Promoting Chronic Disease Prevention In The Workforce
New data from the American Cancer Society shows that an in-house program aimed at employers produced successful results with cost-effective strategies for chronic disease prevention.
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Disease Prevention.
Physicians Slow To Adopt E-health Records
The New England Journal of Medicine reports that fewer than one in five of the nation's doctors has started using electronic health records, with many citing cost as the reason why.
In a government-sponsored survey, electronic health records were used in less than 9% of small offices with one to three doctors, where nearly half of the country's doctors practice medicine,
the New York Times reports. "Bringing patient records into the computer age, experts say, is crucial to improving care, reducing errors and containing costs in the American health care system. The slow adoption of the technology is mainly economic."
Article published by Employee Benefit News 6-19-08.
Health And Wellness Programs: A Long-Term Perspective
As health care costs continue to escalate, more and more employers are turning to health improvement programs in search of lasting solutions. The American Institute for Preventive Medicine estimates that 62% of employers have some type of health improvement program in place.
Key drivers of this trend are the increasing prevalence of illness due to preventable conditions and their resulting high health care costs. Obesity has become a national epidemic. Largely preventable conditions such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are all on the rise.
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Health and Wellness.
High Cholesterol And The Risk Of Heart Disease
Heart disease is the #1 health problem for both women and men in the United States. And if you have high cholesterol, you may have twice the risk of heart disease.* But, you may not know you have high cholesterol.
People who have high cholesterol often have no symptoms.
High cholesterol occurs when you have too much LDL in your blood. LDL is low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol. The higher your LDL, the more chance you have of getting heart disease.
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Heart Disease.
Dads Say Employers Can Help More With Work/Life Balance
Managing family life is often more challenging than managing a career, say working fathers and mothers in a recent survey by
Adecco, an HR staffing company, just in time for Father's Day.
Of the more than 2,000 men and women surveyed, the majority of fathers (64%) and mothers (71%) agreed that managing family priorities posed a greater challenge, compared to professional obligations.
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Managing Family Life.
Finding Wellness's Return on Investment
As employers increasingly recognize the crucial role they can play in improving the health and well-being of employees, they are searching for hard evidence that their mounting financial investments in wellness programs are paying off. Despite numerous challenges in quantifying wellness programs' bottom-line results, some employers are digging up the proof they need.
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Wellness Programs.
A Tax Break For Funding HSAs Via IRAs
Owners of individual retirement accounts that are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan can now shift IRA funds to a HSA, without facing a tax penalty. The Internal Revenue Service recently issued
Notice 2008-51, which provides guidance on a qualified HSA funding distribution from an IRA or a Roth IRA.
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Funding HSAs.
Obese Have Heftier Medical Bills Despite Shortened Lives
Obese twentysomethings — those who are 30 or more pounds overweight — will have lifetime medical bills that are $5,000 to $21,000 higher than their normal-weight peers.
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Obesity.
Why It's Hard To Maintain Weight Loss
IN HER 39 years, Claudia Hallblom has, by her own estimation, lost and regained about 1,000 pounds.
Her success at losing weight was always driven by a goal, such as looking nice for her graduation or wedding. Her tactics usually included strict calorie-counting. But success on the scales was always fleeting. Sooner or later, she would revert to her old habits and no longer feel motivated to change.
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Maintaining Weight Loss.
