Key to reform

Priority Health points to prevention and wellness as key to health care reform

"The most significant driver by far of our long-term debate and our long-term deficits is ever-escalating health care costs. And if we don’t reform how health care is delivered in this country, then we are not going to be able to get a handle on that." – President Obama, May 13, 2009

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – May 14, 2009) As the United States continues its move toward health care reform, Priority Health urges inclusion of prevention and wellness as key components of reform.

For more than 20 years, prevention and wellness have been the foundation of Priority Health’s approach to health care. An approach Priority Health has termed, HealthforLife, has positioned the company as an industry leader in keeping members healthy by preventing illness, managing a chronic condition and ultimately reducing costs.

"It is through our 20 years of experience of providing nationally recognized prevention, wellness, case and condition management services that we continue to see reduced health care costs and improved patient care," said Amy Chambers, a benefits attorney and associate vice president of Priority Health. "Health care reform must include these fundamental principles at its core, or it will be ineffective in altering the current state of health care for the country."  Priority Health’s HealthforLife approach has a proven record of results including:

• Companies enrolled in Priority Health’s HealthbyChoice Rewards^SM program for five years see significant improvement in the percentage of their employees with low health risks – 66% compared to 51% for groups participating for the first time.
• Priority Health is among the best health plans nationally for ensuring patients receive screenings for both cervical (91% versus 82%) and breast cancer (81% versus 69%). 
• Priority Health’s condition management programs helped to avoid an average of $880 in health care costs for every person participating.
• Priority Health saved one employer $1,323 per member per year by effectively managing asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Ensuring all Americans have access to affordable and excellent health care should drive reform.

About HealthforLife
The Priority Health approach, newly named HealthforLife, combines Priority Health’s proven expertise in prevention, wellness, condition (disease) management and case management.  As an approach that prioritizes good health through an innovative integration of products, services and data from providers and claims, HealthforLife emphasizes the continuum of care Priority Health provides that’s centered on its members’ individual needs, whether they’re exceptionally fit or facing significant health risks.

About Priority Health
Priority Health is a nationally recognized health benefits company based in Michigan. It serves nearly a half million members with a broad portfolio of products including commercial and government health plans. A nonprofit dedicated to providing all people access to affordable health care, Priority Health was recognized as one of America’s Best Health Plans in 2008 by U.S. News & World Report and NCQA. Priority Health employs 900 people throughout Michigan’s Lower Peninsula with offices in Grand Rapids, Farmington Hills, Holland, Jackson, Kalamazoo and Traverse City.