exchanges roll out in 2014 – and many are ill-prepared to make the best choice for themselves and their families.  Who better to help them make those decisions than someone who has a unique vantage point on health benefit offerings?   Enlightened brokers may become the best stewards to help clients and their employees navigate the ever-more turbulent health care market.

We look forward to enhancing our relationships with brokers and playing a vital part in their transformation – as we all hopefully share a goal to help individuals live healthier lives.

UnitedHealthcare is bringing Health Care Lane to Philadelphia on Tuesday, November 8.  We look forward to seeing you there!