Today's program gave us a lot to consider when it comes to slowing the pace of rising health care costs. A quick recap:

Personal responsibility in terms of healthier lifestyle choices, coupled with a payment system that rewards preventative care. Our guests also pointed to Vermont's Blueprint for Health as a model for care because it takes a team approach to patient care. Listeners also queried our guests about duplication of services from hospital to hospital and how that affects costs - and the impact of for-profit insurance companies. You can hear the entire discussion here (and feel free to post your comments): http://www.vpr.net/episode/50915/

One option for helping contain costs is available to large companies through Marathon Health of Colchester. Employers hire Marathon to provide a hands-on, in-the-workplace approach to their employees' health. One idea involves health care 'coaches'. Pizzagalli Construction is one of Marathon's Vermont clients. Pizzagalli Vice President Mike Sessions says he found that his company had a small percentage of employees who accounted for about 80 percent of the total health care costs. The nurse/coaches work with those employees on diet and lifestyle choices and with others on preventative care. Sessions says reducing the number of employees in need of expensive care would have a dramatic impact on the company's health care costs. The results have been encouraging, with overall reductions in obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. You can hear more about Marathon Health in this story by VPR's Lynne McCrea: http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/90584/