Weekend update

Congress is out of town until April 2. Here's a link to the Week in Congress's report on last week's actions on Capitol Hill.

Healthcare Dive has an interesting article on the millenial generation's (DOB between 1980 and 2000) attitudes on healthcare delivery. The article is based on this recent EBRI survey.

Healthcare Payer Intelligence reports that

Payers and employers who offer high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) to attract low-cost members may need member engagement strategies to generate higher value for these beneficiaries.

Member engagement is critical for HDHP success because low premiums aren’t enough to keep members satisfied, says Jeff Oldham, Senior Vice President of Global and Institutional Markets at Benefitfocus, believes that.

Member engagement was a key theme of OPM carrier conference last week.  The FEHBlog was disappointed that OPM Director Pon was unable to attend because of flight problems. The conference was interesting. The FEHBlog already covered the many of the highlights over the past few months. Here's some stuff that the FEHBlog missed:

• The keynote speaker from the National Business Group on Health mentioned a new benefit design approach called Bind that's growing popularity.
• OPM's medical director mentioned the President's initiative to address the opioid crisis.  The U.S. Surgeon General by videotape reminded the attendees that "Everyone has a role to play in this crisis. Addiction requires a coordinated response."