The concept of an employer attempting to manage healthcare cost and quality is not new. There are numerous national and individual statistics that relate the cost and purchasing challenges in the provision of healthcare as a benefit and a competitive barrier for American enterprises.
Workplace Clinics and Employer Managed Healthcare: A Catalyst for Cost Savings and Improved Productivity, 2nd Edition is not another diatribe on the national healthcare problem. Instead, it is a book about what is possible. Mike LaPenna shares with readers the actual experiences of those self-funded employers who are moving healthcare access on-site and directly managing all aspects of their own healthcare delivery system. In this revised and updated edition, the author examines both the big issues and the nuts and bolts concerns that companies and their employees face; demonstrates the importance of employee participation in the planning; and covers when and how to work with hospitals, pharmacies and other vendors.
Much is made about turning healthcare delivery into a system that incentivizes wellness rather than profits from illness. This is the one path that assures such an outcome. This second edition includes updated case studies and revised material of chapters.
About the Author: Mike La Penna started his career in healthcare as an emergency medical technician when he was still in high school. He has worked in several support roles within the healthcare field during his college years while earning a BA in economics from Western University. After a stink as a faculty member at a community college in Michigan, he became Executive Director for the Southwest Michigan Emergency Medical Services Agency, which developed and coordinated pre-hospital care and emergency services for an eight-county region. He has been a hospital administrator and he has managed healthcare programs that range from ambulatory care and outreach services to healthcare cooperatives and shared service corporations. His volunteer work includes serving as the Board Chair of the American Red Cross Kalamazoo Chapter, the Chairman of the Kalamazoo County Overall Economic Development Council, and co-founding that region's American Heart Association chapter.
Mike holds a MBA with a specialty interest in Healthcare Administration from the University of Chicago. His healthcare consulting firm, The La Penna Group, was founded in 1986 and serves hospital and physician group clients across the country. The firm also has developed several ambulatory care sites and service models for health systems and industry and municipal clients that incorporate the ideas in this book.
Mike is regularly called upon to speak at national meetings regarding the healthcare industry and on financial issues affecting healthcare providers and their relationships with business and industry. He is a routine contributor to publications such as Medical Economics and Crain's, and he has been quoted in Modern Healthcare, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other national publications. He is the author of Workplace Clinics and Employer Managed Healthcare: A Catalyst for Cost Savings and Improved Productivity, CRC Press (2010).
