CVS Health Brand Exceeds Expectations
CVS/pharmacy posted a 10.3% increase in net revenue in the third quarter. As the economy continues to recover and the pharmacy sector continues to grow, positive returns shouldn't be surprising. However, the numbers CVS Health brand is putting up are almost unprecedented. A major reason for the growth came from the acquisition of Omnicare, which continues to prove the innovation of CVS/pharmacy. Omnicare allowed CVS/pharmacy to expand into the niche pharmacy market for senior living and long-term care facilities and provide care to a population who may never go into a retail pharmacy.
Employee Health Screenings: How Much Testing is Too Much?
As we enter the season of open enrollment employers are looking for ways to minimize health care costs and employees are already thinking about new years resolutions and how they can get healthy “after the holidays.” According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report, half of large employers in America require employees to submit to some time of biometric screening. However, it is important for employers to consider how required employee health screenings affect their relationship with employees. So what’s the risk? Employees are all adults, and they ultimately can choose when to go to the doctor. Some go to the doctor regularly, others choose to go less often. Still others might be generally healthy but don’t check in at the doctor’s office as much as they should. So requiring biometric screening can feel invasive and create the illusion of “forcing” employees to go to the doctor, potentially against their general practice.
Keep Hospital Readmission Rates Low Using Incentives
The care that a patient receives directly after leaving the hospital is critical to keeping hospital readmission rates low. It is estimated that nearly 20% of patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged and about 75% of those readmissions are preventable. There are various factors as to why hospital readmission occur. Most often patients are not seeing their Primary Care Physician while they are in the hospital and their PCP is only receiving a summary of treatment instead of a complete diagnosis with follow-up care recommendations. Low-income readmissions can potentially lose hospitals money with the odds being higher that another hospital bill will go unpaid. In 2015, The Affordable Care Act has mandated a financial penalty of up to 3% for institutions that have not complied with standards for reducing readmission rates. Incentives can play a huge role in reducing readmission rates. They allow you to reward patients for taking small steps that make a big difference between a healthy recovery and another trip to the ER, whether it be following up with their Primary Care Physicians or adhering to their prescription medication. Download our free white paper Reducing Readmission Rates through Incentives and Education to learn more on how to use incentives to reduce that 20% readmissions rate. Learn more about:
4 Reasons to Utilize Staff Wellness
Staff wellness is a concern in most office environments. Whether it’s preventing a flu outbreak this winter, or making sure that fitness is a priority in a culture where most employees are sitting forty hours a week, wellness is top of employers’ minds. Here are 4 issues that can be addressed through staff wellness:
7 Questions to Ask About Wellness Program Privacy
More and more employers are using wellness programs as a solution to rising health costs and even more are expecting to launch wellness programs in the coming year. But is our privacy at risk? Wellness program privacy is a hot topic and, with the slow development and implementation of standards to keep information confidential, it's no surprise. Wellness program data collected by employers is released to wellness providers and this non-confidential data could be abused for workplace discrimination, credit screenings, and even unwanted marketing. As more employers grasp wellness, they are pressuring employees to give unfamiliar 3rd party companies detailed data about one of the most sensitive parts of their lives. In many wellness programs simply taking the health risk assessment could mean you are waiving your privacy rights. So, what are the best questions we should ask our employers to help retain our wellness program privacy and keep our sensitive information secure?
