Description: Hear from the chairperson on themes in the March 2017 issue of Health Watch, published by the Health Section.

Description: Read the June 2018 issue of Health Watch, published by the Health Section. Practical information for actuaries, articles impact sections, section activities.

Description: A letter from me introducing this issue.

Description: This article talks about the new onsite clinic at Hewitt and how it benefits employees and employers.

Description: This article discusses how medicine is now inextricably linked with genomics, and within the clinical community the call is out for frontline physicians to become familiar with genetic science.

Description: Essay suggests reforms of the U.S. health care system to promote financial soundness, broader access, and efficient operations. These reforms require that each participant in the system – individuals, employers, providers, insurers, and government – give a little.

Description: Health Section, Issue 88, February 2019, Health Watch

Description: The Triple Aim is a vision to improve the health of populations, create a better quality of life, and reduce per capita spending for the benefit of communities.(http://www.ihi.org/Topics/TripleAim/Pages/default.aspx) While much public attention on wellness has focused on topics such as obesity and smoking, it would be beneficial if greater emphasis was placed on raising the bar of oral health. The mouth plays an important role in overall health and wellness. Routine oral care helps prevent dental problems and appears to positively affect chronic conditions before they develop into complex, more expensive ones. This purpose of this session is to increase awareness of the importance of oral health, the consequences of poor oral health, and the link with socioeconomic characteristics. This session will explore and highlight studies completed in this space by both researchers and payers. Actuaries interested in learning more about the impact of oral health and overall health, relevant interventions that have been undertaken, areas for potential financial savings, and issues relating to public policy applicable to oral health would benefit from attending this session.

Description: Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a newer model of primary care delivery in which patients or employers pay for care directly on a membership basis; insurance and other third-party payment is not used. Early studies show significantly improved patient health outcomes and lower expenditures for DPC patients compared with similar patients receiving traditionally delivered primary care. Additional research is needed to better understand physician perspectives about the model and the role of patient selection in early results.In this session we discuss research projects that may shed light on the DPC model and on whether early results indicate more about the model or about the patients who use it.We discuss an SoA research project that interviews DPC physicians to better understand their views about the model and its early results. We also discuss a paper that analyzes characteristics of patients who receive primary care from a DPC physician and compares them to characteristics of patients who receive primary care in more traditional ways. This cross-sectional study surveys all adult patients of a convenience sample of several DPC practices. Variables include demographics, socio-economic status (SES), type of additional coverage (if any), whether DPC fees are paid by an employer, and self-reported health status. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey is the main source of comparison data. For a given cohort of demographics and additional coverage, we determine whether DPC patients have similar health status, demographics and SES as non-DPC patients. This study will provide insight into the degree of selection into DPC by observable patient characteristics.

Description: Predictive Analytics and Epigenetics are two of the most impactful driving forces for the future of healthcare, precision medicine, and insurance. Learn why this is true, how if will change the way our industry operates, and how you can stay viable and contribute to the betterment of humanity while also protecting the actuarial profession from obsolescence. Learn how personalized medicine keying off genetic testing is saving life insurers big dollars. The only limit seems to be testing access for their insureds.