Health Insurance Daily

Disease Management Alive, Thriving: Two-thirds Of Employers To Offer Disability Disease Management

While consumer-directed health plans get all the press, many employers today offer disease management benefits, and a significant additional portion is eyeing this benefit for future offerings.

According to the Employee Benefit News/Forrester Research 2005 Benefits Strategy and Technology Study, 45% of all employers currently offer disease management benefits and another 22% intend to offer this benefit by 2006.

Disease management is most popular among large employers, with 61% of companies with more than 1,000 employees offering these specialty services to their staff. But smaller organizations also are embracing these programs; the survey shows that 56% of employers with 250 to 1,000 employees and 32% of those with fewer than 250 employees offer disease management to their workers.

Most employers measure hard costs when determining the effectiveness of a disease management program. High on the list of indicators measured are prescription cost trends, with 51% of employers measuring generic versus brand drug utilization and 48% measuring better formulary compliance.. Less frequently tracked indicators, such as lower rates of absenteeism, faster return to work, and better health outcomes, are harder to directly associate with cost savings.

As disease management continues to evolve, employers will expect a robust measurement of effectiveness, in addition to a better cost-benefit analysis, which has been thus far elusive or incomplete at best.

To read this article in its entirety, click on Benefit News

posted by Mike @ 9:20 AM