News

June 30, 2008

Report focuses on illness prevention

Blue Cross info for area schools’ Health Trust looks at cutting costs and illnesses.

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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PLAINS TWP. – Of nearly 7,300 educators and their family members insured through the Northeast Pennsylvania School District Health Trust, 41 percent are 55 or older, the age when many major health problems develop.

Only nine admit to being smokers despite the fact that statistics say more than 1,000 likely use tobacco. And only 27 have been identified as overweight even though the odds are at least 3,000 fit that bill.

A report provided to the Trust board by Blue Cross last week gave a broad profile not only of the health of teachers and their dependents, but of the region in general, often comparing the statistics for the Trust with statistics for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Northeast Pennsylvania.

Blue Cross Clinical Consultant Stephen Rothstein said a chief goal of the report, dubbed “understanding cost and utilization,” was to help Trust board members see where costs could be curbed, usually with relatively simple preventive measures.

Take the number of people smoking. While only about 0.1 percent of the Trust’s members were known smokers (having enrolled in smoking cessation programs offered by Blue Cross), statistics show 23 percent of people in Northeast Pennsylvania use tobacco. That suggests there are a lot of smokers who could be taking advantage of available programs to kick the habit, but aren’t.

Similarly, while only 0.4 percent of the Trust’s members have enrolled in weight-management programs, 60 percent of the region’s population is deemed overweight or obese. That leaves a lot of people who could reduce the risk of future problems like diabetes or heart disease by adopting a healthy diet and exercise program.

That 41 percent of Trust members are 55 or older makes it important for the Trust and district officials to encourage members to get preventive screenings such as mammary exams and colonoscopies, Rothstein said. Screenings can help prevent some problems from occurring, or increase the chances of curing serious illnesses like colon cancer through early detection.

There’s another side to that coin, though. Rothstein noted that the region overall has an unusually high rate of patients getting CT scans, about 177 per 1,000 people, and the Trust has a similar rate, close to three-times higher than what it should be, Rothstein said.

He blamed the trend on two causes: A high local rate of malpractice suits that prompt doctors to order the scans just to be safe and a high number of doctors and centers that have their own imaging equipment.

On the plus side, the Trust members use emergency rooms at a rate of about 180 uses per 1,000 members, roughly 27 percent less than the regional rate. Rothstein said he has seen rates that were as low as 125 per 1,000 but has also seen it as high as 300 per 1,000.

Rothstein said the Trust should find ways to encourage more people to complete a confidential online “health risk assessment” that can help the company spot possible health problems and recommend lifestyle changes or screenings that could avoid costly bills in the future.

He quoted Hippocrates: “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”

“More than 2,000 years later,” Rothstein quipped, “we’ve learned he was right all along.”

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161

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