CHICAGO, March 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) today released the
second edition of a Moody's Analytics report that finds a direct
link between a population's health and a growing economy, higher
incomes and lower unemployment.
Moody's Analytics utilized the Blue Cross Blue Shield Health
IndexSM (BCBS Health Index) – a first-of-its-kind
measurement of health for nearly every county in America. The BCBS
Health Index identifies the health conditions with the greatest
impact on the commercially insured and – paired with an analysis by
Moody's Analytics – how those conditions impact the economic
well-being of communities.
The BCBS Health Index, powered by de-identified data from more
than 40 million commercially insured members of Blue Cross and Blue
Shield (BCBS) companies, finds that five conditions nationally are
responsible for 30 percent of the adverse health of this
population. Those conditions are: depression, anxiety and other
mood disorders; hypertension; diabetes; high cholesterol; and
substance use disorders.
An analysis of the BCBS Health Index by Moody's Analytics also
found a direct link between healthy people and a healthy economy
with healthier counties having lower unemployment and higher
incomes. When compared to counties with a median BCBS Health Index
result, counties within the top 10 percent had:
- A per capita income of $3,700
higher
- A 10-year economic growth of 3.5 percent higher
- An unemployment rate half a point lower
"Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are committed to
transforming our health care system and the health of our nation
through actionable data," said Scott
Serota, president and CEO for BCBSA. "This Index uses the
breadth and depth of BCBS data to bring critical health insights to
policymakers, community leaders, business leaders and health care
professionals, helping them further focus efforts to improve their
communities' health."
"The BCBS Health Index shows that health and the economy's
performance go hand in hand," said Mark
Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "Policymakers
can use the BCBS Health Index to better understand how health
outcomes impact economic growth."
As a comprehensive measurement of actual health care
experiences, the BCBS Health Index was designed to support national
and local discussions about how to improve American health policy
and practice. It quantifies how more than 200 common diseases and
condition categories affect overall health and wellness by
assigning each county a health impact measure between 0 and 1,
designating the proportion of optimal health reached by the
county's population. Each county's BCBS Health Index impact measure
and top five impacting conditions can be found at
www.bcbs.com/bcbs-health-index.
The Moody's Analytics analysis also scores the health of workers
from different industries and shows that health outcomes have a
positive correlation with whether or not older working-age adults
remain in the workforce, and how improved health can boost the
economy by allowing older workers to remain in the workforce.
This is the eleventh study of the Blue Cross Blue Shield, The
Health of America ReportSM series, a collaboration
between the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Blue Health
Intelligence, which uses a market-leading claims database to
uncover key trends and insights into health care affordability and
access to care.
For more information, visit www.bcbs.com/healthofamerica.
BCBS Health Index Methodology
The BCBS Health Index is informed by data from Blue Cross Blue
Shield Axis®, the BCBS companies' industry-leading data
capability. It is also a result of collaboration with Blue Health
Intelligence®, which provided analytical support, and
consultation with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation,
an independent global health research center at the University of Washington in Seattle, that helped
BCBS in defining condition categories and measuring their disabling
affects.
Using blinded claims data from more than 40 million commercially
insured members of BCBS companies, ICD-9 diagnoses were mapped to
over 200 health condition categories. The impact of each condition
was determined based on the years lost due to the risk of premature
death and the disabling effects of illness or disease. These years
of life lost were subtracted from the optimum life expectancy (OLE)
of a given member assuming no health conditions and then divided by
OLE to get an estimate of health between 0 and 1 with 1
corresponding to optimal health, defined as the absence of any
currently known conditions or risks associated with potential
adverse health impacts. A value less than one represents the
proportion of future healthy life for that member based on his or
her diagnosed condition(s). These individual level estimates are
then aggregated to create a health score for the population.
The formal calculation is [OLE – (Mortality + Disability)] /
OLE, where "OLE" is a person's optimum life expectancy derived from
an actuarial life table, "mortality" is "years of life lost"
due to risk of premature death, and "disability" is years of living
with a disability.
About Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is a national federation
of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross
and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide healthcare
coverage for one in three Americans. For more information on
the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its member companies,
please visit www.BCBS.com. We encourage you to connect with
us on Facebook, check out our videos on YouTube, follow us on
Twitter and check out The BCBS Blog for up-to-date information
about BCBSA.
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield words and symbols, Blue Cross
Blue Shield Axis®, Blue Health
Intelligence®, Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of
America ReportSM, and Blue Cross
Blue Shield Health IndexSM are all trademarks owned by
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
About Moody's Analytics
Moody's Analytics helps capital markets and risk management
professionals worldwide respond to an evolving marketplace with
confidence. The company offers unique tools and best practices for
measuring and managing risk through expertise and experience in
credit analysis, economic research and financial risk management.
By providing leading-edge software, advisory services, and
research, including the proprietary analysis of Moody's Investors
Service, Moody's Analytics integrates and customizes its offerings
to address specific business challenges. Moody's Analytics is a
subsidiary of Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO), which reported
revenue of $3.6 billion in 2016,
employs approximately 10,600 people worldwide and maintains a
presence in 36 countries. Further information is available at
www.moodysanalytics.com.
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SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association