The Good Health is Good Business radio show, (www.healthybusinessradio.com), is a show focused on a health workforce as a competitive advantage.  Each show brings you experts in the fields of risk reduction, organizational culture, and productivity.

The show is hosted by Dr. David Rearick and Stephen Cherniak who together have 50+ years experience helping organizations, of all sizes, implement and measure population health improvement programs. 

Dr. Rearick, a family physician with 20 years of clinical experience obtained an MBA from Emory University in 1991 and focused his career on population health improvement.  He was an early proponent of the current WellStar Health System in Atlanta; and Aetna medical director, Chief Medical Director for CAI - a healthcare cost containment company, and is currently VP of Medical Management for Strategic Benefit Solutions (www.sbs-benefits.com) - an Atlanta health and welfare consultancy.  He also serves medical director for the Benefit Advisors Network and on the board of directors for the Men’s Health and Wellness Center.

Stephen Cherniak, MS, MBA, oversaw Ford Motor Company’s health and wellness programming for 20+ years for the entire US population.  He joined Strategic Benefit Solutions in 2007 as Wellness Director helping organizations implement total wellness initiatives.  Stephen oversees the procurement, implementation, oversight and measurement of wellness activities.  He presently is a member of a national task force, sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine, whose charter is to develop standards and an accreditation program for health and fitness facilities.

The team of Dr. Rearick and Mr. Cherniak have been certified by the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium in the valid measurement of wellness and disease management programs; and they use their expertise to reduce health benefit costs and engage employee populations with their partner clients.  They are available for consultation for any organization interested in pursuing a strategy of health as a competitive advantage.  Contact:  404-219-1392 or info@healthybusinessradio.com.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law a comprehensive health reform act entitled, The Patent Protection and Affordable Care Act, (www.healthreform.gov).  Whatever your take on the overall bill, there are significant wellness provisions that have become law and will change the way wellness incentives are integrated into benefit plans and provided to the American people.  Some of the more important wellness and preventions mandates include:

• Improve prevention by covering only proven preventive services and eliminating cost-sharing for preventive services in Medicare: increase Medicare payments for certain preventive services to 100% of actual charges or fee schedule rates.  For states that provide Medicaid coverage - remove cost-sharing for preventive services recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force and recommended immunizations, provide a 1% increase in FMAP for thses services.  This effectively removes co-pays and deductibles for all evidenced based preventive health screening tests, removes upper limits on preventive services, and makes USPTF recommendations that last word in what has to be covered for free.
• Provide Medicare beneficiaries access to a comprehensive health risk assessment and creation of a personalized prevention plan and provide incentives to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to complete behavior modification programs.
• Provide grants for up to five years to small employers that establish wellness programs.  These grants can be up to $50,000 per organization, and up to $200/employee for wellness programs and incentives.
• Establish the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council to develop a national strategy to improve the nation’s health.
• Require chain restaurants and food sold from vending machines to disclose the nutritional content of each item.
• Permit employers to offer employees rewards of up to 30% in 2014, increasing to 50% if appropriate, of the cost of coverage for participating in a wellness program and meeting certain health-related standards.  Establish 10-state pilot programs to permit participating states to apply similar rewards for participating in wellness programs in the individual market.