Marketing to Women
Women Enjoy Longer, Disease-Free Years, Study Finds
A new study confirms that targeting women with preventive health services to increase life expectancy is a savvy move. The study, "Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System," found that women tend to outlive men and can look forward to more healthy, disease-free lives.
Looking at data from 16 states between 1993 and 1995, the survey (conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed health measures that combine information about sickness, disability and death for adults. Highlights include:
- At age 25, women tended to have more years of healthy life (YHL) - 41 to 47 years, compared with 38 to 43 for men.
- At age 65, women have an average of 12 to 16 YHL years and men have 10 to 13.
- Montana had the highest YHL, with 65-year-old women having a YHL of 16 and men a YHL of 13. Alabama had the lowest figures, with 12 YHLs for a 65-year-old woman and 10 for a man.
The report appears in the Jan. 12 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly by the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov). (CDC, 404/639-3311)
Managed Care
Emerging Players Enter Power Struggle for Covered Lives
Vertically integrated health systems (VIHNs), employer groups and physician group practices are grabbing a greater piece of the healthcare pie, causing HMOs to wrestle for control of its 80 million covered lives nationwide, according to a recent managed care market analysis by Scott-Levin (http://www.scottlevin.com), a healthcare consulting and communications firm. Its analysis highlights key indicators of these emerging players.
The analysis reports:
- VIHNs now encompass 24.3 million people, or 30% of all lives covered by HMOs.
- VIHNs are becoming more organized; last year its level of system integration increased by 20%.
- Employer groups are banding together and using their bargaining power to provide cost-effective healthcare coverage, forming 125 coalitions nationwide (40 million employees and their dependents).
- Physicians group practices have also jumped on the coverage bandwagon, forming 500 U.S. groups with 10+ doctors, totaling more than 32,000 physicians.
For more information on the study, contact Kathy Carlson at 215/860-0440.