The Wellness Model: A Business Strategy to Reduce Healthcare Costs

Oct 22, 2015 22:00 JST

Source: marcus evans Summits

NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct 22, 2015 - (ACN Newswire) - Alan Momeyer, Vice President of Human Resources of Loews Corporation, a speaker at the marcus evans HR Strategy & Innovation Summit 2016 taking place at Braselton, GA, January 21-23, discusses how companies can reduce future healthcare costs by implementing the wellness model.

"HR directors must sit down with their chief financial officers and go over the company's history of healthcare costs and look ahead at what it will cost in 2018 with the Cadillac law. They need to get on the same page and recognize that the proper financial practice is also the proper wellness practice," advises Momeyer.

- What can HR departments do to reduce healthcare costs without taking away benefits?

Currently the big business impact that HR can have is in the area of wellness. It seems like a strange concept to many people in the corporate world since it has been thought of as a Scandinavian concept, but the wellness model is an effective business strategy to contain healthcare costs.

There are many different ways companies can contain healthcare costs, but the best option by far is to have healthy employees. A healthy staff costs less than a sick one and there is a way companies, specifically HR departments, can encourage and inspire employees to follow healthy living habits. It takes a lot of planning, communication and willingness to expect more of employees than HR has traditionally expected of them in the area of healthcare.

The wellness model entails living a healthy lifestyle and is a preventive strategy that aims to avoid illnesses and diseases. If an employee does get an illness they will be able to catch it early enough so it does not lead to some of the monstrous costs that we have historically seen. Prevention is key; if an employer can somehow influence their employees' outlook on healthy living it could greatly reduce future healthcare costs.

The other reason why the wellness model is the right strategy is that the alternative is to charge staff more for their healthcare. If companies do that, it is not a very good competitive practice because other employers that are affectively following the wellness model are not going to be charging their employees as much, so their staff is less likely to leave.

Also the Cadillac tax is looming in 2018 which will enable the excise tax to start kicking in and every HR leader should be concerned about this and should have a strategy to avoid it for as long as possible. It would be a horrible incident if companies had to pay 40 cents on every dollar over the Cadillac tax limits. I would not want to be the HR director of a company that hit the excise tax limits and had to pay even higher rates of taxation that is not even a deductible tax.

- How can HR departments encourage employees to follow the wellness model?

HR officers need to be creative and good communicators to present the wellness model not as a requirement, but as something fun and for everyone's own benefit. Typically when people start practicing a healthy lifestyle it is its own reward and they want more of it and do not want to go back to how they used to be.

HR departments should set up a rule that it is expected for employees to go to the doctor every year for an annual checkup and to have it accompanied by a biometrics screening. HR does not need to learn about the results, actually they should not know since the HIPAA laws still applies. A required yearly doctor's visit is not only a good business practice, it also happens to be a requirement under the affordable care act. Since companies would have to pay for it anyway, why not make it either an expectation or a ground rule?

Next, HR departments can establish a wellness program and provide employees with a list of healthy living habit options, such as weight loss programs, smoking cessation programs, gym classes and athletic clubs. Companies can even create their own clubs like a walking or biking club. It is not expected that every employee will do everything on the list which is not even applicable, but HR should expect that everyone will do at least a couple of things.

About the HR Strategy & Innovation Summit 2016

The HR Strategy & Innovation Summit is the premium forum bringing elite sellers and senior HR executives together. The Summit offers solution providers and HR executives from across North America an intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the future of HR. The Summit will take place at the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort, Braselton, GA, January 21-23, 2016.

For more information please send an email to press@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at www.hrsummit.com/AlanMomeyerInterview

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The HR Network - marcus evans Summits group delivers peer-to-peer information on strategic matters, professional trends and breakthrough innovations.

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Contact:

Luzdary Hammad
Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division
Tel: +357 22 849 385
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com

Source: marcus evans Summits
Sectors: Daily Finance, Daily News

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