STL Made works to brand St. Louis globally as an inclusive and innovative community undergoing a “renaissance." A three-year, multi-million-dollar effort will highlight the people of the area, encouraging them to tell their stories and share what they like most about living in the region. Connecting with the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and the St. Louis Regional Chamber, there is strong interest in attracting young talent to the region. STL Made will monitor the community for increases in commercial expansion as an indication of the success of the initiative’s efforts.

St. Louis’ Better Together program seeks to unite St. Louis City and County in ways that preserve the unique personalities of the region’s communities while building an integrated, innovative, and united approach to capturing opportunities and addressing concerns. Conversations paused on May 7th, but keep an eye out for the reinvention of this well-intended endeavor.
 

Global STL aims to attract innovative international companies seeking access to U.S. markets. Their annual summit, featuring “elevator pitches” from potential recruits, will be June 5th, and BHC members are invited. BJC’s new President and CEO, Richard Liekweg, will keynote the event. Anyone wanting to attend the summit is asked to please contact me at lprobst@stlbhc.org.

It is only a matter of time before Medicare or another entity ranks regions on health care value, exposing the impact of variations in safety, quality, and cost of health care on corporate productivity and profitability. Data indicates that with some improvements in safety and quality performance, St. Louis’ health care value would be top tier. Let’s build St. Louis' brand as a high-value health care community - another lever for economic development. 

The St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition is pleased to share with you Volume 1 of the 2017 St. Louis Health Care Industry Overview, which is focused on Health Plans.

In 2015 the U.S. hit two milestones:

•  For the first time, federal spending on health care programs exceeded Social Security costs
• The percentage of people who were uninsured dropped to 9%, the lowest in recorded history.

Nationally, as Medicaid and commercial insurance expanded,health spending accelerated increasing 6% in 2015 and medical loss ratios increased.

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) supported the record decline in uninsured, 75% of customers purchasing plans on the public exchanges required subsidies. Today, affordability is the most serious health care problem facing the nation.

New! Quick 1-page summary of report highlights! Please click on the icon to the right.


To access the full report, please click on the icon below and to the right.

A few highlights from Volume 1:

• Insurer's financial positions remained secure. While carriers lost money on individual plans on and off the exchanges, they are a small segment of their business and have a limited impact on profitability. Still, United Health Group and Aetna exited most of the ACA marketplaces, leaving just two carriers offering coverage in St. Louis.

• Medicare costs grew at a slower pace than private health insurance.Recent research suggests Medicare Advantage may be playing a role. These plans are more likely to include value-based provider incentives that lead to savings that are "spilling over" to fee-for-service Medicare.

• In 2015,the trend toward better quality care in members of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans compared to those with commercial coverage was common in St. Louis. For example, 53% of privately insured patients had blood pressure in control compared to 73% of patients enrolled in MA plans.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the report and suggestions for future publications. To provide feedback, please contact Karen Roth, Director of Research, at kroth@stlbhc.org.

The BHC is pleased to congratulate the following physicians on achieving or renewing NCQA recognition during January 2017:

Diabetes Recognition Program (DRP)

William Feldner, DO - Esse Health Physicians at St. Clare

Robert Saitz, MD - Esse Health South County Internal Medicine

Heart/Stroke Recognition Program (HSRP)

Mirha Avdagic, MD – St. Anthony's at Arnold Family Healthcare

Paul Ganninger, MD – Esse Office of Thomas F. Hastings, MD

Donna Hall, NP – Esse Office of Dr.’s Byrne & Launch

Steven Pisoni, MD – St. Anthony's at Southwest Medical Center

To view a full list of NCQA-recognized physicians in the St. Louis area, please click here.

EMPLOYERS SUPPORT CREATING A HEALTHY WORKFORCE

St. Louis --- The St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition (BHC) supports the Tobacco 21 ordinance as an important health policy for St. Louis. Raising the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco products to the age of 21 is an effort to reduce tobacco use among young people in the St. Louis region.  The BHC joins numerous community and health organizations to support the new bill proposed by St. Louis County Councilman, Dr. Sam Page. 

American businesses are the largest providers of health insurance and are uniquely positioned to lead and collaborate with others on innovative solutions to address health costs for the people in the United States.  National data shows the ages of 18 – 21 to be a critical time period where many smokers move from experimental smoking to ongoing and daily use. The use of tobacco products is a major risk factor for chronic health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

“Employers are actively engaged in creating a healthy workforce,” says Probst.  “The Tobacco 21 initiative complements health and wellness strategies to improve health by decreasing tobacco use.  The cost burdens of tobacco use weigh heavily on all Americans.”

Tobacco use affects employer costs in the dollars spent on the employee’s behalf for health care benefits, disability and workers’ compensation.  According to the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, economists have estimated the direct health care costs and indirect losses to the U.S. economy from tobacco use to be a staggering $330 billion per year. 

“Our community has a significant opportunity to prevent the start of an unhealthy and addictive habit,” says Louise Probst, executive director of St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition.  “The entire workforce feels the burden of health care costs, lost productivity and wages for tobacco-related health expenses.  It is important for employers to do everything possible to support a healthy future for the next generation of leaders.”

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The BHC has chosen two preferred vendors for the 2016 flu season: Walmart Health and Wellness, for national flu shot services in any U.S. zip code, and Visiting Nurse Association of Greater St. Louis, a local non-profit serving the St. Louis community for over 100 years. To view pricing information and tips for vendor management and employee education, please click here.

The St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition is pleased to announce the release of its newest 360◦ View Health Valued Report, the product of a year-long process to assess changes in benefit plan design among St. Louis employers before and after implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The goal of this project was to provide employers with information about evolving trends in the local health care market, while also establishing a benchmark for benefit design practices. In total, data was compiled from 58 companies (188 benefit plans) for the 2010 plan year and 41 companies (123 benefit plans) for the 2015 plan year.

The data included in this report reflects topics of interest as identified by an advisory committee of BHC member companies. Additional data was collected in the construction of the project database and is available for further analysis upon member request. To view a full list of data variables available, please see the Appendix on page 8 of the report.

We hope that you find this report to be a helpful resource as you consider your organization’s unique benefit design. As always, we welcome your feedback and comments in ensuring that BHC products continue to produce the greatest value for members.