PBGH - Annual Symposium

Annual Symposium

2008 Symposium Recap

Approximately 300 people attended the September 4, 2008, Annual Health Care Symposium to learn how employers in Pittsburgh and across the country are mitigating their rising benefit cost trends while also improving the health of their workforce. At this ninth annual symposium - Employers Taking the Lead, Producing Results, Changing the Future - employers presented their challenges and demonstrated their successes in managing their health benefit costs through plan changes, employee education and engagement, and other innovative strategies leading to improved health of their populations. (PBGH Employer Members can access the symposium presentations by clicking on the company names below.)

Westinghouse - After identifying their highest health risks as nutrition related, Westinghouse partnered with their health plan and food service vendor to implement a Healthy Dining Initiative. With strategic interventions and easily identifiable, healthier food choices in vending, dining and catering, Westinghouse demonstrated a visible, onsite commitment to wellness and has observed positive behavior changes in eating habits and increased employee engagement in their wellness initiative.
Alcoa - Realizing the company could not sustain their rich benefit plan design with modest employee contributions, Alcoa redefined its benefits philosophy and began implementing their strategic objective to be median of market for benefit design and subsidy. They introduced consumerism and higher employee contributions and cost sharing, but with 100% coverage for preventive care to assure use of these services. Additional savings were achieved through their multi-year eligibility audit that resulted in identifying, on average, of 7.5% of dependents as ineligible each year. Alcoa also used online bidding to obtain deeper network discounts and lower administrative fees. To manage their prescription drug benefit costs, they implemented prescription utilization management programs, a value-based approach, and a coinsurance design that rewards choices of generics and mail service usage. Throughout this process, Alcoa improved employee health and engaged employees through year-round communications about rising health care costs, consumerism, and the business need to stay competitive - resulting in keeping their health care costs flat since 2004.
Hannaford Brothers Grocery - Hannaford utilizes tiered networks that incent employees to choose medical "Providers of Distinction" with higher quality outcomes. They have also become a health plan "market maker" for knee and hip replacements. By evaluating one highest-quality Singapore hospital and incenting employees to travel there for specific surgeries, Hannaford has used medical tourism and the global market to improve competition at home. They have also transformed their market for laboratory services by negotiating requirements with one lab and then finding competitors who will offer the same services at similar rates.
Marriott International - Through analysis of their medical data, Marriott's health plan identifies members with specific chronic conditions and provides access to their value-based formulary with reduced prescription copays. Leading to an increase in medication adherence resulting in improved quality of care, any increase in drug cost is offset by decreases in adverse events and employee/employer non-drug health care costs.
U. S. Steel Corporation - With an overarching focus on safety and a proven track record with managing Workers' Compensation costs, U. S. Steel integrated overall management of their occupational health and safety program with corporate benefits. By proactively managing employee health through this coordinated effort, U. S. Steel was able to decrease their global OSHA recordable injury rate by 66% and global days-away-from-work injury rate by 92% from 2003 to 2008. Their next steps include analysis of de-identified individual data through a data warehouse strategy to better manage the indirect costs of lost productivity, estimated to be almost 3 times the cost of their direct medical and disability costs.

John Sheils, keynote speaker from The Lewin Group, provided analysis of the Presidential candidates' health reform proposals. He highlighted both Senator McCain's and Senator Obama's plans, focusing on key components and coverage features, provisions affecting Medicare and Medicaid, and the estimated cost impact of each proposal.

Overall, nine national and regional thought-leaders shared their insights, specific action plans, and results with attendees. Twenty-seven sponsors shared tools and resources offered by their companies, including free health screenings - blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, glucose, and asthma - courtesy of AstraZeneca.

Symposium Brochure (PDF)

Symposium Photos
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Lynn Erskine, L.B. Foster; Amy Baird and Paul Miller, Aetna; Brian Hacker, CVS Caremark	Harry Carr, VHA; Jack Krah, Allegheny County Medical Society; A.J. Harper, Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania; Renee' Frazier, VHA; Chris Whipple, PBGH	Deb Becker, CVS Caremark; Marcy Ashley, PBGH; Megan Slavicek, CVS Caremark Back: Ned Pethick, AstraZeneca; Michele Tokar, Novartis; Grear Wolf, sanofi-aventis
Katie Fierst and Amy Kelenic, Joy Global; Jeff Sandusky, Catalyst Rx	Mary Lynne Leone, Marlene Janco, and Philip Ferland, Highmark	Geri Recht, Towers Perrin; Roni McDonough, Mylan; Kris Szmul, Highmark; Donna Frisch, H.J. Heinz
Laura Wicker, PBGH; Wendy Doolan, Clearview Federal Credit Union; Jason Snyder, WordWrite Communications; Lynn Erskine, L.B. Foster	Cheryl Melinchak, Westinghouse	Marlene Janco, Highmark
Scott Kovaloski, Alcoa	Chris Whipple, PBGH Executive Director	Chris Washburn, Hannaford Brothers
Donna Frisch, H.J. Heinz	John Sheils, The Lewin Group	Jill Berger, Marriott
Susan Spencer, Allegheny Ludlum	Carrie Rust, U. S. Steel	Dr. Charles Prezzia, U. S. Steel