Healthcare cost reductions might be on the way for the state's employers.
It’s rare these days for mention of a new healthcare program to actually bear good news for business owners, but a program devised by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana may do just that.
Quality Blue Primary Care, which was launched about a year and a half ago, is designed to improve care for people with chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease. The program was developed based on research that showed care varied widely, even in the same medical practice, for patients with these chronic conditions. Quality Blue seeks to make sure all doctors are following best practices when caring for these patients and that patients are following their treatment plans.
When chronic conditions are not managed and worsen, the resulting healthcare costs increase significantly. But so far under Quality Blue, according to The Advocate, diabetes care has improved by 12 percent, high blood pressure care by 28 percent, vascular disease care by 32 percent and kidney disease care by 69 percent.
And as a result, improving workers’ health will reduce healthcare costs for employers, a much better way to boost the bottom line than by transferring expenses to employees or cutting benefits altogether.
Dawn Starns, NFIB’s Louisiana state director, told The Advocate that anything that can reduce the ever-increasing cost of healthcare is a great idea.
As more data is gathered about the outcome of this program, there is hope that similar programs can be developed widely to provide healthcare cost relief to patients and employers nationwide.
