1️⃣ big thing: Employer hardball. ⚾ 2️⃣ Key Factors: Girding themselves for pricey #healthcare this fall, employers are - 💥Pushing back harder in negotiations with new #pricetransparency data. 💥 Emboldened by increased industry scrutiny. 3️⃣ Eye-Openers This Benefits Season 👀: 💥 #ceos & #cfos are prioritizing #healthcarecosts because they know they haven't been getting the best deals on #healthcare. 💥 After years of believing its a cost of doing business, companies are using #data to demand better terms in discussions with #insurers & #pbms. 💥 #insurancebrokers - look alive! Your clients are armed & ready to negotiate best prices, push back on drug prices & generate more significant savings. Keith Lemer | Dave Earle | Megan Chiarello | John Augustine | Zach Messing | Heidi Hina, CSFS | Dennis Nash | Jeff Castellano | Zachary Pitcher | Jeannette Flowers | 📰 credit: Axios #healthcarenews #insurancenews #ceoinsights

Ahead of next week's #jpm2024 conference, Brittany Trang & I decided to take a look at which sectors draw the most profit from the massive $4.5 trillion U.S. #healthcare industry. We compared the profits of the biggest #drugmaker, #healthinsurance, #PBMs & #hospital companies in the first three quarters of 2023. The answers are fascinating and telling. But perhaps even more interesting is what the public data can't tell us. Vertically integrated companies like UnitedHealth Group & CVS Health can move money around in a way that clouds our ability to learn what they're really pocketing. As one health policy expert told me: “If one segment of your vertically integrated organization is not publishing any financial data, it’s a good place to hide stuff.” Please give it a read! https://lnkd.in/gf9EX6FV via STAT

In honor of #LongCovidAwarenessDay, #NYSIF continues to explore the impact of #LongCovid - on families, the workplace, health care providers and employers. As a large insurer with a public purpose, NYSIF is uniquely positioned to leverage its data to inform the broader conversation on Long Covid.   NYSIF’s Long Covid page features our report, “Shining a Light on Long Covid” and videos from our distinguished panel that focused on Long Covid's Impact on the Workforce. https://lnkd.in/eDZiSriD

Join us on April 18th at 10 a.m. to connect with senior executives from Aetna, Cigna, BCBS, and UHC. Our panel discussion will focus on emerging trends impacting group health plans. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights from major industry leaders. See you there! #healthcare #executives #grouphealthplans #emergingtrends

Medications known as GLP-1s are top of mind for employers who provide health coverage for employees and their families. They're also a hot topic at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. In this analysis, Brandon Batiste, MPH and Borislava Marcheva discuss the impact of the rising demand for these drugs on employer-sponsored health care, including the challenges and potential benefits. #JPM24 #JPMHC24

This article points out that if employers leverage their health plan data like they leverage data in other aspects of their business, they can provide better benefits while reducing their costs. Additionally, and importantly for employers, the use of this data will help them meet their growing fiduciary requirements. (CAA of 2021) A few keys points in the article: 1. Using an employer’s health plan data can provide a roadmap for controlling health plan costs and improving the quality of care. (The importance of having access to claims data, not always provided by the BUCAs.) 2. Leveraging tools already available in the market, employers are realizing they can impact their health plan renewals by leveraging their claims data (Contrary to what they’ve often been told.) 4. One significant opportunity centers on prescription drugs. More data on utilization, insight into  alternatives, helps employers and employees make informed choices that save money without compromising the quality care they need. (Just using a more transparent PBM can deliver 10% savings or more.) The bottom line is, “Providing employees with necessary benefits at affordable costs isn't going to get easier or less expensive. But by working smarter and using transparency and innovative technologies to their advantage, employers will get better at delivering comprehensive solutions that make health care more beneficial and affordable.”

So, Scott Wooldridge reports that Employer Healthcare costs are going up due to 4 trends, among them are prescription costs, mental health care and cancer treatment, according to a survey from the Business Group on Health. All of that is bogus when we know how to get cancer treatments for free, mental health affordably and prescriptions at low or no cost. Employers, here are the 4 trends REALLY driving your costs; 1) Your broker likely makes more money as your costs go up 2) Your carrier makes more money as your costs go up 3) Your local health systems make more money as costs go up 4) You Pharmacy Benefit Manager makes more money as your costs up It is really and truly that simple. Change the incentives and you change the outcomes. Emma Fox, CHVA

1) Your broker likely makes more money as your costs go up 2) Your carrier makes more money as your costs go up 3) Your local health systems make more money as costs go up 4) You Pharmacy Benefit Manager makes more money as your costs up And we wonder why more people/organizations aren't working towards change... well most of the stakeholders in the current healthcare system have perverse incentives to keep things the same.

LATEST: UnitedHealth, Humana and CVS/Aetna insured fewer people in the commercial market in 2023 than they did a decade ago. And yet, their profits were WAY up compared to then. How can commercial enrollment be down but profits up? Here's how: Read more at HEALTH CARE un-covered: https://lnkd.in/e2zZar-Z

Join the next SHRM webinar from Aetna, a CVS Health Company, where we’ll discuss the latest suicide data and trends, how evidence-based interventions can prevent suicide and the role employers can play. #CECredit #SHRM #SuicidePrevention #SPM23 #TeamCVS