Promoting Prevention and Wellness
Transforming our health care system from one that simply treats people when they are sick to preventing illness is critically important – not only because it will keep people healthier and more productive, but also because chronic diseases are a major contributor to rising health care spending in the United States and thus rising insurance premiums. If we find ways to better prevent chronic diseases from occurring, we can make health care more affordable for everyone.
Health plans have long championed the movement toward prevention and wellness. By working together with doctors, hospitals, other clinical professionals, employers and government, we are helping people stay healthy --- and offering incentives to keep people well.
RELATED RESOURCES
Immunization Innovations
AHIP’s online compendia of pioneering programs and leading best practices for measuring and improving immunization rates. Complete with examples of outreach tools, educational resources, and marketing materials, Immunization Innovations highlights promising models that health plans around the country have used to improve immunization rates in all populations.
Health Insurance Plans' Innovative Initiatives to Combat Cardiovascular Disease
Fall 2011
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States, with more than one in four people dying from heart disease every year. People of all backgrounds are affected, and heart disease is influenced by many factors. Research shows a clustering of these factors puts people at increased risk for poor health outcomes.
Reducing and Preventing Childhood Obesity, Health Insurance Plans Partnering in Communities
Summer 2012
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and member health plans are actively engaged in developing innovative strategies to improve the health of children and reduce the risks associated with obesity.
AHIP's Influenza Campaign Flyer
Each year more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu.
Early Intervention
Childhood Obesity Programs aim to put kids on a new healthier path to adulthood
AHIP Releases Recommendations for Addressing Obesity
AHIP’s white paper, Facing the Challenge of Unhealthy Weight: Recommendations for the Health Care Community, offers several recommendations and examines promising programs that health insurance plans and clinicians have developed in collaboration with community partners to encourage body mass index (BMI) screening and address the obesity epidemic. Recommendations include making routine BMI screening and interpretation a standard clinical practice; connecting BMI screening to evidence-based prevention and treatment options; and building partnerships and disseminating promising practices among health plans, physicians and clinicians, employers and community groups.
Health Insurance Plans’ Effective Immunization Strategies: Strengthening Provider Knowledge and Practices
December 2010
Health insurance plans’ continued commitment to and focus on promoting age-appropriate immunization coverage for their members is apparent by their innovative immunization initiatives and programs that focus on strong communication between health insurance plans, providers and enrollees. Given the various factors that influence parental decisions regarding vaccination and the challenge providers may face in offering age-appropriate vaccinations, AHIP initiated discussions with its members to assess providers’ obstacles for effective vaccination. AHIP solicited feedback from its member plans to determine the immunization challenges confronted by providers. Twenty-two plans offered examples of challenges reported by providers and strategies that the health insurance plans have developed to overcome these obstacles.
AHIP Vaccines and Immunization Roundtable Report: Vaccine Financing
August 2009
While immunization rates for children, adolescents, and adults in the United States are at record high levels, the increasing number of new vaccines and the higher prices of some newer vaccines are challenging the successful United States immunization delivery and financing infrastructure. AHIP’s Vaccine Financing Roundtable Report presents the unique perspective from a diverse group of stakeholders who shared the common desire to better understand and to strengthen the nation’s vaccine delivery and financing system. Issues discussed were pertinent to vaccination cost issues, levels of provider reimbursement, provider perception of the vaccine financing problem, and the likelihood of a decline of the number of physicians who provide vaccines in the United States. The report captures the dynamic discussion that occurred throughout the AHIP Vaccines and Immunization Roundtable on Vaccine Financing.
Trends and Innovations in Chronic Disease Prevention & Treatment: An Update on Medicare Advantage Plans
April 2008
An overview of key trends in chronic care, highlighting Medicare Advantage plans' recent innovations.
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Health Plan Innovators in Prevention, Wellness and Risk Reduction
November 2008
AHIP’s Innovations in Prevention, Wellness and Risk Reduction monograph highlights innovations that exemplify health insurance plans’ commitment to programs that prevent disease and improve the lives of their members and their communities by helping them stay well. The publication features forty company profiles and essays by five noted experts who explore the reasons why the related challenges of prevention, wellness and risk reduction for chronic disease require both innovative and comprehensive responses.
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