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(Grand Rapids, Mich. - May 6, 2004)
Priority Health is piloting a new health plan option entitled "Health by Choice." This new option is designed to reduce health costs by rewarding people who take control of their health. Four businesses have chosen to offer this new tool to their employees including Steelcase (Grand Rapids), Priority Health (Grand Rapids), Hope College (Holland), Shape Corp. (Grand Haven) and Bill Marsh Automotive (Traverse City). “Health by Choice is an effort we are making to encourage wellness and prevention as well as personal accountability for maintaining individual health,” said Kimberly Horn, president and CEO of Priority Health, “As health care costs continue to increase, it has become clear that it is time to partner with those persons who can most influence health status—the individual.” A poll commissioned by the Health Insurance Association of America suggests that 44 percent of privately insured adults would switch to a "consumer choice" health plan, if given the chance. According to the American Association of Health Plans, consumer-driven health plans, a new benefit option, encourage people to take more interest in the value of their health care by providing increased cost sharing and more health options. “Health by Choice is designed to help employers lower health care costs, engage employees in health care decisions and improve health care delivery,” said Jodie Southwell, vice-president of sales and marketing for Priority Health. Priority Health’s own employees will be one of the first to experience “Health by Choice.” This new option works with employers to provide incentives such as different benefit levels, health coupons or payroll contributions. In order to receive the incentives, participants in the “Health by Choice” program must accomplish four things: 1. Complete an online health risk assessment (HRA) 2. Set personal wellness goals 3. Comply with preventive health care guidelines 4. Actively manage health conditions like: asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular and depression To support consumer decision-making Priority Health has also released quality information on participating health care providers on its Web site. This enables members to evaluate a hospital’s or a physician’s performance in areas such as preventive health and disease management services, quality of care and overall patient satisfaction. Members can also access Priority Health’s Web site to use consumer-driven tools like the preventive health care guidelines, prescription drug information and benefit calculators. Priority Health has over 425,000 members and is owned by Spectrum Health of Grand Rapids, Holland Community Hospital of Holland, Munson Healthcare of Traverse City and Healthshare, Inc. of Petoskey. The health plan enjoys “Excellent” accreditation for its commercial and Medicaid HMO products from the National Committee for Quality Assurance, an independent organization that reviews the quality of health plans nationwide. XXX Contact: Amy Miller, Priority Health 616 464-8571 or 800 942-0954 amy.miller@priorityhealth.com
Last modified
08/21/06
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