Director James has laid out the guiding principles that have shaped her perspective for good health-care policy. The first principle is that there are smart consumers who are capable of making wise health-care decisions. Second, the relationship between the physician and patient should drive health-care decisions. Third, it is competition in the health-care market that promotes innovation and produces better health-care options and higher quality care. And fourth, it is up to patients to be involved and responsible.

The Director's HealthierFeds campaign is designed to meet her vision for a responsive health-care system that lives up to her guiding principles and the Federal work force's demands. The campaign fully supports President Bush's HealthierUS initiative which has identified four keys for a healthier America: Be physically active every day, eat a nutritious diet, get preventive screenings and make healthy choices. It is well established that physical activity, nutrition, preventive screenings and healthy lifestyles all reduce demand on the health-care system. Information about the Administration's initiative can be found at www.healthierus.gov.

The goal of the HealthierFeds campaign is to ensure Federal employees and retirees are informed on healthy living and best-treatment strategies. It pioneers new territory that holds great promise for the general health care marketplace. Through HealthierFeds, the Director is going after the "demand" side, incorporating a new focus on personal responsibility and the consumer's role in driving both quality and affordability.

Director James kicked off the HealthierFeds campaign with a health fair at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in January. OPM is also holding monthly wellness events to educate our own workforce on how they can take greater responsibility for their personal health. The Director's approach includes an appeal to a broad audience. As part of her initiative to educate Federal consumers about healthy lifestyles, Director James is producing monthly columns on health issues. They are addressed to the Federal community and the public to call attention to ways in which to improve health care and life style choices.

Earlier this year, Director James asked that FEHB carriers include her monthly health education columns on their websites and in their periodic publications. We appreciate your tremendous response to this initiative. The Director's column for April focused on the importance of organ and tissue donation and May's column discussed high blood pressure. Both columns are attached to this carrier letter and are also posted on the FEHB carrier website. A column for the month of June will be available shortly. We ask that you check this website periodically to see these monthly health columns and download them for your own publications and websites.

We will be working with you throughout the year to learn more about your own efforts to promote healthy lifestyles for your members, including your wellness programs, health promotion materials, and member information on your websites. We believe that Federal employees and their families are intelligent health care consumers, and it is to everyone's benefit to provide them with sound information. We also believe educating your members holds great potential for more patient involvement in health care decision-making and, subsequently, more consumer responsibility.

We appreciate your participation in this important initiative. If you have any questions, please contact your contract representative.

Sincerely, Frank D. Titus Assistant Director    for Insurance Services

Attachments

• April is National Donate Life Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month  [Web Page]  [Word File]
• May is High Blood Pressure Awareness Month  [Web Page]  [Word File]

Download this Letter as a PDF File