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Group: Rise in Employee Health Consumerism Important Cost Increase Defense
The survey by the San Francisco-based Integrated
Benefits Institute (IBI) found that 29% believe more
employee health care responsibility is the best way to deal
with rising workplace health bills, while just over a
quarter (26%) believe cost-shifting is the primary way to
go. About a fifth of the companies polled said the best
tool to deal with health costs was to promote the overall
health of their employees, the group said in a news
release.
The principal findings show employers want a long-term strategy focused on health and productivity:
- more than six in 10 favor managing health along with employee absence, disability and productivity over the long term
- more than 85% of employers want to link health and group medical data to employee absence, disability, lost productivity and company financial performance over the next five years
“The results show that employers understand that
short-term cost fixes are not the answer over the long
term,” said IBI President Thomas Parry. “The majority of
employers understand they must manage health issues among
their employees and want to promote more worker
responsibility in making health care decisions. For them,
cost shifting is simply a band-aid until better ways of
assuring a healthy, productive workforce can be
implemented,” Parry said.
IBI’s report, “Beyond Cost Containment to Health &
Productivity: A Shift in Employers’ Healthcare Focus,”
includes responses from 620 employers surveyed during the
summer of 2004.
IBI is a national, nonprofit organization supported by employers, consultants, insurers, health care providers, disease management firms, third-party administrators, pharmaceutical companies and behavioral health providers
More information can be found
here
.