Rhode Island Business Group on Health: Home Page

February 9, 2010

RIBGH Meetings & Events

• February 25, 2010
General Membership Meeting

• May 20, 2010
General Membership Meeting

• September 16, 2010
RIBGH Annual Summit

• December 16, 2010
General Membership Meeting

Meeting Sponsor

RIBGH Sponsor Since 2006

Breaking News

• January 25, 2010 Free Clinic Wins $300K Grant View article.

•  January 22, 2010 Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Submits Small and Large Group Rate Filing to OHIC View article.

•  December 28, 2009 Shape Up RI launches 2010 season View article.

•  December 27, 2009 House and Senate look to final health care talks; How to pay for overhaul joins abortion, public option as key concerns View article.

•  December 15, 2009 Lifespan-CNE merger app still not done View article.

•  December 4, 2009 R.I. insurers offered ‘fair value’ in ’08 View article.

•  November 25, 2009 BCBSRI wants 10% direct-pay rate hike View article.

•  November 18, 2009 Mercer's 2009 National Survey of Employer -Sponsored Health Plans, View Survey Results.

•  November 6, 2009 Survey: Health Leaders Favor Medicare Changes View article.

•  October 30, 2009 R.I. health insurers’ profitability drops View article.

•  October 27, 2009 Innovations in Delivering Health Care View article.

•  October 15, 2009 The pulse survey report, conducted by Towers Perrin, "Health Care Reform 2009: Leading Employers Weigh In," provides a close look at how employers plan to deal with critical elements of the reforms. View report.

•  October 8, 2009 Towers Perrin Health Care Cost Survey Shows Employer-Sponsored Medical Benefit Costs to Rise 7% to Over $10,000 for the First Time View Article.

•  October 1, 2009 Lifespan-Care New England Merger Application Review Starts View Article.

•  September 30, 2009 Senators Reject Pair of Public Option Proposals View Article.

•  September 29, 2009 Feds May Pay for R.I. Medicaid Expansion View Article.

•  September 21, 2009 OHIC Approves Tufts Health Plan’s 8.5% Rate Hike View Article.

•  September 18, 2009 Carcieri assails health-care reform at R.I. business meeting View Article.

•  September 16, 2009 RIBGH Responds to Tufts Health Plan Rate Factor Filing Read Position.

•  September 10, 2009 Ranks of R.I. uninsured grew 9% in ‘08 View article.

•  September 1, 2009 Public Comment Solicited: Revised Tufts Health Plan rate factors. View article.

•  September 1, 2009 President Obama May Detail Health Plan Priorities Soon View article.

•  August 31, 2009 OHIC Provider Survey Results View article.

•  August 25, 2009 Health care claim costs likely to leap View article.

•  August 24, 2009 Family health premiums up 41% in RI since 2003 View article.

•  August 24, 2009 Health-Bill's Pace Prompts Calls for Delay View article.

•  August 20, 2009 $1.2 Billion Granted for Electronic Health Records View article.

•  July 9, 2009 Lifespan, Care N.E. refile merger app View article.

•  July 31, 2009 Doctors reap benefits of useless care; View article.

•  July 21, 2009 Lifespan looks to combine two hospitals Savings potential seen in Rhode Island, Miriam combination View article.

•  July 10, 2009 Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals in Congress View article.

•  July 3, 2009 Senate Seeks to Pare Tab for Health Overhaul View article.

•  July 3, 2009 Tufts withdraws rate hike request View article.

•  June 22, 2009 RIBGH, others deplore House move to scrap health insurance commissioner View article.

•  June 19, 2009 Urgent Call to Action - Please Contact State Legislators Opposing the Elimination of the OHIC! View issue Brief.
•  June 8, 2009 Forum addresses premium hike requests ; Roberts leads business group in facing Koller on health costs
•  June 13, 2009 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says covering the uninsured will take several years, even if Congress passes a bill and President Obama signs it into law this fall. View Article.

•  June 3, 2009
The President Spells Out His Vision on Health Care Reform

•  June 2, 2009
Capping the Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Is Equity Feasible?

•  June 1, 2009 Uncompensated care said to add $1,017 to family premiums View Article.

•  May 28, 2009
Report Concludes Uninsured Are Costly for All Insurance premiums cost $1,000 more per family to cover uninsured, study says Read entire article.
•  May 14, 2009
Study backs the value of Shape Up RI competition Read entire article.
•  May 14, 2009
Whitehouse bill would address critical-care shortage Read entire article.
•  May 8, 2009
Lynne Urbani: Free Clinic wants to ‘lose the lottery’ Read entire article.
•  May 2009
Leading through Unprecedented Times; interviews with Mercer thought leaders View Interactive article.
•  March 26, 2009
Warren Group: R.I. home prices remain below $200K in February. The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island fell 25.8 percent last month. Read entire article here.
•  February 20, 2009
Commonwealth Fund proposes health system overhaul that it says could slow the growth of health spending by $3 trillion by the end of the next decade. Read entire article here.
•  February 18, 2009
Cornerstone Group to Host “Wellness: A Healthy Approach to Healthcare Reform”. Cornerstone Group, one of New England’s leading benefits advisory firms, announced that it will host this event on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at Save the Bay Headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island. Click here for event details and registration.

•  February 1, 2009
COBRA takes a bite out of Jobless Paycheck,For most newly unemployed workers, maintaining family healthy coverage through an extension of workplace benefits is a prohibitively expensive proposition. Full Article

•  January 14, 2009
The Universal Health Care Foundation unveiled SustiNet, a proposed public-private model for health insurance in the state, that would be phased in over five years and would save money by creating a large pool of users. Full Article

•  January 5, 2009
Tufts stirs up the health insurance market in R.I. - Tufts Health Plan, a nonprofit insurer roughly the size of Blue Cross, decided RI was the natural place to grow its business and successfully cleared the regulatory process to offer coverage as of Jan. 1. More

•  January 5, 2009
State survey finds doctors critical of insurers - A survey of RI physicians conducted as part of a health insurance rate approval process has found dissatisfaction with reimbursement rates, skepticism about pay-for-performance policies, and mixed feelings about incentive programs. More

•  January 5, 2009
House to review Medicaid waiver this week For complete article, click here.

•  January 5, 2009
Rite Aid offers free online fitness help For complete article, click here.

•  January 5, 2009
OPINION - Lifespan-CNE merger talks must reach a conclusion For complete opinion by Ted Almon, click here.

•  December 29, 2009
insurance - Public-private payment gap widens Click here for entire article

•  December 29, 2008
Report shows slowdown in drug spending growth - A new study shows a major slowdown in real prescription drug spending growth. More

•  December 23, 2008
R.I. unveils details of Medicaid ‘compact’ - The state expects to save $358 million over the next five years under the Global Compact Waiver approved last week. More

•  December 16, 2008
Report Shows General Financial Health of Rhode Island Hospitals Improves In 2007. More

•  November 25, 2008
BCBSRI, Care NE extend contract through March For complete article, click here.

•  November 12, 2008
Mercer identifies the top 10 retirement, health and welfare benefit challenges shared by employers around the world Click here.

•  October 27, 2008
Businesses Wary of Details in Obama Health Plan Click here.

•  October 27, 2008
RI Congressmen National Health Care Reform Campaign Click here.

•  October 20, 2008
UnitedHealthcare to provide incentives for EMR use Click here.

•  September 29, 2008
Family Insurance premiums up 5% in 2008 , In 2008, workers will pay an average of $3,354 for family coverage. Click here for details.

•  September 3, 2008
Health Benefit Cost Growth Predicted to Ease Slightly in 2009, as employers shift costs and move employees to lower-cost plans. Click here for details.

2009 Recap

September 17, 2009 The annual summit has once again a huge success. With a full day of events and networking, the session topics included H1N1 preparedness, HealthCare Reform and CurrentCare initiative, just to name a few.

June 5, 2009 Our June membership meeting focused on State and Federal Legislative Health care reform and public policy outlook for the months ahead. Several presentations and meeting materials are available for download and review.

March 20, 2009 RIBGH was pleased to host Gov. Donald Carcieri as a guest speaker at our membership meeting. His presentation discussed the impact of the Global Medicaid Waiver on the RI Medicaid Program and how the reductions in state payments to hospitals proposed in the supplemental state budget for fiscal year 2009 affects the business community.

2008 Recap

September 19, 2008 RIBGH's Annual Healthcare Summit had an exciting and multifaceted agenda. Gov. Carcieri was a guest and speaker at our lunch program.

May 9, 2008 This membership meeting focused on the various aspects of the 2008 Legislative and Public Policy Outlook on Health Care Reform.

February 8, 2008 RIBGH was pleased to host four guest speakers covering the topics of Academic Medical Training & Research and Expansion of Health Care Quality Initiatives in Rhode Island:The Impact on the Business Community.

February 26, 2008 Mercer held an event that 10 RIBGH members attended in Newton, Massachusetts. The seminar was titled the "Mercer 2007 National Survey of Employer Sponsored Health Plans". As an RIBGH member, we are offering you a copy of this presentation. Please send an email to info@ribgh.org and request your copy of this informative report.

March 27, 2008 Towers Perrin and The PMA Insurance Group conducted the first in our 2008 series of complimentary Webcasts. Discussions included the results of our new health care cost research and offer strategies to help you manage rising costs in your organization.

2007 Recap

February 13, 2007 Keynote speaker Governor Donald L. Carcieri presented his Five Key Healthcare Initiatives and gave his perspective on universal access discussions. Attendees also received an update on RIBGH's "Adopt a Company" Wellness Program and an overview of RIBGH's 2007 goals.

May 10, 2007 This meeting provided an "Outlook on Rhode Island's Legislative and Regulatory Health Care Agenda " from a distinguished panel including Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts; RI Insurance Commissioner Christopher Koller; Senator Joshua Miller, Member of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee and Chair of the Small Business Advocacy Council’s Legislative Workgroup; and
Terrie Wetle, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Medicine for Public Health & Public Policy and Professor of Community Health at Brown Medical School and Chair of the Statewide Coordinated Health Planning Advisory Committee. Two powerpoint presentations made at this meeting are now available on our site.

September 21, 2007 The 1st Annual RIBGH Healthcare Summit was highly successful. This 5-hour multi-session program was well attended and covered a variety of healthcare initiatives directly related to RI's business community. The format contained general sessions as well as panel discussion group break-outs. Please see above link for specific topics covered.

December 7, 2007 Two nationally respected speakers in the area of "Innovative Approaches in Outcomes-Based Health Care Management and their Applicability in RI" addressed the members of RIBGH at his general session meeting. Guest speakers included Dr. Barry Bunting, Clinical Manager in the Pharmacy Department at Mission Health and Hospitals of North Carolina, Jan Berger, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical officer for CVS/Caremark, and Chris Koller, Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner.

2006 Recap

February 9, 2006   "Adopt a Wellness Program" was the theme of this meeting, with eight guest speakers, including Todd Cipriani, President of the Worksite Well-
ness Council, and Sheila Jacobs, Dean of Wellness University, Lifespan.

May 11, 2006   "Health Care Information Technology" was the theme of RIBGH's May meeting. Guest speakers included Charles Eaton, MD, MS, from Memorial Hospital, David Gifford, MD, MPH, Director of RI Dept of Health, and Michael Follick, PhD, CEO of Abacus Health Solutions.

September 14, 2006   Senator Elizabeth Roberts and Finance Committee Chair Steven Costantino, Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Health Care Oversight, joined Chris Koller, Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner, in presenting their outlook on Rhode Island's Legislative Health Care Agenda.

November 16, 2006   Stephen J. Farrell, CEO, United Healthcare of New England, and Richard P. Farias, Executive VP, Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI, provided a "View from the Executive Suite." Part of this meeting was dedicated to receiving input from members for the purpose of plan-
ning RIBGH's strategic direction for 2007.

We hope you will find it a useful source of information about healthcare issues in Rhode Island and the activities of RIBGH. To learn more about our goals and objectives, click here.

12/11/2009
RIBGH Health Meeting Presentations

We are excited about the recent RIBGH/Worksite Wellness Council of Rhode Island affiliation. Several of the presentations from the December 11th meeting, which focused on creating a worksite culture of wellness with a return and on health care reform can be found here.

1/5/2010 - Key employer elements in House and Senate health care reform bills - View Publication

RIBGH would like to provide our members with a centralized resource link to information on health care reform proposals under consideration by Congress and President Obama’s priority issues to be addressed by health care reform. A recent report on the impact of health care reform on small businesses is also included for your information and well as other resource information. Please check here for periodic updates.

11/09/2009 - Health Reform Survey Results - Executive Summary

Additional Resources:

11/18/2009
Mercer's 2009 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans

Dear RIBGH Members,

Mercer is pleased to send you the results of Mercer's 2009 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, provided in the attached news release.

In addition, we're able to provide you with results for New England, which represents the responses of 175 New England-area employers. Please see the bullets below.

I would be happy to speak with you about these survey results as well as what we are seeing with our clients locally. Please contact me directly at 401-752-8664 or via response to this message

Selected results for New England:

Total health benefit cost for active employees increased 6.4% in 2009, to an average of $10,403 per employee.

Asked about their 2010 costs, respondents estimated that if they made no changes to their current plan, cost would rise by 10.6%. However, they expect to lower their cost increase to 6.8% by making changes to plan design and/or plan vendors.

44% of respondents will shift cost to their employees in 2010 by raising deductibles, copays/coinsurance or out-of-pocket maximums. In addition, 37% will increase employees’ share of the premium contribution, and 17% will increase employee cost-sharing some other way.

25% of respondents offered a consumer-directed health plan with an account feature (an HSA or HRA) in 2009, and 30% say they are very likely to offer one in 2010 (including those that already offer a CDHP).

85% of all employees covered in respondents’ health plans are enrolled in PPO/POS plans, 54% in HMOs, 25% in CDHPs, and 5% in traditional indemnity plans.

The average employee contribution amount for employee-only coverage is $121 monthly for a PPO/POS plan, $104 monthly for an HMO and $72 monthly for a CDHP.

Nationally, PPO deductibles rose sharply in 2009, with the average individual deductible for in-network services reaching nearly $1,100 (but just $511 for employers with 500 or more employees). Regionally, employers in the northeast reported an average deductible of $1,122 (but just $395 for employers with 500 or more employees).

Christopher R. Coté, Principal
Mercer | 10 Weybossett Street, Providence, RI 02903
One State Street, Hartford, CT 06103 | Cell 401-265-8798 |

Christopher.r.cote@mercer.com

View Survey Results

9/17/2009
Carcieri assails health-care reform at RI Business Meeting

By Steve Peoples
Journal State House Bureau

WARWICK –– Governor Carcieri warned a group of Rhode Island’s most influential employers Thursday afternoon that congressional efforts to change the nation’s health-care system may impose new financial burdens on state governments and businesses. Read entire article.

June 18, 2009

OHIC Calls on Insurers to Retract Rate Increase Requests

Rate Hearings will commence by July 14 if no action by Insurers .For additional information visit our website at www.ohic.ri.gov

The Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) was established by legislation in 2004 to broaden the accountability of health insurers operating in Rhode Island. By statute the Office is dedicated to:

Protecting consumers
Encouraging fair treatment of medical service providers
Ensuring financial solvency of health insurers
Improving the health care system's quality, accessibility and affordability

OHIC eNews is sent out to the Office's Interested Parties List when the Office website is updated or when the Office seeks to inform or solicit feedback from the public.

5/29/2009

RIBGH Position on 2010 Health Insurance Rate Increase Requests

RIBGH has expressed strong opposition to the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC), on behalf of our members, to the recent rate filings by the commercial health insurers operating in Rhode Island. A position statement was provided to Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher Koller today, and RIBGH is collaborating with the Lt. Governor’s office on additional opportunities for employers to express their opposition to the proposed rate increases.

Review Issue Brief here.

To download a Membership Application Form (PDF),
click here. Benefits of RIBGH membership include:

Informative, interesting, influential quarterly meetings; past speakers have included:

Governor Donald Carcieri – State of RI Healthcare Initiatives
Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts – RI Healthcare Legislative Outlook
RI Senator Joshua Miller – Chair of the Small Business Advocacy Council
Representative Patrick Kennedy – 21st Century Health Information Act
Al Verrechia, CEO of Hasbro – CEP Prospective on Healthcare
Laura Adams, CEO Rhode Island Quality Institute – Health Info Technology
George Vecchione, CEO Lifespan – RI Healthcare Delivery System
Chris Koller, RI Health Insurance Commissioner
Dr. David Gifford, Director of RI Department of Health
Dolores Mitchell, Executive Director MA Group Insurance Commission
Dr. Barry Bunting – Mission Hospital NC Asheville Project
Dr. Jan Berger – SVP and Chief Clinical Officer for CVS
Dr. Arthur Klein – SVP and Chief Physician Officer Brown Medical School
Dr. Mary Reich Cooper – VP and Chief Quality Officer Brown Medical School
H. John Keimig – CEO Quality partners of RI

Active, informed Legislative Affairs Committee to represent the business viewpoint to the RI Legislature on healthcare issues in cooperation with the various Chambers of Commerce and the Human Resource Management Society of RI

Adopt a Company Wellness Program to help member companies establish an effective worksite wellness program

Comprehensive website chock full of in depth, current information relating to business healthcare issues, both national and local

Regular networking opportunities with fellow business executives and the influential leaders of the provider, insurer and regulatory communities

Free benchmark health insurance survey information from leading consultants in the industry

Ability through active committee membership to get deeply involved plotting the future of healthcare in RI

Access to the only business organization in Rhode Island dedicated to creating a proactive dialogue between the business community and State Government on matters of healthcare policy

Membership in the National Business Coalition on Health

Access to innovative health care solutions in RI (e.g. the Asheville Model Chronic Disease Treatment Healthcare Initiative)

All of the above and much, much more for less than $1 per employee per year

2008 Annual Membership Fees

Based on number of Rhode Island employees:

Under 100 employees: $100
100 - 250 employees: $200
251 - 1,000 employees: $300
Over 1,000 employees: $500
Brokers / Insurers: $1,000

Some highlights of the expressed goals and objectives of the RI Business Group on Health:

Create a shared RI business community vision of health care through hands-on involvement in the initiative from CEO's, CFO's and HR Executives of member firms.

Create a proactive dialog between the business community and state government (elected officials and administrative agency leadership) on matters of healthcare policy, regulation and legislation based upon the exercise of sound fiscal judgment and quality standards.

Promote economic development by recom-
mending solutions that lead to a financially responsible healthcare cost s structure so that existing businesses seek to expand and new businesses choose locating in Rhode Island.

Create a business community voice in the
state promoting a "best return on healthcare investment" mindset, through a statutory and regulatory framework designed to create efficiency, cut waste, and improve/maintain quality in our healthcare delivery system.

Improve data analysis and distribution within our healthcare delivery system, i.e., hospital
and doctor quality and performance, patient satisfaction and underlying cost structure
and underwriting structure used by health
insurance providers.

Promote health and wellness education with the goal of helping employees become better consumers of healthcare services.

Represent special and unique needs of employers in the state, from small to large.

Promote the elimination of unreasonable regu-
latory hurdles, which serve as entry barriers
to competition in the healthcare insurance market.

Create a model of success for other states to replicate.


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