Managed Care Cast

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Steven Goldberg, the vice president of medical affairs, population health, and chief health officer at Quest Diagnostics. He is also a co-author of a recent peer-reviewed case study that analyzed a benefits and wellness program designed by a self-insured employer. The employer, Quest Diagnostics, covers nearly 60,000 lives. The analysis of the program showed that it was able to reduce costs while maintaining program quality and promoting population health. According to the study findings, through proactive changes, physician executive leadership, health plan collaboration, disease-specific population health initiatives, and plan design, Quest Diagnostic's annual healthcare cost trend steadily improved from a year-over-year trend of 5.7% from 2014 to 2015, to 4.6% from 2015 to 2016, to -1.0% for 2016 to 2017, and most recently, 0.3% in the 2017 to 2018 year.