Disability, absence and the health reform era

The total cost of employee absence for many employers is high, and the correlation between employee health and disability is clear. This article reviews several challenges employers face in managing employee health and absence in a well-integrated manner. Although such an undertaking is not easy, the additional cost national health care reform may bring makes the interrelationship between employer profitability and employee absence, health and disability more crucial than ever for employers to recognize and manage.     

Epilogue: health care reform and productivity

Only a health care system that balances the best interests of consumers with those of employers and government payers will ultimately provide quality care at manageable costs. These need not be opposing interests.     

Population health improvement--the next era of the health care management evolution

The trend of increasing health care costs over the past several years shows no signs of slowing down. While employers have attempted to address the issue with various cost-shifting and cost-sharing initiatives to relieve the burden, those attempts have often fallen short. In today's fiscally scrutinized benefits environment, the emphasis needs to be more strategic. The management of employee health and productivity needs to move to a more encompassing organizational view that addresses the most expensive drivers of these costs head-on, with prevention, education and employee responsibility as key tenets. Organizations that make the move--by implementing programs to maintain, improve and manage their population's health--will enjoy substantial cost savings and enhanced employee productivity.     

日元:敢问路在何方

日本央行入市干预 世界目光聚焦日元 5月22日,东京汇市收盘之前,本已摇摇欲坠的美元突然飙涨.原因是当美元跌至123.51日元的7个月低点之后,日本财务省通过日本央行入市干预,卖出日元.东京一些交易员估计,干预总额至少达10亿美元.     

Health care reform and reform for health: creating a health system for communities in the 21st century

If we are to improve the health of the population and reduce the inequalities in health that plague our communities and our planet, we will have to give greater attention to the determinants of health. The reform of the health care system, necessary though it is, will never be sufficient; we need to reform our whole society and in particular to focus on human rather than economic development. At the community level we need to create healthy communities that are “health-creating systems” of environmental, social and human development, as well as health care systems that focus first on improving and maintaining health. Such a “bottom-down” health care system would see the hospital become once again the place of last resort (but still a potentially important partner in creating healthier communities) and would focus instead on how to provide health promotion and health care from the household level up.     

A new equilibrium in health and rewards strategy--prospering in a post-health care reform world

To prosper in the coming years, companies will need to reassess current strategies and approaches related to talent management, total rewards and health benefits in light of the market-driven equilibrium emerging from U.S. health reform. This new equilibrium will be shaped by demographic and employment dynamics, U.S. tax policy, continued globalization and new challenges and opportunities in the health care system. Each company's assessment of the most beneficial balance will reflect its unique business dynamics, industry challenges, geography and size. While in some ways companies' approaches will build on the lessons learned and successes over the past few decades, they will also leverage the new opportunities presented in a postreform world.     

Exchange traded currency derivatives markets in India: the road ahead

Indian exchanges have recently been permitted to offer currency futures on their platforms to the market participants. The paper outlines the contract, and charts the development and growth of currency futures in India since their inception in 2008. It emphasizes the existing close connectivity between commodity and currency markets. It highlights the increased exchange rate volatility of Indian exchange rate against US dollar (INRUSD) during conventional and non conventional trading hours and argues for the ability of the market to quickly adapt to extended trading hours. The paper recommends some new products and an alternative mechanism to settle the contracts.     

Navigating the road ahead: lessons from a pioneer ACO

Genesys PHO in Flint, Mich., is one of 32 ACOs participating in the Pioneer ACO Model initiative administered by the CMS. Genesys PHO' experience suggests that successful ACOs will invest physicians with decision power and focus on strengthening the physician-patient relationship, restoring patients' trust in physicians, and allocating the right human resources to the effort. Organizations that are considering an ACO strategy should evaluate the risk structures of their proposed contracts and their provider groups' willingness to accept the contractual level of risk.     

Global trade and the future of national health care reform

As a result of economic globalization, health care reform is no longer strictly a matter of domestic health policy and politics. This paper argues that international trade agreements impose institutional constraints on governments’ abilities to implement health care reform, and, if left unchallenged, could frustrate social reforms. The thesis is developed through three case studies that examine the implications of various trade agreements for health care reform in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The findings are discussed in the context of theoretical debates concerning the impact of globalization on the autonomy of nation states and the relevance of national politics.     

Retiree health care benefits: new rules, new strategies.

Two recent court decisions in a retiree health care benefits age discrimination case are likely to bring changes to employer-sponsored retiree health care. After reviewing the cases and how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has responded to them, this article discusses employer implications. Although the court decisions add complexity to retiree health plan design, they also provide employers with the valuable opportunity to analyze the match between their retiree health plans and business needs.     

Health insurers' operations in the face of health care reform: An analysis of the Supplemental Health Care Exhibit

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced significant changes to the health insurance marketplace in the United States. The act also imposed reporting requirements on insurers. The law has required insurers since 2010 to file yearly the Supplemental Health Care Exhibit (SHCE). The SHCE provides unique information on how health insurers operate. We analyze data in the SCHE to understand how insurers have complied with one of the major new regulations affecting health insurers' operations arising from the ACA—the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Provision. This requires that insurers spend a minimum percentage of their premium revenue on medical claims, quality improvement expenses, and deductible fraud and abuse detection and recovery expenses. Our analysis of the 2010–2017 SHCE indicates that insurers' underwriting performance worsened in the early years of the ACA as they worked to increase MLRs to become ACA‐compliant. Analysis of the SHCE further reveals that insurers' profits from managing uninsured plans grew as the profitability of underwriting insured plans decreased. Future research on health insurer operations is warranted. The currently underutilized and data‐rich SHCE provides unique information that makes future research possible.     

Storing radiology images in the reform era: what CFOs need to know

Vendor-neutral archives (VNAs) normalize PACS images and make image exchange possible, even when multiple divergent PACS or radiology departments are involved. These systems, onsite or cloud-based, allow for strategic and long-term growth regardless of the PACS used. Radiologists continue to operate with their system/vendor of choice, further strengthening productivity, satisfaction, and organizational loyalty. Finance executives shave costs, avoid future PACS expenses, and gain greater leverage with PACS vendors.     

互联网金融时代：中国金融体系何去何从

当前,中国正处于全世界创新与改革的中心,其金融体系的改革更成为全球瞩目的大事,而全球主要经济体每一次重要的体制变革,往往伴随着重大的金融创新,尤其随着互联网金融潮流的兴起,中国的金融体系势必要经历改头换面的洗礼。在互联网金融时代,中国的金融效率、交易结构、甚至整体金融架构都将发生深刻变革．对此,面临严峻挑战的传统金融机构应该作出何种应对7中国的金融体系改革何去何从     

论商业健康保险在新医疗保障体系中的地位

国务院新公布的《关于深化医药卫生体制改革的意见(征求意见稿)》引发了社会各界的高度关注,方案中明确提出在新的医疗保障制度构建中要积极发展商业健康保险。国际经验表明,要建立一个高效率运行和可持续发展的医疗保障体系,商业健康保险是不可或缺的重要组成部分。本文从经济学理论和医疗保障的实践结果两个角度出发,论述商业健康保险与社会医疗保险合理配合的必要性,以及商业健康保险在医疗保障体系中的优势和特殊作用,并对进一步确保我国商业健康保险发展提出相应的政策建议。