This month we released a new healthpartners.com as part of our continued effort to enhance the online experience for you and your employees. All the features and functionality members have come to expect are still available – things are just easier to recognize and use.

For this release, we talked to members and used their feedback to provide simple access to the tools and services they use most. As a result, healthpartners.com has been redesigned so members can quickly find the information they use most often.

Feedback from you and your employees is important to us as we continue to make enhancements to healthpartners.com. Encourage your employees to log on today and submit comments to websitefeedback@healthpartners.com.

Stay tuned for additional enhancements throughout the year!

HealthPartners is always exploring ways to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of our programs – this includes developing strategic partnerships to use the expertise of other companies to improve service, effectively control costs and improve outcomes.

After careful review, HealthPartners has decided to change specialty pharmacy vendors from CuraScript to SpecialtyScripts^TM Pharmacy on October 1, 2008. As a result, we expect a decrease in overall costs and better service for our members.

Specialty pharmaceuticals are the largest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Providers of these medications exclusively dispense them— and need to have significant expertise to provide optimal disease outcomes. While specialty pharmaceuticals are the largest pharmacy cost, they impact less than one percent of HealthPartners membership.

SpecialtyScripts Pharmacy is dedicated to the delivery of extraordinary patient care while providing a fast, reliable and convenient way to deliver specialty medications at a reduced overall cost. Members will have access to free delivery, a refill reminder program and customized care management programs. In addition, SpecialtyScripts is building a local pharmacy operations center in Minnesota to open in mid-2009.

The 1,200 to 1,400 members affected will receive letters and phone calls about the change in August and September. HealthPartners will work with SpecialtyScripts to ensure that all member prescriptions are transferred so there is no disruption in service.

Please contact your broker or your HealthPartners sales executive with questions.

HealthPartners recently announced an enhancement to our current dental benefit offering—Little Partners Dental—which offers full coverage for services included in employers’ dental plans to kids 12 and under. With the Little Partners Dental benefit, in-network services for kids are covered at 100 percent with no deductible, coinsurance or annual maximum.

This benefit makes sure children have every opportunity to receive proper dental care. Here are just a few of the reasons we’re offering the benefit:

• Kids entering teen years with good oral health tend to carry it into adulthood, thus preventing more severe, long-term dental problems. Many dental “repairs” for adults, such as crowns, can be traced back to the patient’s childhood oral health condition.
• Dental caries, an infectious disease that damages the structure of teeth, is ranked as one of the most common chronic diseases affecting children in the United States.
• Estimates indicate that more than 51 million hours of school are lost each year due to dental-related illnesses.
• Some parents may delay or even ignore their dentist's treatment recommendations for their children because of unmanageable out-of-pocket costs. This benefit enhancement removes financial obstacles for seeking care.
• Getting a head start on good oral health also protects against more advanced—and more costly—problems such as tooth loss, infection and damage to bones or nerves.

The following chart reflects typical out-of-pocket costs for common procedures based on an industry standard dental plan design compared to a plan that includes the Little Partners Dental benefit.

	Silver Filling	Simple Extraction	Surgical Extraction
Average fee	$100	$150	$250
Deductible	$50	$50	$50
Employer benefit	80%	80%	50%
Member coinsurance	20%	20%	50%
Out-of-pocket cost with traditional plan (deductible + coinsurance)	$60	$70	$150
Out-of-pocket cost with Little Partners Dental Benefit	$0	$0	$0

The Little Partners Dental benefit is included in all small employer pooled plans. If you have questions or are interested in adding this benefit to your plan, please contact your broker or your HealthPartners sales executive.

Summertime means warmer weather and a variety of outdoor activities after being stuck inside during the cold winter. But some summertime activities can also increase your chances of injury and illness.

These summer safety tips include wearing sunscreen, drinking water and wearing lightweight clothing on extremely hot days to avoid heat stroke or heat exhaustion, wearing bug spray and wearing a bike helmet.

Wear Sunscreen
People often wear sunscreen when they are at the beach or pool because they know they will be outside for a long period of time, but they do not put it on for other outdoor activities. Your skin can be damaged by the sun’s UV rays in as little as 15 minutes. Sunscreen should be applied to all exposed areas whenever you are engaging in any outdoor activity such as hiking, gardening, biking or other outdoor sports.

Sunscreen is an important tool in preventing skin cancer, the most common form of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, more than one million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each year. Early detection and treatment of skin cancer results in high survival rates, but preventive methods such as wearing sunscreen are the best way to improve your chances of not getting skin cancer.

Stay Hydrated to Avoid Heat Stroke and Exhaustion
Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can occur during extremely hot summer days. Heat stroke occurs when your body is unable to cool itself down. A person experiencing heat stroke may feel dizzy or nauseous, appear confused, have red or hot skin and they will stop sweating. If someone is experiencing these symptoms, take them to a shady area and cool them down with cold water. Seek medical attention immediately.

Heat exhaustion occurs when someone has been exposed to high temperatures for a longer period of time and has not been able to adequately replace fluids in their body. A person experiencing heat exhaustion may feel tired, dizzy, experience headaches or muscle cramps and sweat heavily. If someone is suffering from heat exhaustion they should rest in a cool area and drink plenty of water. Seek medical attention if symptoms are severe or do not improve.

To prevent heat stroke or heat exhaustion, drink plenty of water. Do not drink alcoholic or sugary drinks. Avoid doing strenuous physical activity outside; stay indoors as much as possible. If you do have to be outside, wear lightweight clothing and use the buddy system so that you can monitor each other’s behavior.

Wear Bug Spray
Wearing bug spray is an important safety tip because of the abundance of mosquitoes and ticks. These insects can carry diseases such as West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease. Bug spray will help prevent mosquitoes and ticks from biting, the method by which they transmit disease.

The majority of people with West Nile Virus will not show any symptoms. Those who do show symptoms may experience fever, nausea, vomiting and body aches. Very few people with West Nile Virus experience severe symptoms, but those who do can experience high fever, stupor, neck stiffness, tremors, disorientation, vision loss and more. Seek medical attention immediately if someone is experiencing these severe symptoms.

The primary symptom of Lyme Disease is a red rash where the person was bit. If the infection spreads, rashes can appear on other parts of the body. If left untreated, Lyme Disease can cause pain and swelling in the joints and affect the nervous system.

Wear a Bike Helmet
Bike riding is a favorite summer activity of kids and adults alike. Regardless of age, everyone should wear a bike helmet whenever they ride. Helmets are vital in reducing the risk of head injury from a bike accident.

Please use these tips to enjoy a safe and healthy summer!

 

 

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