Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Order a copy
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2022

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Order a copy
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2022

Home Opinion Tracking health-care trends for 2017

Tracking health-care trends for 2017

Published March 6, 2017 by Chris Mullins

The U.S. health care system will continue to evolve during 2017, with new technologies and programs helping make care more efficient and accessible for more Americans.

Here are five health care trends for Virginia’s consumers and business leaders to monitor during the coming year.

Fitness trackers
The wearable-technology market is booming. The industry’s value is expected to reach $31.2 billion by the end of 2020, according to a recent research report. This is good news for consumers, as wearable devices enable people to track their daily steps, monitor their heart rates and analyze sleep patterns. Some employers and health plans in Virginia, such as UnitedHealthcare Motion, are including fitness trackers as part of wellness programs, enabling some employees to earn up to $1,500 per year in incentives by meeting specific daily walking goals. A study published in Science & Medicine shows people tend to overestimate how much exercise they get each week by more than 50 minutes, and they underestimate sedentary time by more than two hours, underscoring the importance of a wellness program like UnitedHealthcare Motion.

Workplace wellness
Besides fitness trackers, some employers offer other wellness incentives, which can include gift cards, lower health insurance premiums, cash bonuses and discounts on gym memberships. An estimated 70 percent of employers already offer wellness programs and 8 percent more plan to do so during the next year, according to a 2016 study from the Society for Human Resource Management. The value of corporate wellness incentives has increased to $693 per employee, up from $430 five years ago, according to a recent study from the National Business Group on Health. However, the study found that fewer than half of eligible employees earned the full incentive, with workers leaving millions of dollars of unclaimed rewards.

Comparison shopping
The internet has transformed how people purchase goods and services, and it is doing the same for health care. Some new online and mobile services enable people to comparison shop for health care based on quality and cost. With a growing number of Americans now enrolled in consumer-directed health plans, more people are using online and mobile health-care transparency resources. More people (32 percent) are using websites and mobile apps to comparison shop for health care, up from 14 percent in 2012, according to the recent UnitedHealthcare Consumer Sentiment Survey.

Get care anywhere
New mobile apps now enable people to meet with primary-care physicians and specialists to obtain medical care, with the goal of providing convenience and more affordable care. The cost of a video-based virtual visit is usually less than $50 and may provide significant savings when compared to costs for similar minor medical needs treated at a doctor’s office (approximately $80), urgent-care facility (approximately $160) or an emergency room (approximately $650), according to UnitedHealthcare claims data. Recent advances in audio and video technology are enabling people to obtain a diagnosis and necessary prescriptions for minor medical needs, including allergies, sinus and bladder infections, bronchitis and other conditions.

Value-based care
Employers and health plans increasingly are using value-based care arrangements. This trend is a shift away from the common fee-for-service structure in which a care provider is paid separately for each treatment, appointment or test during a treatment plan, generating multiple claims within a single, broader episode of care. Under value-based care arrangements, the health-care providers that employees use are paid for achieving certain quality outcomes and demonstrating that they’re improving people’s health, rather than getting paid solely for the number of services they provide to patients.

In other words, they’re paid for value over volume. For instance, a new UnitedHealthcare program with health care facilities nationwide is using a type of value-based care arrangements (bundled payments) for knee, hip and spine procedures. Participating employers have recorded an average savings of $10,000 or more per operation when compared with median costs in the same metropolitan area. Meanwhile, employees having the surgery may save $1,000 in lower out-of-pocket costs when accessing an in-network facility that accepts bundled payments.

Whether you’re an employee or employer in Virginia, awareness of these trends in health care can help you save time, save money and ultimately take full advantage of the many benefits that are available.

Chris Mullins is CEO of UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic.

Related Stories

No related posts.

Trending

Newport News apartments sell for $9.75M

SCC approves Dominion’s $9.8B offshore wind farm

Amazon opens new Chesapeake facility

Six Va. companies land spots on Fortune Global 500

Va. Credit Union loses bid to expand membership

Sponsored Stories

Creating An Urban Destination in Chesapeake

5 surprising facts employers should know about voluntary benefits

What Supply Chain Problems should you be planning for in 2023?

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

Newport News apartments sell for $9.75M

SCC approves Dominion’s $9.8B offshore wind farm

Amazon opens new Chesapeake facility

Six Va. companies land spots on Fortune Global 500

Va. Credit Union loses bid to expand membership

Sponsored Stories

Creating An Urban Destination in Chesapeake

5 surprising facts employers should know about voluntary benefits

What Supply Chain Problems should you be planning for in 2023?

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2022 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk