The Friday Funny: Anti-Trust Meets Anti-Bacterial
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Consumer-Directed Healthcare Leader, OptumHealth, Wants To Influence How Patients Choose Their Care
OptumHealth is one of the largest health and wellness companies in the United States, providing services to about 58 million people. It is the umbrella organization for 12 consumer-directed healthcare companies recently purchased by UnitedHealth Group. I caught up with the CEO of OptumHealth Care Solutions, Rob Webb, at Health 2.0 to find out what they’re up to and how they’re hoping to contribute to healthcare reform.
Dr. Val: What does Optum Health do?
Webb: We work with about 300,000 people a day. We’re focused on the consumer-provider interaction and we try to help consumers make better decisions in four key areas: 1) help them find the right provider for their needs, 2) to provide them with an unbiased set of information about what their treatment options are 3) optimize their pharmaceutical regimens and medication compliance and 4) help them improve their lifestyle choices. In the past we focused a lot of our efforts on #3 because it’s so tangible and there’s an entire PBM (pharmacy benefits management) industry to help. Read more »
The Future Of Primary Care: HSAs, Catastrophic Coverage, And Direct Payment For The Basics
I’ve been following the career trajectory of Dr. Gordon Moore since I first became aware of his low-overhead, high-tech model of medical practice. He’s come a long way since the AAFP first interviewed him in 2002. I had the chance to catch up with him at the recent Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco, and we discussed the future of primary care and a practice model that I believe in (I just joined DocTalker Family Medicine myself!) Here’s our peek into our healthcare crystal ball…
Dr. Val: Tell me about what got you interested in creating a new practice model for primary care?
Moore: I came into healthcare with a somewhat Pollyannaish vision of reducing suffering and improving health. Without any docs in my family, I had no understanding of what it meant to actually practice. About 5 years after residency, I realized that there was an increasing disparity between my vision of practicing medicine and its reality. At that time I joined a quality improvement initiative at the University of Rochester, and we looked at increasing efficiency in primary care, including creating the idealized design of clinical office practices. Read more »
President Obama Beat Up My Husband
Well, indirectly that is. I was spending a nice Sunday afternoon biking around the Potomac with my husband when Obama’s Marine One helicopter flew low over us and took a sudden left turn. The maneuver was eye-catching, and hubby took his eyes off the road to watch. His front wheel slipped off the pavement and got wedged between the grass and bike path. He took a pretty bad spill, and I jumped off my bike to check him out. (I had given him a lecture about not wearing a helmet only a few hours prior). Luckily, he did not hit his head… unluckily, he got a pretty nice abrasion on his left elbow and hip (right through his clothing) as well as this lovely developing bursitis. See photo on next page… Read more »
