The number one force driving most health maintenance organizations in the market today is profit, not quality. That's why HMOs are expanding as rapidly as they can. That's why multimillion dollar mergers are grabbing headlines. And that's why it's absolutely critical that consumers begin demanding superior quality from their HMOs. Ellyn Spragins had produced the first no-nonsense guide to selecting and using an HMO in this rapidly changing and confusing environment. This book cuts through HMO marketing hype, giving you the tools professionals use to choose the best health plans. You will learn how to profile your family's health needs and match them to a health plan's strengths. You'll discover how to pick the best doctor, when to go outside a network, and how to get a consultation with a specialist. You'll save time, money, and a lot of aggravation. Choosing and Using an HMO describes the concrete steps you should take to get the highest quality care. Packed with resources and lists of HMOs to seek out - or to avoid - this easy-to-use book demystifies the increasingly complex world of health care.
Ellyn Spragins leads Letters To My Younger Self Seminars and Workshops around the world for women's leadership networks and leadership development programs. She has presented at Microsoft, Genentch, Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson and many other corporations. Her books, speeches, seminars and products inspire women to discover their inner wisdom and share it with each other.
She is the author of What I Know Now About Success, published in the spring of 2010 and If I'd Known Then: Women In Their 20s and 30s Write Letters to Their Younger Selves, published by Da Capo Press in May 2008. Previously she authored What I Know Now: Letters To My Younger Self, a New York Times bestseller and Books For A Better Life finalist, published in April 2006.
Previously she was a columnist at The New York Times, writing Love & Money for the Sunday business section, and Editor-At-Large at Fortune Small Business. She also was Vice President of Editorial Development at Oxygen Media and a contributing editor to Newsweek. While at Newsweek, she won the National Press Club's Consumer Journalism Award in 1997 and the Clarion Award in 1998.
Spragins has been an editor at Smart Money, BusinessWeek and Inc., and a reporter at Forbes. Her articles have appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Working Woman, Bloomberg Personal, Worth, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Ladies Home Journal and Town & Country. She has also made numerous television and radio appearances.
Spragins graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English and economics from Barnard College, which awarded her the Estelle M. Allison Prize for Excellence in Literature. She lives with her husband, John Witty, and two children in Pennington, New Jersey.
Learn more at www.letterstomyyoungerself.com.
