In Focus
News & Insight from Chelko Consulting
All is Not Well: Survey Reveals Some Disconnect
We recently conducted a survey of Ohio employers, posing questions about their wellbeing programs. Participants were asked to rate their company’s actual performance compared to their desired performance in fourteen categories on a five-point scale. read more…
You’ve Been Warned: This is Not a Drill
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed any number of shortcomings in our readiness to face a healthcare-related crisis, and our handling of HIPAA privacy and security rules in the workplace is certainly one of them. Unfortunately, it didn’t require a global emergency to know that all too many organizations are falling woefully short when it comes to having adequate HIPAA plans and procedures in place. read more…
Necessity is the Mother of Invention… and Progress
COVID-19 safety concerns have redefined “normal” for countless aspects of our lives and nowhere is that more apparent than healthcare. Some things, like discretionary testing and surgeries, will probably return to the pre-corona standard. But others (think telehealth visits) have achieved a new level of acceptance and may become the standard of care in many situations. read more…
Keeping Score: Average Number of Prescriptions PMPY
Are more prescription drugs better or worse? And how many are too many or too few? These are difficult questions for most health plan sponsors to answer. One thing is clear: there is significant variation between the usage levels from one group to another. read more…
What’s the Rush?
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of drugs, biological products, and medical devices.” It’s right there in their job description.
But with the release of new policies meant to promote innovation for patients with unmet clinical needs, the FDA is asking the American people to “accept some level of uncertainty” when it comes to a handful of gene therapies that have been fast-tracked through the approval process. read more…
In Search of Healthy Competition
There was a recent article in a North Carolina newspaper about a local surgeon, Dr. Gajendra Singh, who wanted to offer transparently priced, low-cost services to assist patients that are candidates for general or laparoscopic surgeries.
What was fascinating about the article wasn’t that the surgeon was still practicing independently (which seems very rare these days), or that he posts the cost of an x-ray on his front door (which is also rare, and admirable). The intriguing part was that he wanted to purchase an MRI machine and the State of North Carolina wouldn’t permit it. read more…
Keeping Score: Network Performance
How well is your PPO network performing?
If we’re talking breadth of access and depth of discounts ― it probably looks pretty good! As far as helping you secure lower costs than their competitors ― it’s probably not making a big difference. read more…
Unsung Hero: The HSA and Retirement Savings
When employees ponder their lives in retirement, hobbies, travel, and mid-afternoon naps are likely more top-of-mind than paying for healthcare.
Even with Medicare picking up the majority of healthcare expenses for post-65 retirees, the average couple will still need $390,000* to cover medical expenses during retirement. And that doesn’t even include long-term care. The problem today is that the average retirement savings for a couple in their 60s is only $152,000**. read more…
Keeping Score: Specialty Drug per Employee Cost Trend
Specialty drug per employee cost trend refers to the change in specialty drug spend per employee from 2017 to 2018 for each company in our database. While the average increase of 11% is right in line with benchmarks, the year-to-year price movement for each company is all over the board. Only 15% of the groups in our database had a trend rate between 10% and 15%. read more…
We’re Paying You for What?
The prescription drug market is officially upside down. We were recently looking at a large coalition’s new initiative to “remove unnecessary drugs” from its formulary. The plan, believe it or not, is to charge coalition members over $3 million in fees to exclude these expensive, unnecessary drugs.
Our response: Really? We have to pay them extra for that? Why were those drugs covered in the first place? Weren’t we already paying them to help us avoid spending money on expensive, unnecessary drugs? read more…
INSIGHTS & RESOURCES
In Focus Blog
Legislative Updates
Benefits Roundtable
CONTACT
Cleveland Office
24651 Center Ridge Rd, Suite 110
Westlake, Ohio 44145
Phone: 440.892.2600
Fax: 440.892.8920
Email: info@chelkogroup.com
Columbus Office
Phone: 614.869.4140