NASPE Broadcast Center (Newsfromnaspe)
Junior Member
Username: Newsfromnaspe
Post Number: 19
Registered: 12-2008
| | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 12:10 pm: |       |
Alliance Healthcare Initiative: Facts
What is the Alliance Healthcare Initiative?
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthcare Initiative (Alliance Healthcare Initiative) is a collaborative effort with national medical associations, leading insurers, and employers to offer comprehensive health benefits to children and families for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of childhood obesity. This marks the first time that insurers, employers and national medical associations have collaborated to combat childhood obesity.
Who are the participants?
Aetna, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Dietetic Association. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, PepsiCo and WellPoint. Aetna has recruited several employers to participate including: the Houston Independent School District, Owens Corning, and Paychex. The American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation will also be offering this benefit to their employees.
What is the goal of this effort?
The goal of the Alliance Healthcare Initiative is for more than 6.2 million children to have access to this healthcare benefit within the next three years. With today’s announcement, almost one million children in the U.S. now have access to new healthcare benefits to combat obesity than they did previously.
How will children be impacted?
Eligible children will have access to at least four follow up visits with their primary care provider and four visits with a registered dietitian per year. These healthcare professionals will work with children and their families on how to establish and maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is the first time many children will have access to these types of services.
Why is it significant?
The Alliance Healthcare Initiative marks the first time that reimbursements have been available on a broad scale for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. This is also the first time any organization has publicly committed to benchmarks for consumer utilization and the first time health insurance companies, employers, and professional organizations have come together to add to the science base on childhood obesity as part of an evaluation.
Can others join this effort?
The Alliance is launching a full-scale recruitment campaign to recruit additional insurers, employers and national medical associations to join the Healthcare Initiative immediately following today’s announcement.
For additional information please email: healthcare@healthiergeneration.org
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