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GE: Improving Health Care Value Through Employer Innovations in Health Benefits and Consumer Responsibility

  • From aviation and appliances to energy and transportation, GE is making life better for American consumers with new innovative ideas and technologies. GE is equally committed to ensuring that its 300,000 employees have the tools they need to play a central role in their health care.
     
  • Through its HealthAhead program, online portal and mobile application, GE is communicating with employees and empowering them to take an active and accountable role in planning and managing their health, to engage in behaviors for healthy living and to demand value from the health care system.
     
  • HealthAhead includes five key components:
    • Plan Design to Support Health: GE’s employee health benefits are designed to drive active consumerism, promote health and wellness and provide choice. The contemporary design includes financial protection against large expenses; a move from fixed co-pays to cost sharing; outreach to high spenders; a personal health report card; no cost for preventive care and screenings; incentives; and “bankable” savings through a health spending account with a debit card.
       
    • Patient Tools & Treatment Decision Support: GE provides personalized support to plan members through Health Coach from GE — a one-on-one, free, confidential and voluntary resource. Health Coach is staffed by registered nurses and connects employees with high quality doctors, and arms patients with the information they need to understand their conditions, treatment options and ask their doctors the right questions.

      In addition, GE and Thomson Reuters partnered to create a Treatment Cost Calculator to provide plan members with cost savings advice and treatment cost estimates to help them find the best value.
       

    • Informed Decisions — Quality & Cost: Through the CVS/Caremark Savings Center designed for GE, health plan members are able to search for lower- cost medications and delivery options.
       
    • Health & Wellness: GE health plan members also have access to wellness support tools through confidential and voluntary online resources at no cost including a health risk questionnaire complete with an overall wellness score and recommendations; a personal health record that allows plan members to track health indicators; and other health support programs, e.g. a free smoking cessation program and nicotine replacement therapies.
       
    • Value-Based Payment: GE is committed to improving quality and safety and reducing costs by playing a leadership role in key private sector partnership initiatives, including Catalyst for Payment Reform, Bridges to Excellence and The Leapfrog Group.
 
To learn more about BRT companies innovating health care, visit www.brt.org.
 
 

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