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Leading Strategists Outline 12 Steps to Solve Health Care Dilemma
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Added: 02/02/2007
Type: Summary
Viewed: 59 time(s)
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Leading Strategists Outline 12 Steps to Solve Health Care Dilemma
The Baltimore chapter of the Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) kicked off a three-part educational series on wellness today. Designed to assist employee benefits specialists implement programs to keep workers healthier, the series started with a presentation on 12 proven steps to design, implement and measure a customized health and productivity management (HPM) strategy. HPM encompasses integrated health management programs that improve employee health, worksite performance, abilities, motivation and vitality and overall corporate economic well-being. Presenter Les C. Meyer, president of HPM Advisors and its training arm HPM Bootcamp says, "It’s a very simple concept to grasp … people are a company’s greatest resource. If you enhance your people’s ability to do their job, you enhance your company’s ability to gain competitive advantage and financial performance."
With rising health care costs affecting everyone in the country — from employers to employees to the country’s overall economic power — human resources and benefits professionals need guidance on how to design and implement programs that strategically and systematically motivate employees to health achievement while improving the employer’s bottom line. This dilemma is quickly becoming a top-rated priority in most companies. In 2006, health care costs in the U.S. were estimated to be $1.4 trillion. Added to this is the staggering $409 billion annual cost associated with productivity loss/work impairment from chronic health conditions. To provide human resources professionals with a hands-on approach to implementing or fine-tuning health and productivity management (HPM) strategies for greater corporate performance, Meyer and leading health care
strategists from around the country formed HPM Bootcamp, a nationwide tour of accredited, intensive corporate training sessions that focus on this issue. HPM Bootcamp kicks off its 2007 tour on Feb. 20-22, 2007 at the Bethesda Marriott in Bethesda, Md. It will be co-hosted by the MidAtlantic Business Group on Health (MABGH) and New York Business Group on Health (NYBGH).
During today’s session, Meyer and co-presenter, Richard Honaker, Constellation Energy’s (a Fortune 200 company) former director of benefits, outlined 12 steps to developing a customized HPM strategy that is integrated, actionable and yields measurable results. According to Meyer, these steps are rolled into the four phases of developing an HPM strategy. In the diagnosis phase, a company looks at specific controllable health and productivity risks, explores industry strategies to address these risks and examines the tools and resources it has to address these risks. The most critical aspect of phase 2, which includes strategic and tactical planning, is developing plans that are both tailored to the business and integrated into its mission and operational structure. In phase 3, intervention, Meyer stresses the importance of two-way communication. Top-down communication ensures the program will garner the necessary levels of commitment and resources, while bottom-up communication yields tailored strategies that will be readily adopted. The final phase, measurement, is an ongoing process that not only proves the success of your HPM investment, but also allows you to make continual adjustments to improve the program.
Constellation Energy followed a similar approach in 2004 when it began work on its HPM strategy. Says Honaker, who led the company’s HPM initiative and program design, "Initially, there was some resistance; however, once we reviewed the real cost savings similar companies who had programs in place were experiencing, it was an easy sell." In the first year of the company’s HPM program, nearly 1,500 employees enrolled in specific disease management programs designed to improve their health and overall health care costs were reduced by $7.5 million. Executives continue to gather feedback and refine programs and now estimate that they will save $20 million in expenses alone by 2008.
Today, Honaker shares his own experiences with other employers as a faculty member for HPM Bootcamp. HPM Bootcamp is a nationwide tour of accredited, intensive corporate training sessions that focus on the approach, design and implementation of health and productivity management programs with immediately actionable information.
About HPM Bootcamp
HPM Advisors in Denver, Colo., is a think tank of national experts creating answers to the upward spiral health care costs in America and the downward spiral of Americans’ health. Its training arm, HPM Bootcamp, is the vehicle that moves 30,000-foot theory into actionable health and productivity management strategies for employers of all sizes. HPM Bootcamp is a nationwide tour of accredited, intensive training sessions that focus on the approach, design and implementation of health and productivity management programs with immediately actionable information. Unlike anything currently available in the market, each HPM Bootcamp event actually spans more than one year with PreCamp™ required learning and PostCamp 365™ Implementation and follow-through programs. Learn more about the program and faculty at www.HPMBootcamp.com.
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