Hill Briefing Identifies New Cost-Effective Innovations in Health Management

The Healthcare Leadership Council hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill that delved into private sector approaches to improving health outcomes.  Leading experts presented a variety of successes that are increasing quality of care while achieving cost-effectiveness.

Daniel Trencher, senior vice president of Product & Corporate Strategy at Teladoc, said that access to services can be a challenge, and patients are now more accepting of the “app world” that is pervasive today.  Telehealth, he said, an opportunity for flexibility regarding patient schedules, and can help ease the access challenges created by health provider shortages.  Teladoc has focused on ensuring resolution of health problems, rather than simply serving as a provider of referrals.

Len Greer, president of Health & Wellness Solutions at Johnson & Johnson, discussed the ways in which his company is harnessing the power of behavior change.  Despite basic knowledge of what behaviors are healthy versus unhealthy, it has proven difficult to encourage people to change their lifestyles and sustain those improvements.  Johnson & Johnson uses data-driven insights along with analytics and integrated technology, combined with the science of behavior change and intuitive product design, to help empower employees and patients to succeed in achieving their health goals.

Elizabeth Sump, senior director of Health Policy at the Cleveland Clinic, stressed that creating a culture of employee wellness involves active outreach, support programs and financial incentives.  Many of the lessons learned were utilized in Cleveland Clinic’s Medicare Shared Savings Program, which became the best performing 1st year MSSP ACO Nationwide.  She also noted that cost and quality cannot be considered independently of each other, for if quality falters costs are guaranteed to go up.

The briefing materials are provided here.