MBGH Worksite Wellness Project with Health Department Gets National Recognition

Click here to see the article on this project in the Memphis Business Journal.

The Memphis Business Group on Health (MBGH) received one of seven national Community Health Partnerships (CHP) Population Health Seed Grants. The $12,911 grant was awarded by the National Business Coalition on Health through the Community Coalitions Health Institute (CCHI).

The grant will fund a joint program between the Memphis Business Group on Health (MBGH) and the Memphis Shelby County Health Department (MSCHD) to study the effectiveness of the Move More, Eat Better…It All Works Together Fitness Challenge in the workplace.

The MSCHD has been offering the Move More, Eat Better…It All Works Together Fitness Challenge through churches and community centers. The program is funded by the State of Tennessee Department of Health. Despite the fact that the program is free to employers, The MSCHD has had a difficult time getting employers to offer it at worksites.

Memphis Business Group on Health is a coalition of member employers sharing solutions and providing tools to manage the cost and quality of health benefits. As part of the grant, MBGH has secured participation of four member employers, including the Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority and Merck. The employers will enroll approximately 120 employees in the challenge, which lasts six weeks.

Health department staff will record the employee’s blood pressure, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) at the beginning of the challenge and compare it to the employee’s final numbers six weeks later. During that period, MSCHD staff will provide weekly educational programs to employees on topics such as nutrition and exercise.
Incentives for participants include pedometers, waist circumference tape measure, hand sanitizer, jar grips, pens, notepads. The grand prize, a George Foreman grill, is awarded to the participant making the most significant progress toward better health.

The Memphis Business Group on Health will track the initiative from an employer’s perspective, measuring employee engagement, realized benefits, and employer satisfaction. As part of the grant, MBGH will recommend how the program may be modified to make it more successful in the workplace in the future. Results will be published in a white paper and made available to employers and other communities.

“In Memphis, employers have historically perceived the Health Department as an organization that helps the uninsured and the under-insured and not employers,” said Cristie Upshaw Travis, Chief Executive Officer of The Memphis Business Group on Health. “The department is an underutilized resource that we can tap to help deliver better value to our member organizations. For example, we worked with the MSCHD to help our employers implement H1N1 Flu shot programs.”

Memphis Medical News Reports on MBGH Leapfrog Rewards

Click here for the Memphis Medical News article on MBGH's April Annual Awards Luncheon where we recognized hospitals for their national performance and "best odds of survival".

Memphis Hospitals Continue to be Challenged by Infections

Click here to read the latest article on hospital infection rates in Memphis.

MBGH has been working through The Leapfrog Group and other ways to push hospitals to reduce hospital infections, which cost both dollars and lives.

Click here to see Leapfrog Hospital Survey results for Memphis hospitals which include infectionr rates in ICUs. Share this important information with your employees so they can select hospitals that provide a higher level of quality, safe care.

Work-Site Clinics Beginning to Show Up in Memphis

MBGH suggests that as work-site clinics expand their focus from helping employees with acute episodes (such as sinus infections, colds, etc) to providing on-going care for those with chronic conditions, the value of work-site clinics will increase for employers.

Click here to read the article describing how work-site clinics, though slow to catch on in Memphis, are beginning to pop up over town.

MBGH Recognizes 5 Memphis-area Hospitals for "Best Odds of Survival"

Click here to read about MBGH's Leapfrog awards to 5 Memphis-area hospitals that have "best odds of survival" in the Memphis Daily News.

Click here to read the press release which talks about other Memphis-area findings from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, including how Memphis hospitals compare to hospitals nationally on COST of care.

Memphis Employers Using Incentives & Data to Control Health Benefit Costs

Check out MBGH's comments on how Memphis-area employers are controlling health benefit costs through employee incentives and providing data to make informed choices. Click here to read the Memphis Business Journal article.

MBGH Says: Real Cost Reform is Still to Come

Memphis Business Group on Health's work is highlighted in the April 1, 2010 Memphis Business Quarterly blog. The posting focuses on the need for real cost reform -- saving dollars and improving quality by preventing things that should not happen and improving health and saving dollars by doing things we should be doing to take better care of ourselves.

There is also a link to the Leapfrog Hospital Survey results for Memphis hospitals.

Check the Memphis Business Quarterly blog out regularly for other Memphis business-related postings.

Follow MBGH on Twitter!

   MBGH is now on Twitter! Help us grow our followers by clicking the twitter logo.

Memphis Businesses Get Head Start on Health Reform through MBGH

Click here to read the ABC24 Eyewitness News report (aired on March 23 at 5:00) on the role MBGH plays in health reform.

In the interview, Cristie Upshaw Travis said that even though access to health care dominates the talk about health care reform, Travis said there’s more to the issue. “If we don’t pay attention to the cost and quality of services that everybody receives, we will never see an end to increased costs related to health care.”

MBGH "Ahead of the Health Reform Curve"

Click here to read the Daily News article on MBGH being a leader in preparing Memphis employers, hospitals, health plans and other providers for health reform.

Note: Cristie Upshaw Travis is a member of the Purchaser Advisory Council for NCQA, not a member of the Board.

MBGH 2010 Health & Productivity Forum Panel Featured in Business Insurance

MBGH highlighed our work with the Healthy Memphis Common Table at the recent Integrated Benefits Institute/National Busienss Coalition on Health 2010 Health & Productivity Forum in San Antonio, TX. Other panelists included Savannah Business Group on Health and Mid-America Coalition on Health Care (Kansas City).

Click here to read the Business Insurance article.

Memphis Medical Society Quarterly Magazine Reports on MBGH's eValue8 Project

Read the Winter 2010 edition of the Memphis Medical Society Quarterly magazine's highlights of the results of MBGH's 2009 eValue8 health plan evaluation, starting on page 8 of the pdf.  Click here for an on-line copy of the magazine.

Memphis Firms Await Health Reform Scenarios

MBGH's board member, Jane Pienaar of Morgan Keegan, is highlighted in this article covering MBGH's November 24 health reform meeting with Andy Webber, CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health. The title says it all: "Firms await health reform scenarios" before they make strategic changes...

Click here to read the Commercial Appeal article.

MBGH Comments at NCQA Press Conference Cited in Modern Healthcare

Modern Healthcare covered the NCQA press conference releasing their 2009 State of Health Care Quality Report and noted MBGH's CEO, Cristie Upshaw Travis' comment on how, in Memphis, MBGH and our members expect plans to collaborate to improve health status:

"Fostering greater collaboration among health plans will help reporting initiatives, said Christie Travis, CEO of Memphis Business Group on Health. “We expect our plans to work together,” Travis said during the conference. The business group is working with three commercial health plans to aggregate patient data in Tennessee and evaluate it for improvement targets, she said."

You can access the NCQA report by clicking here.

MBGH in the News

MBGH CEO, Cristie Upshaw Travis, featured in Memphis Medical News "Leaders in Healthcare" series.

Click here to read the article.