The future of the healthcare industry may be uncertain when it comes to Congressional action, or the lack thereof. But one concept that has been widely embraced for the past few years is the commitment of healthcare leaders to a value-based model for care and reimbursement. READ MORE

With the healthcare price tag rising to $10,000 or more a year per person, employers and healthcare providers looking to lower costs and help employees manage their health are turning to big data and analytics to better handle surging costs.... cognitive health systems ... integrate patient-level data from health records and other sources to create [...]

SFS News Release: Newly Published Pieces Summarize How Self-Funded Benefit Plans Are Regulated – Designed to be an informational tool for consumers who are exploring how self-funded health benefits work, the Self-Funding Success website has recently published two new resources... READ FULL RELEASE

SFS Tech Tactics: occasional articles focused on technology’s expanding role in cost-savings and improved health in customized self-funded health plans – Jason Langheier, a physician, knew that poor diet was a major problem in the U.S. But he also knew employers could be — and should be — be part of the solution…. That’s why he [...]

U.S. Congress has voted for a bill that provides protection for small and medium sized firms that choose to self-insure. The Lower House passed the Self-Insurance Protection Act ... which sets legal limits to regulators’ jurisdiction over self-insurance health plans by setting unequivocal parameters to define medical stop loss policies and how they are different [...]

SFS News Release: FAQ Resource Published to Answer Common Questions about Self-Funding – Adding to its collection of educational resources for consumers, the Self-Funding Success website recently developed an FAQ reference. This piece addresses questions on the basics of self-funded health plans, as well as many others related to costs, planning and implementation. READ FULL RELEASE

Faced with rising premiums in the group health insurance market, the Park Slope Food Coop opted five years ago to create a custom plan for its 74 full-time employees and their family members and pay for the costs directly. "I'm convinced we would have had to raise prices if we weren't self-insured," said Joseph Holtz, [...]

MediBid, the first online tool empowering patients to seek bids for low priced, high quality medical care, now shares the prices of winning bids to every doctor, hospital, and facility that makes a bid.... "Although there are many vendors in the transparency space, most of them report on PPO allowables, or Medicare rates.... We are [...]

SFS News Release: New Resources Developed to Educate Consumers About Self-Funded Health Plans -- The Self-Funding Success website recently added several new resources to its Self-Funding 101 section in its ongoing effort to educate consumers. These pieces focus on a variety of elements that contribute to the positive results many employers are experiencing with self-funded [...]

Dallas, TX -- By consistently providing high quality, cost-effective services to its clients, Group Pension Administration Inc. (GPA) has achieved a record-breaking $1 billion in client savings.... audits on bills from hospitals, emergency rooms, and dialysis centers culminated in GPA reaching its impressive milestone.... READ MORE