04.06.09

Number of HMOs as of July 2008

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:32 am by ceo

Source: Healthleaders, Inc., Special Data Request, March 2009. (Kaiser Family Foundation)

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Waste-Reduction Strategies Can Improve Health Care Quality With Reduced Costs

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:32 am by ceo

Excerpt: "In 'Imagining 16% to 12%: A vision for cost efficiency, improving health care quality, and covering the uninsured,' [Milliman sets] forth 'actuarial insights to help health care reformers develop better proposals' while reducing health care's share of the gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 16% to 12%. The Milliman team's strategies support those of the Obama Administration to reduce costly waste in health care by relying more on evidence-based medicine, using comparative effectiveness evaluations of new and existing treatments to identify those that are the most cost effective, setting quality standards and measures, making providers accountable for outcomes, encouraging informed patient choice, and promoting electronic medical records, among other steps." (Wolters Kluwer)

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Impact of Two Employer-Sponsored Population Health Management Programs on Medical Care Cost and Utilization (PDF)

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:32 am by ceo

8 pages. Excerpt: "Conclusions: Our results suggest that the programs did not reduce medical cost in their first year, despite a beneficial effect on hospital admissions. If we had been able to include program fees, it is likely that the overall cost would have increased significantly. Although this study had important limitations, the results suggest that a belief that these programs will save money may be too optimistic and better evaluation is needed." (The American Journal of Managed Care)

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02.13.09

Report on California Health Plans and Insurers

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:30 am by ceo

Excerpt: "Private health insurance carriers form the backbone of California's market-based health care system, providing coverage to 67% of its population. Health insurance carriers not only serve the privately insured, but also large portions of the publicly insured, in Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, Medicare, and other public programs. [Both the report and data files are linked from the target page.]" (California HealthCare Foundation)

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02.11.09

My new Silva EX3 pedometer: Here at Last!

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by ceo

My new Silva EX3 pedometer finally arrived a few days ago.

Well worth the wait - no wonder they were sold out! What a difference it is making.

The cheap one I bought while I was waiting for delivery of this one started being annoying and so I didn't wear it all day. With this one you can wear it around you neck, in your pocket or in your bag and it's around 20g (less than an ounce) so you don't even notice you're wearing it.

It resets itself automatically every night (keeping a record of the last 7 days for you) - I leave it in my dressing gown pocket until I'm dressed and then it goes in my pocket or around my neck depending what I'm wearing.

No annoying click click click either or falling off your waistband when you bend over.

If you've only ever used those horrible cheap ones you'll really notice the difference though that may be less of a case if you've had an expensive one before.

As far as motivation goes, it's working for me so far.

I'm reasonably fit so I didn't start from the beginners part of my pedometer weight loss program with a gradual build up on steps - I'm aiming to do 10,000 steps a day.

First day I had the EX3 I had only done 6000 or so steps by 4pm so I did an extra 30 minutes stepping in front of "Ready Steady Cook" to help me arrive at my target and yesterday I decided to walk to the Post Office instead of driving so that I could get some extra steps clocked up and I got to almost 13,000.

Today I have not done any formal exercise so I am around the 3000 mark and so that will be me going for a walk this evening or stepping in front of the TV again instead of being lazy.

By the way if you would like to buy one I have seen these on Amazon in the Uk - the .com site doesn't seem to have them but you may get something similar on their pedometers page.

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