The prevalence and cost of chronic disease. Common
sense will tell you that if you’re looking to control healthcare and related
benefit costs, you first need to look at where you’re spending the most money.
When it comes to employer-sponsored healthcare plans, 70% of the care costs are for
just 10% of the population who have diagnosed chronic disease.
The reasons for this disproportionate and costly allocation are complex, but one proven
solution is remarkably simple: Education. By teaching individuals with diagnosed chronic
disease how to better manage their health and by encouraging self-advocacy,
people become more informed healthcare consumers and make better health decisions.
Over time, they require fewer intensive services, which measurably reduces overall
healthcare and related costs.
One of the roles of disease management plays in the integrated model is to inform
and help guide the overall benefit plan design such that it reflects needs of individuals
with chronic conditions as well as those with risk factors that may lead to a chronic
condition. Beyond this, the high-touch nature of disease management counseling provides
additional insights into workplace dynamics that allow for a better understanding of
benefit management realities and the challenges that individuals afflicted with chronic
conditions face. This knowledge helps to inform how programs should be designed for
individuals across the healthcare continuum to improve the overall health of the population
at large.
We invite you to explore this area of our web site to learn more about disease management – what
it is, how it can fit into an integrated health and productivity improvement plan,
and how it supports consumer-directed healthcare. You can find answers to frequently
asked questions, statistics
and industry resources, and whitepapers about
the latest findings and trends in the evolution of employer-sponsored healthcare and
disease management.
Integrated Disease Management [
PDF 61KB ] | Disease Management Model [
Pop-Up ]
|
