PremierSource

An article published today on Financial Week's website explains why companies who want to save more on health care must first spend more on healthcare:

While it sounds counterintuitive at first, experts in the health-care industry are suggesting that companies that implement wellness programs are now starting to show returns on those investments, specifically in the form of lower health-care costs.

“CFOs have always viewed health care as an expense, but rarely as an investment” said Jerry Ripperger, director of consumer health at the Principal Financial Group. “But improving the health of your employee base, rather than simply providing reimbursements, is an exercise in risk management with a true ROI.” (You can read the entire article here.)

Studies show that for any given plan, approximately 4% of the plan participants are driving approximately 60% of the total plan costs.  So disease management/wellness programs and the industry as a whole pour millions of dollars into treating that 4%.  But what is happening to the other 95% of the plan population who are walking around with unknown risk factors that will eventually put them in the 4% category?  Unfortunately, in general -- not much.

PremierSource has identified and partnered with leading specialists in the industry who have developed a unique program for identifying and preventing the “next round of 4% drivers” before they ever jump into the 4% category.  Where the industry as a whole seems to be taking a shotgun approach to wellness, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on wellness programs that appeal to the masses but affect very little overall impact, our teams begin with a rifle approach to specifically targeting high risk candidates.  From there, we help employers develop customized programs to impact the greatest change among those at highest risk for developing metabolic disease.  We’re helping to catch them early -- before they become your 4% claims drivers!

Our unique programs further allow employers to integrate health risk assessment data and utilization data to begin to truly quantify the impact of wellness programs and the ROI of their wellness investments.  Through very sophisticated analysis and reporting,  over time employers can literally watch the progress of their plan population moving from high metabolic risk categories, to moderate and low risk categories…and in the process, review reports that help them calculate both the opportunity cost and the overall ROI.