According to a survey from DirectPath, 83% of benefits brokers say their job is harder today than it was three years ago. The surprising thing about that number? It implies that only 17% of brokers believe their job is easier today.

We side with the majority on this one. Benefits brokers have never had it harder. In the face of soaring health care costs, companies are demanding benefits brilliance. They want to see smart strategies on a shoestring budget. And if you can’t deliver, your competition will.

To thrive in this environment, brokers need to stand out from the crowd. One way to do that is to bring cutting-edge data strategy to your benefits consulting.

There are a number of data analytics solutions on the market today. However, you can’t just bring your client a goody-bag of random products. You need to tailor your selections to your client’s strategy. Read more »

When your employees need surgery, the way to safe, effective care is fraught with obstacles. Surgeons push for care that patients don’t need; it’s extremely difficult to find high-quality providers; and hospital systems charge rates far out of proportion with their value.We know that care decisions can be trying, and we’re here to help. Let the roadmap below be your guide to avoiding these surgical quality pitfalls. It’s the best way to secure the right care for your employees, from the right provider, at the right value. Read more »

Perceptions of patients have changed. They’re not just “patients” anymore — they’re also “customers.”

And that small semantic difference has big implications for the healthcare industry. One of them is the abundant use of customer-satisfaction surveys.

Enshrined into official healthcare policy in 2010, patient satisfaction now carries serious implications for providers. Hospitals that fail to sufficiently satisfy their patients see significant cuts in their reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid services. Read more »

Note: This post, from MPIRICA CEO Shakil Haroon, originally appeared at BenefitsPRO.

Narrow networks might have been born in the 90s, but they came of age in the last five years.

Recent surges in care costs, plus the effects of the Affordable Care Act, have made these plans more attractive to payers. By funneling patients toward a relatively small range of providers, narrow networks help insurers contain costs and improve outcomes. Read more »

Today, when healthcare consumers who need surgery start their research of potential hospitals or surgeons, they are bombarded with confusing amounts of ratings, “best of” lists, and hoards of big data. When it comes to patient reviews, can you trust an anonymous Yelper to guide you to a quality surgeon? And when you come across websites with a ton of data like complication rates, volumes, mortality, or readmissions, how do you make appropriate conclusions about the risks you potentially face when you choose your healthcare provider? Read more »

I’m pleased to bring you news about an exciting development for our company and the MPIRICA Quality Score: we are expanding to include outpatient surgeries!

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 35 million procedures are performed in outpatient settings annually. When most people think of “outpatient,” the procedures that typically come to mind are sports related injuries like knee meniscus or shoulder rotator-cuff repair. However, the reality is that even advanced surgeries have moved out of inpatient settings. In fact, Blue Cross Blue Shield recently reported that 82% of spine surgeries are now performed in an outpatient setting. Unfortunately for patients wondering about the quality of outcomes from outpatient surgeons or facilities, there is nowhere to turn because the data simply does not exist. Read more »