Posts Tagged ‘Health Value Study’

Spectrum Public Affairs
Spectrum

Value: What’s it Worth?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Value is defined as something being of worth, utility or importance. But how is value defined in the context of the current health reform debate?

healthvaluelogo_colorSpectrum decided in 2008 to try and figure this out. In January 2009, we fielded the first round of the Spectrum Health Value Study TM a national, ongoing online survey to ask Americans what they value when it comes to health care products and services. From over-the-counter drugs to outpatient services, mental health services and the dentist, we sampled, and each quarter will continue to sample, 1,000 Americans who match the U.S. population by age, gender, region and ethnicity. (See methodology explained here).

The most recent data uncovered three major findings concerning the insured and uninsured in the U.S.:

  • There are significantly more uninsured people ages 18 and older in the U.S. than the latest Census Bureau statistics indicate (51.2 million currently compared with the 47 million in 2006);
  • During the economic downturn, insured respondents reported significant cutbacks on their use of health services, including the use of prescription medications, but have increased their use of mental health services, psychiatric services, and substance abuse services; and
  • Although uninsured respondents reported that they believe insurance is “absolutely essential,” they still lack coverage.

Read the entire report on the insured and uninsured here.

(Spectrum works with Russell Research to field the study).

-Erica Anderson, Senior Digital Strategist

Posted in Health Care Industry, Health Care Reform, Research
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , , ,

 
Spectrum Public Affairs
Spectrum

Health Care Reform: What Gives?

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

In the last week, we saw the official start of the debate on health reform legislation, after months of speculation on its form.  Two pieces of legislation have been released- albeit incomplete, from the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the trio of Committees with jurisdiction on the House side.  The Senate Finance Committee has delayed the release of its bill until after the July 4 recess; until then we have an outline.  (Here’s a chart to help tell the differences).

Conversation continues on how these three bills will converge into one, and form a health policy document that creates real system change.  However, no matter the enrollment strategies or financing mechanism used, health reform, even at its best, will not produce a healthier population.  Even after ten or 15 years with an improved health care infrastructure in the United States, we are not guaranteed to see dramatic shifts in our health outcomes.  What gives?

We are unlikely to see greatly improved outcomes because health is determined by a variety of factors – and medical care is only a small determinant.  Actually, good health is based on a variety of factors including income, education, environmental and social conditions, genetics, and lifestyle choices (Grossman 1972; Pappas 1993; Marra and Boland 1995, and many others).

In recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to the social determinants of health (SDOH): education, crime rates, the availability of parks and grocery stores are just a few.  The figure below demonstrates how SDOH act as “roots” to cultivate the health of a community by providing pathways to either fragmented systems and restricted power or a sense of community and strong social networks towards health outcomes.  The assets determine the pathways and the health outcomes. (more…)

Posted in Congress, Health Care Industry, Health Care Reform, Health Policy, Public Affairs
By | 2 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 
jseng
John
Seng

“Text Not Found”

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

That’s the message that popped up on screen this morning as I searched for the term “value” in Steven Pearlstein’s column on health reform as well as in the related commentary on “The Washington Post” Web site.

The reason no coherent health system exists, and the reason we spend so much on health is because Americans have no legitimate sense of health value.

We don’t know what health care truly costs us as individuals, and thus, we cannot begin to pretend that we value health in the strictest definition of “value.”

Not only do we need to talk about it – we need to study health value. As Congress and the Administration undertake health reform, what if they understood how Americans value health care when they consider their own money being spent? For the first time, policymakers could benefit from a true sense of value. “Budget scolders,” as Pearlstein describes them, could begin to make and enforce tough choices – the choices that Americans have already made in their minds in consideration of finite resources.

Last week, Spectrum released findings of the first, nationally representative study of its kind on health value, which will hopefully add to discussions in health reform: Visit www.healthvaluestudy.com.

Much of the information out there evaluates cost-effectiveness, e.g.  are we getting our money’s worth with any given procedure, technology, medication or program? But that’s overlooking a crucial insight: How do we really value health?

John Seng, Founder and President

Posted in Health Care Industry, Health Care Reform, Journalism, PR Industry
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , , ,

 
Spectrum Public Affairs
Spectrum

Getting Real About Health Care Value

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

It’s time to have some real dialogue around the issue of health care value in this country. New information from the Spectrum Health Value StudyTM provides a mirror of what the America people value when they are spending their own health care dollars on health care for themselves and their families.

Although there is plenty of discussion about health care access and quality, the fact is health care is a three-legged, not a two legged, stool. Access and quality must be steadied by value in health care. Without value, people don’t know what they are buying and/or they fail to understand the relative value of health care services like immunizations, a visit to the doctor or a trip to the emergency room.

Today we released the results of a new study on how Americans value health care. The study reports and additional information can be found at our website www.healthvaluestudy.com. We will continue to conduct the study on a quarterly basis to grow the data and better understand – and hopefully inform, the debate on health care reform.

We did this study because we were curious about how Americans value health care services. Our findings include some surprises in areas including:

  • mental health value
  • preventive health services
  • nutrition and
  • access

Last week, GE announced a six billion (yes, with a “B”) dollar program to improve health care. GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt was quoted as saying, “Health care is an important industry that is challenged by rising costs, inequality of access and persistent quality issues.”

Again, the discussion is around access and quality with no mention of value. When you are preparing to spend six billion dollars, one would think you would be somewhat concerned about value! We want to be that ‘someone’ talking about value. We hope you will join the dialogue.

Audrey Spolarich, Senior Research Advisor

Posted in Health Care Reform, Health Policy, Public Affairs, Research
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , ,

 
Spectrum Public Affairs
Spectrum

An X-Prize for Health Value?

Monday, April 20th, 2009

On April 13th, the X Prize Foundation, famous for encouraging serious tinkering around things like robots that go to the moon and cars that get 100 MPG, announced a $10 million prize for developing a plan for a community that “dramatically improves health value.”

But how do we, or the judges of the X Prize, judge health value? How do we measure the current state of health value in a community – or a country – and how do we measure whether or not changes move the needle toward a greater health value?

This is a question of great interest to me and to Spectrum. We decided over five months ago to begin to address this question. Yesterday we announced the methodology for our Spectrum of Health Value StudyTM. Our study will directly ask Americans how they value various health products and services when spending their health care dollars. While the first data release is scheduled for mid-May, the preliminary results are very interesting.

The fact is health care is a three-legged stool – although this may imply more stability in the system than actually exists! One leg is quality of health care. The big debate around quality is the fact that we pay for much more quality than we receive. Furthermore, quality appears to be something that varies a great deal from place to place, as was outlined in testimony by now OMB Director Peter Orszag when he appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on July 17, 2008.

Access – another leg on that stool – also is a much discussed topic, but when most people discuss access to health care products and services they are really discussing Americans’ insurance coverage, or lack thereof.

Only recently have policy wonks been batting around the question of health value. In his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on September 9, 2008, Peter V. Lee, Executive Director for National Health Policy of the Pacific Business Group on Health testified on “Promoting Quality and Value in Health Reform.”

These three legs – access, quality and value – will continue to dominate the discussion around health care for the months to come. We hope you stay tuned for this interesting and important dialogue.

Audrey Spolarich, Senior Research Advisor

Posted in Congress, Health Care Industry, Health Policy, Research
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , ,