NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
LMHCC Selects Extend Health to Provide Retiree Health Insurance Services
Labor/Management Newsletter
July (3rd Quarter) 2011
LMHCC Selects The Burchfield Group to Help With Pharmacy Benefit Consulting
Endorsement of Northwest Respiratory Services
LMHCC 11th Annual Meeting Invite
Labor/Management Newsletter
December (4th Quarter) 2010
LMHCC Executive Director Douglas Rubbelke will also assume the role of Executive Director of the National Labor Alliance of Health Care Coalitions (NLA)
Caregiving Resources and Long Term Care Insurance
LMHCC Offering Educational Seminars Focused on Caregiving in addition to a new Long Term Care Insurance benefit
Endorsement of
VSP® Vision Care
Labor/Management Newsletter
June (2nd Quarter) 2010
Labor/Management Newsletter
January 2010
Endorsement of Epic Hearing Health Care
Accessing Low Cost Prescriptions without Prescription Benefits
Endorsement of National ReClaim, Inc.
Labor/Management Newsletter
August 2009
CDI — Diagnostic Imagery Service
Thanks to the successful pilot project run by IBEW 292 and Twin Cities Pipe Trades, the LMHCC has unanimously endorsed CDI as the preferred provider for medical imaging services and some pain management procedures.
Center for Diagnostic Imaging (CDI) was selected because of its quality equipment, safety standards, lower costs and highly specialized radiologists. Each radiologist focuses on one specific part of the body, such as spine, brain or joints, and therefore has vast experience diagnosing conditions for that area. CDI also specializes in therapeutic injections for joint and back pain, where outcomes tracking indicate higher success for patients.
The equipment CDI uses is high strength and nationally certified. The LMHCC board found that there is an alarming variation in imaging equipment quality. The “pictures” taken by a low strength or poorly calibrated MRI or CT are less clear and therefore it is harder to obtain an accurate diagnosis. If the patient’s condition is not accurately diagnosed, unnecessary pain, loss of work, needless health care treatments or medications can all result.
Also important in the selection is that members who go to CDI receive an independent diagnosis that the patient can truly trust is in his/her best interests. CDI radiologists are financially and legally independent of any outside pressure to recommend more or less health care services, based on their radiology diagnosis.
IBEW 292 and TCPT launched a pilot project with CDI about two years ago. Together, the groups identified issues of importance to union members, set up a CDI Laborline (866.765.7138) to offer preferred scheduling for union members, and designed wallet cards to help patients communicate with their physicians about the importance of referring to CDI for imaging tests. After reviewing the cost savings data from Local 292, other LMHCC members have waived the patient co-pay for their members who choose to use CDI for necessary imaging services.
