Designing Pharmacy Benefits To Reduce Disease And Cut Costs
In today's era of enormously expensive research and development, approval and marketing processes for drug companies, upwardly spiraling prescription prices are as certain as death and taxes, while the pressure to control expenses on the provider side is a fact of life that largely defines the reach and rationale of drug benefit plans.
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Pharmacy Benefits.
A Show of Support
Work-site support groups for certain health conditions can make employees feel valued, bolster morale and even improve employee retention, say some of the companies that sponsor them. Those employers believe in their value, but their use is not widespread—probably because there’s little hard evidence to show that they lower health care costs.
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Work-Site Support Groups.
Want To Reduce Sick Days By An Average Of 41%? The Solution Is Easy. Just Walk.
The average white-collar employee moves a mere 3,500 steps per day – only slightly over one mile. Experts recommend a minimum of 10,000 steps or 3.2 miles of walking and moving per day.
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Just Walk.
Insurers Look At Virtual Visits To Doctor
If you could have the equivalent of a doctor's appointment - via the Web - without actually going to the doctor, would you do it? Are you willing to pay for it?
Some doctors, medical information companies, and, most important, health insurers are betting that patients will fork over a co-pay or more for the convenience of describing their symptons from work or home.
Article can be read in its entirety by clicking on
Virtual Visits.
Employers Are Taking New Approaches To Reducing The Toll Of Stress In The Workplace.
Managers at IBM were getting concerned that workers were stressed out by increasingly complex job roles. So they decided to attack the problem by developing a new team-based program that helps employees identify the job processes that cause the most stress within teams, and then change or eliminate them.
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Stress in the workplace to read more.
Standard For Rating Doctors Takes Shape
Health insurers, physician organizations and patient advocates agreed Tuesday to develop a standard for rating physicians that could replace varying performance evaluation systems operated mostly by insurers.
It does not call for a central clearinghouse Web site, but for a national standard insurers would follow in ranking doctors.
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Rating Doctors.
Employers And Employees See Health Engagement Differently
More employers are becoming directly involved in helping their workforce stay healthy, but the move may spark some employees to question the organization's motives, reports Hewitt Associates.
The HR consulting firm recently released a survey that shows 74% of workers believe employers are responsible for helping them to understand their health plan, but only 12% think companies have a role in helping them to stay healthy. The firm surveyed 30,000 employees and 500 employers.
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Staying Healthy.
