Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker gave the keynote address May 21 at the Delaware Employer Summit co-hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health and the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce at the Sheraton Wilmington South. The summit was held to discuss the challenges facing employers and the State of Delaware in lowering health care costs, improving health care quality and safety, and increasing the overall value of health benefits. Secretary Walker talked about the role that employers can play as change agents in helping to drive health care transformation, and the need for cooperation among providers, health plans, government and other key stakeholders. “The purchasers have a lot of leverage in the health care system,” she said.
During an employer panel, Pamela Murray, who manages U.S. health benefits for DuPont, said about 20 percent of the company’s employees are in Delaware, and when she looks at DuPont’s health care costs by location, Delaware’s costs always rise to the top. Bank of America’s Anne Oxrider said to reduce the percentage of employees who are overweight and their resulting health care costs, the company requires food suppliers to make 30 percent of their in-house offerings healthy choices and encourages employees to walk 56,000 steps per week. Murray and Oxrider were joined by human resource representatives from Christiana Care Health System, the University of Delaware and the State of Delaware.
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