Modern Healthcare – August 12, 2019

August 12, 2019 | Modern Healthcare 37

“So we started by reframing our mission. And our mission is to help

people in communities achieve better health.”

Modern Healthcare’s 116th Congress Special Report will provide crucial

insights into healthcare discussions on Capitol Hill. Key members of

Congress and infl uential leaders will offer their views on the issues

shaping the course of healthcare policy, healthcare issues in the 2020

election, lobbyist voices, as well as what’s ahead for the future of the

American people.

Don’t miss this opportunity to raise awareness of a healthcare

issue and persuade segments of Congress to act and drive change.

Publish Date: September 23 | Close Date: September 5

The special supplement will be polybagged and distributed to

70,000+ Modern Healthcare subscribers and 1,200 members

of Congress.

Want to know more? Reach out to Ilana Klein

[email protected] | 312.649.5311

Get your message

in front of Congress

alongside the groups that
we’ve put in place.

MH: How do you see ACOs and
other moves you’re making
affecting actual affordability
and cost for your members?

Geraghty: We’ve seen a
couple of percentage points
difference in premiums
where we have value-based
models in place.
When you then add
to that services where
you meet people in the
home setting, that offers
tremendous opportunities
to improve the quality of
life, to improve the
quality of the care and to
reduce costs.

MH: Florida Blue has been

active in trying to combat the

opioid epidemic. Can you talk a

little about that?

Geraghty: One of the

first things we could do

independently was remove

Oxycontin from our

formulary. We did that over

two years ago. We made a

loud statement with that

action. We then led an effort

with our state government

to limit prescriptions into

the three-to-five day range.

One of the other things

that we did was make a

$3 million grant to Lutheran

Services Florida. We were

hearing repeatedly from

law enforcement that they

were seeing people multiple

times, the same night, for

opioid overdose. So what you

needed was somebody to

meet that patient who could

counsel them.

Many of these people are

peer counselors, meaning

they’ve been through this

process of addiction before.

They could meet the person

and help them cope with

what they were dealing

with on the addiction side.

To us, this was a much

more comprehensive

answer than to just say

you’re going to stabilize

somebody and hope that

they do well after they leave

the emergency room.

We then convened

all stakeholders at our

Innovation Center in Lake

Nona and we had people

from parents who had

come through the process

having lost children,

to law enforcement, to

care providers. We had

stakeholders from across

the continuum talk about

how we can collectively get

in front of this issue. Then

we launched an effort in our

Orlando marketplace that

brought together the mayor

and city officials. It has

grown to where we are now

working hand in glove with

the attorney general in the

state, the governor and the

sheriff who’s been assigned

to work on this task force.

We’ve seen the number of

opioid prescriptions drop by

over 45% and we’ve seen the

alternative pain drugs go up

by almost 60%. l