By: Daniel Krajnovich - Chief Executive Officer, UnitedHealthcare(Indiana)
Category: Healthcare
A strong focus on preventive care may not solve the health care
crisis, but it is one important way employers and employees can work together to
make health care more affordable. Preventive care leads to lower health care
costs and healthy employees who are more productive, exhibit less absenteeism,
live healthier and longer, and add more vitality to their work.
Though
lifestyle choices are ultimately determined by individuals, companies can take
important measures to support and encourage preventative health behavior among
their employees.
Here are 10 smart ways employers can focus on creating
a health-conscious mindset in the work environment to better control health care
spending:
1. Educate employees about health care costs and trends. Most
people are unaware of the total cost of health care. It is estimated that
American health care consumers only pay between 5 and 30 percent of their actual
health costs.
2. Frequent communication of health care facts to employees
creates sustainable awareness and momentum for change.
3. Invite local
health care experts to talk to your employees about back injuries, obesity,
diet, diabetes or sleep disorders. Host health fairs for employees and invite
medical experts to offer information and preventive screenings – nurses,
nutritionists, wellness coaches, message therapists and other community
specialists.
4. Adopt a health plan with strong financial incentives,
such as consumer-directed Health Savings (HSAs) or Health Reimbursement (HRAs)
accounts. Both plans must be coupled with a high-deductible health plan and
offer different advantages to employers and employees. Accounts such as these
are proven tools to engage your employees in their health care
consumption.
5. Offer a smoking cessation program. And of course, if it
isn't already, make your office a "no-smoking environment."
6. Fully
engage employees in total health care cost management by asking them to make
thoughtful decisions about their health and health care expenses. Thinking about
health care as a purchase will require a mental shift. Most people spend weeks
researching the purchase of a car or television, but then seek health care with
little insight or knowledge. Employees need to know how rising health care costs
directly impact them – i.e. lower raises, fewer new hires, global
competitiveness, etc. – as well as the bottom line of the business. Empowering
them to make some of their own choices about health care insurance also changes
the traditional paradigm.
7. Promote the use of the Internet to keep
employees informed of personal health care issues. Some health insurance
companies and online resources provide information on best practices, health
libraries, wellness tips, and other features to help consumers better understand
their health.
8. Wellness is smart investment. Experts suggest that for
every $1 invested during the first year of a wellness program, a savings of
between $3 and $5 results. Host annual flu shots in the office. Sanitize phones,
doorknobs and high-contact surfaces during cold and flu season. Encourage
fitness and healthly eating.
9. Be creative with fitness. For example,
host a “step-a-thon” competition in which employees use pedometers to collect
the most 'steps' walked during lunch hour for a month. Create a program to use
stairs instead of elevators. Start a walking club. Pedometers are popular and
successful in encouraging healthy behavior because success is easy to see.
10. Be conscious of office choices like vending machines and office
snacks. Opt for healthier company-hosted breakfasts, luncheons and
potlucks.
There is no single solution to the rising cost of health care,
just as there is no single factor contributing to it. However, it’s certain that
changing consumer behaviors and promoting healthier lifestyles will have a
positive impact.