Another way to dissuade health plan participants from going to the ER

By Christian Schappel

Of course, if an employee on your health plan has an emergency, you want him or her to go to the ER — no questions asked. The problem is, many people unfamiliar with the inner-workings of the health system think it’s acceptable to visit the ER for more routine care — and that costs health plans plenty.

A key contributor to rising healthcare costs: Health plan participants utilizing uber-expensive ER services for non-emergency services.

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Top 6 ROI-producing wellness initiatives

April 5, 2012 by Christian Schappel

The most effective way to control rising healthcare costs is still to implement a wellness program. But what is it specifically your program should be doing?

Health Fairs Direct, a corporate health and wellness events provider, recently released a report on the return on investment of specific wellness initiatives. 

The report analyzed 50 studies of the wellness programs offered at different organizations including Johnson and Johnson, Citibank, DuPont, Duke University and The California Public Retirees System.

It also took into account reports from major insurance providers including Cigna, United Health Care and Aetna.

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3 reasons mandatory paid sick days are a good idea

March 6, 2012 by Christian Schappel

One organization is trying to sell employers in New York City on the idea of mandatory paid sick days for workers. Its reasoning?

Requiring companies to give employees access to paid sick days would:

1. Improve employees’ health
2. Decrease the likelihood that employees will delay medical care for themselves or their family members, and
3. Reduce the number of visits to hospital emergency rooms, which would reduce healthcare costs by $35.5 million.

Those are the assertions of the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWRP).

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2009-2010 National Health Interview Survey, the IWRP has estimated the size of the impact that access to paid sick days would have in New York City. 

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Can ‘sugar tax’ actually lower healthcare costs?

January 11, 2012 by Christian Schappel

It’s no secret American’s don’t take very good care of themselves. Well, researchers suggest a new tax may help change that.

Researchers from Columbia University, UC San Francisco and Virginia Tech calculated that a penny-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverag

es would significantly slash the instances of heart disease and strokes, according to a report in Health Affairs.

Surely, this would tick off a lot of soda fans.

But the researchers say the tax would reduce super-sweet beverage consumption by 15%, resulting in the average adult age 25 to 64 consuming nine fewer calories per day. That, they say, would result in enough weight loss to reduce the number of obese adults by 867,000 in 10 years.

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Tip Tuesday! 2 New Places To Uncover Health Savings

November 9, 2011 by Christian Schappel

Separate studies have uncovered two new things employers should be doing that can start saving them big bucks on healthcare costs.

They are:

1. Helping the aging retire on time

It’s no secret employees are planning to retire later. That may be better for workers’ 401(k)s, but it’s bad news for your health plan.

After analyzing its client data, Lockton Retirement Services found healthcare costs for employees over the age of 65 are more than double that of employees age 45 to 55.

In addition, a National Council on Compensation Insurance study found the average claim costs for older employees hurt in a work-related accident were more than twice as high as claim costs for younger workers ($27,000 v. $12,000 on average).

The solutions: Help employees improve their retirement outlook — whether it’s by reinstating or upping a 401(k) match, or providing more retirement or investment education.

The long-term savings of such programs could vastly outweigh the short-term costs.

2. Provide urgent care education

Trips to the emergency room aren’t cheap. But when employees seek spur-of-the-moment medical treatment, or treatment during odd hours (like early in the morning or late at night), the emergency room is where they often turn.

One reason: They are unaware that they could be using less-expensive urgent care facilities instead.

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Shifting health costs to employees? 3 things to consider first

It’s no secret many employers plan to shift more costs on to employees as healthcare premiums climb. If you’re in that group, here are three things you’ll want to consider before the shifts potentially disrupt morale.

1. Employees may stop going to the doc

One thing some employers may not realize when they decide to shift some healthcare cost increases toward employees: It may lead employees to put off going to the doctor for routine checkups — or when they’re sick.

When the cost of going to the doctor goes up (whether it’s through increases in co-pays or deductibles) more people will put off routine/preventive care.

That means the short-term cost savings your company would see by shifting costs onto employees may quickly be swept away if the overall health of your workforce declines due to diminished care — resulting in more major medical claims or being placed in a higher risk pool by your insurer.

2. Wellness workers — in the long run

If you’re in the group that believes increasing out-of-pocket costs would diminish employees’ health, there is another option that can reduce healthcare costs — but it won’t help overnight: Ramp up your wellness initiatives.

Whether you increase incentives to motivate employees to participate in your wellness programs or add activities — like blood pressure screenings, cholesterol tests, or flu shots — improving the health of your employees can save you big bucks in major medical costs in the long run.

3. There are other benefits employees want

If cost-shifting is the only option, there are ways to soften the blow to your workforce.

Examples:

• Offering more voluntary benefits. Even when they’re asked to cover most of the costs, many employees look at voluntary benefits (disability, dental coverage) as being financially beneficial.
• Offering flexible spending accounts (FSAs). These can help employees put away pre-tax dollars to cover increasing healthcare costs.

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Tip Tuesday: It’s National Wellness Month! 3 strategies to boost participation

It’s National Wellness Month! 3 strategies to boost participation

June is National Wellness Month. Which gives you the perfect entree to make a push for greater participation in this key health cost-cutter.

The good news is there are a slew of resources out now to help you make that appeal.

In fact, there’s a brand new study out that can help your company zero in on the best practices your peers are tapping to get the most from their wellness initiatives.

Check out some of the key findings out of the “2011 National Employee Wellness Month Employee/Employer Survey,” conducted by Virgin HealthMiles, to see how they can shape your own program.

Click Here for the entire article including the three useful strategies to boost participation!

Study Predicts How Much Health Costs Will Rise In 2012 | HR Morning

How much are you anticipating your healthcare costs to increase next year? 

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Health Research Institute estimates that healthcare costs will increase 8.5% in 2012 — and that’s on top of the 8% increase PwC says employers will endure this year.

Those figures come from the organization’s annual survey of medical cost trends. Participants included 1,700 companies from 32 industries, in addition to hospital executives and health plan actuaries.

Link: Read the whole article from HR Morning