Looking into the future

The concept of employee health has typically been viewed as a benefits function within the corporate organizational structure, with employers looking only at employee health as a measure of claims costs. However, participants at our February Think Tank agreed that there is a much-needed paradigm shift underway when it comes to employee health. What the future holds for sure, no one knows; but here’s a summary of what Think Tank participants envision as the future of employee health.
 
·        Employee health may move from the benefits department in many corporations to the human resources function. This change signals a deeper understanding by executive leaders of the connection between employee health and corporate performance, including productivity and talent management. Employers who understand the important role that health management can play in their corporation will also care about creating an optimal work environment, promoting “whole person health” for their employees, and encouraging employee engagement in both their workplace health program and in their local community.

 

·        Employers who opt out of offering health coverage and send their employees to the health insurance exchanges or opt for a defined contribution model will still remain responsible for generating a high performance workforce. This could generate greater concern and attention to prevention (employee health management) in the workplace, rather than treatment (providing health insurance).

 ·        Employers and individual wellness program participants will have access to increasingly large amounts of data on health care cost and quality, along with information about preventive services and treatment options that will prolong their good health and help them manage chronic conditions.

·        Health care costs will continue to rise, while individuals will assume more risk and more of the cost burden. The way in which companies communicate with their workforce will change in response to the aging workforce and the growing consumer reliance on mobile technology and communications.

What might these changes mean to employers who offer employee health management programs and to the industry that supports them? Think Tank participants envisioned the following as potential future characteristics of employee health management:

·        As individuals become more fiscally responsible for their health, they will become more engaged in preserving their good health or improving their health status. Employee health management programs will, in turn, become more comprehensive to meet the broader health needs of their workforce and to extend the wellness initiative to spouses and dependents.

·        Health management programs will become more closely tied to the community as large employers and employer-led coalitions become engaged in improving the health of their communities and their employees in an interconnected fashion. This could lead to more community-based models of employee health management programs that apply the best practices used in the workplace but that are driven by community volunteers and employees.

·        As employers shift their benefits programs to align more closely with the health insurance exchanges and the broader implementation of health reform, employers may start to offer more onsite services, such as onsite clinics, coaches and case managers, to support the health needs of their workforce and to ensure that employees continue to focus on achieving and maintaining good health and optimal performance.

The HERO Connection

Several recently formed HERO committees and initiatives have been developed to explore opportunities to be in front of these trends. In particular, the Health Performance and Productivity Study Committee was launched late last year and is being chaired by Jack Groppel of Health & Wellness, a Johnson & Johnson Company and Josh Glynn of Google. This committee is currently working on a public commentary studying the connection between employee health and workplace performance and productivity. HERO also recently established the Employer- Community Collaboration Study Committee, which is being chaired by Cathy Baase of Dow Chemical and Nico Pronk of HealthPartners. This committee is charged to explore and document the reasons why employers may want to play active roles in community health initiatives.