Speaker Q&A Directory

Healthcare Reform: The Next Horizon for True Change
State-based insurance "exchanges" debut in 2014 as a part of sweeping health care reform in America. The long-term economic impact remains to be seen. Meanwhile, employee benefit experts are helping shape our experience with the new law. Raymond Fabius, M.D., chief medical officer for Thomson Reuters, is among a group of panelists who will discuss the next horizon for employee benefit plans.

Q: What will be the broad impact of health care reform on the American workforce?

A: There's no ease in being able to predict the impact these changes will have on actuarial calculations and premiums. But it is clear that the elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions, changes in annual health limits, health plan portability, and health insurance access will become paramount issues.

Q: Do you see any challenges ahead in the health care delivery system?

A: Unless we address the needs of 46 million new covered lives with the expansion primary care, we're going to see delays in access nationally. It makes sense to prepare for the significant increase in covered lives. But the true opportunity is to seek ways to improve the quality and reduce the cost of care over time.

Q: How big is that opportunity?

A: About one in every three dollars in health care is spend not helping anybody get better. That's about 700 billion dollars a year in wasteful spending. Our white paper on that was well received, even on Capitol Hill. We realized if we could eliminate 5% of waste for the next 10 years, we could achieve the goal of maintaining our current health care spend at the present.

Q: What can be done to reduce waste in the health care system?

A: We outline five successful strategies for mitigating this waste: consumer activism, system improvement, culture of health, patient safety and quality improvement, and payment integrity.

Q: You have a new book out on health promotion. Tell us about it.

A: The book is Population Health: Creating a Culture of Wellness, published by Jones & Bartlett. It is the first textbook dedicated to the field of population health. Royalties are donated to the new Jefferson School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.