Business Group in the News

Watson Wyatt Identifies Trends for Benefits Open Enrollment Season
From CNNMoney on Monday, September 29, 2008
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-- Greater access to onsite clinics, retail clinics and health coaches. More employers will open onsite clinics for employees and their families next year, as well as give them greater access to retail medical clinics and personal health coaches. Nearly 30 percent of employers surveyed by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) plan to operate onsite clinics next year while six out of 10 employers plan to give workers access to personal health coaches. More employers are also including retail medical clinics as part of their health coverage to help ease access to primary care services and avoid emergency room visits for after-hours urgent care needs.

-- Health savings accounts linked to high-deductible health plans. One- third of large employers intend to offer workers health savings accounts linked to high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) next year, according to the Watson Wyatt/NBGH survey. Also, roughly one out of 10 employers intends to offer a consumer-directed health plan as its only health plan next year, while others are attempting to steer workers into these plans through lower premiums.

GlaxoSmithKline Named a 2008 100 Best Company by Working Mother Magazine
From The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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Earlier this year, the National Business Group on Health (NBGH), a national non-profit organization of large employers, named GSK a leader in providing a healthy workplace and promoting a healthy lifestyle for employees and their families. GSK was among 52 employers to receive the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award at the Leadership Summit sponsored by the National Business Group on Health's Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity.

"We are so honored to be recognized by such organizations as Working Mother and NBGH," said Ann Kuhnen. "GlaxoSmithKline is fully committed to providing solutions for working parents to integrate professional and personal demands. By encouraging-and supporting-our employees to engage fully both at work and at home, we can help them achieve and maintain healthy high performance levels."

Company wellness plans target medical costs
By Jill Coley
From The Charleston Post & Courier on Friday, September 19, 2008
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Health insurance premiums have increased more than 100 percent during the last decade, about 8 percent annually, according to the Urban Institute think tank. Estimates show that companies will spend $7,720 per employee on health care in 2008, $500 more than last year, according to the nonprofit National Business Group on Health.

About half of large employers use incentives to encourage workers to participate in health improvement programs, according to a survey by the National Business Group on Health and a consulting firm.

Wellness Incentives Are Paying Off
By Adrienne Selko
From IndustryWeek on Thursday, September 18, 2008
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Is your company looking for a way to both decrease its healthcare costs and help employees attain better health? Try wellness programs and make sure to offer incentives. A recent study from the National Business Group on Health and Watson Wyatt reported that almost half (46%) of the employers they interviewed offer financial incentives to encourage healthy behaviors.

Leading Healthier Lives
By Kristen B. Frasch
From Human Resource Executive on Monday, September 15, 2008
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Employers should focus more attention on the health of younger workers, as 30-somethings are often more likely to be consumed by raising families than spending time exercising and watching their diets. HR should also consider demographics when communicating wellness initiatives, experts say.

A recent report adds a slightly different twist to conventional wisdom, finding that workers in their 30s are far more neglectful of their health than those in their 60s.

The research by ComPsych Corp., entitled Generational Differences in Employee Wellness, shows more than half (52 percent) of the older group studied had healthy diets, compared to only 18 percent of the younger age group. Employees in their 50s and 60s also fared better in level of exercise, outlook on life, social support and stress levels.

Although the stats are surprising to some, Helen Darling, president of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health, says they shouldn't be.

Research on levels of happiness, marital problems and life satisfaction for those older than 20 "has shown that the toughest times are when a couple has children, or there is a single parent," she says. "When we add long commutes, high gas prices, etc., things are even worse. People are most satisfied as they get older."

One key problem not mentioned in the ComPsych study, says Darling, is the obesity epidemic, something she thinks companies could be doing a much better job fighting.

"They should be beefing up their EAPs and communicating their availability," she says. "They can also send out tips on how to cope with food availability during especially difficult times, such as holidays."

Local Workers Bringing Home Fatter Paychecks
By V. Dion Haynes
From Washington Post on Monday, September 8, 2008
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Despite a dismal U.S. economy, employers in the region offered raises averaging 4.7 percent this year, according to a survey by the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area.

Last year's Compensation Survey Report, which had 236 of the same companies participating as this year's, said local companies gave out raises of 3.5 percent in the year ended in March 2007.

The surge in salaries has spilled over to nonprofit associations, which increasingly must scramble for good workers.

"We have to be competitive with corporate America, including the consulting firms, because we share the same talent pool," said David A. Fogle, vice president of finance and administration for the National Business Group on Health. The District-based organization, which advises Fortune 500 companies, not only offered raises comparable to those of private-sector counterparts but two years ago opted to pay 90 percent of employees' health benefits rather than the standard 70 percent, Fogle said.

Companies offering on-site health care
By Stacey Burling
From The Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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A survey released this year by Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc., a human resources consulting firm, and the National Business Group on Health found that 29 percent of large employers had an on-site health center or planned to open one by 2009, up from 27 percent in 2006. The study faulted the companies for failing to analyze how the health centers were affecting spending.

In the survey, companies with on-site centers said they were interested primarily in improving productivity and saving money. Center operators say they can reduce absenteeism, both from sickness and from long trips to the doctor's office in the middle of a workday. They can save money by preventing serious illnesses and reducing emergency room visits.

Workplace wellness surge
By Lisa Marshall
From Colorado Business Journal on Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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According to a survey this year by the nonprofit National Business Group on Health (NBGH) and consulting firm Watson Wyatt, 83 percent of large companies now issue annual health surveys to their employees, up 65 percent from 2006. Seventy-four percent offer weight management programs; 60 percent provide health coaching; and 29 percent offer onsite health centers.

Wellness hits the big time

The notion of workplace wellness is hardly new. As far back as the 1920s, Japanese workers began their day with calisthenics. And in the United States, there have always been a few fit cheerleader types coaxing co-workers to head to the conference room for a Weight Watchers class or a lunchtime aerobics class. For more than 26 years, Coors Brewing Co. in Golden has had a wellness program, which includes access to an onsite wellness center, smoking cessation programs and a pedometer program.

The difference now is that wellness is everywhere, and even the biggest corporations are investing in it.

"There have always been lone advocates tugging at the sleeve of management people in a remote location to try to get a program together," says NBGH Vice President LuAnn Heinen. "But today, you see huge national companies saying this is important and putting their logos and branding behind it."

For instance, Kellogg Co. has its "Feeling Gr-r-r-eat" employee wellness program, Union Pacific Railroad has its "Fast Tracks" program, and General Mills has its "Totally You" program.

In May, Quest Diagnostics (43,500 employees nationwide with roughly 725 in Denver), was awarded the NBGH Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles Gold Award for its "HealthyQuest" corporate wellness program, which relies heavily on diagnostic tests and health-risk assessments to make customized wellness plans for employees. The company's director of employee wellness took the program to heart and was last year's winner of the reality TV program, "The Biggest Loser," dropping 164 pounds (49.1 percent of his body weight) in 34 weeks.

Return on investment

Experts say a good wellness plan can ultimately result in as much as a $3 to $1 return on investment, the bulk of it coming from savings in medical costs.

According to the NBGH/Watson Wyatt survey, 31 percent of employers offer rewards for healthy behavior, while 6 percent penalize those who live unhealthy lives. However, more and more companies say they intend to begin penalizing poor health behavior in the coming years.

Companies are expected to spend an estimated $7,720 per employee on health care this year, up from $7,211 last year, according to NBGH. With health-care costs expected to continue to rise and cash-strapped employees less able to shoulder more premium increases, employers face a dilemma.

"Companies are worried about whether they can shift any more cost to employees," Heinen says. "A lot of them cant. Their employees are going to end up opting out of coverage, and that is not good."

Enter wellness programs, which have the potential to temper those annual increases by simply reducing claims.

According to a study of 2,400 adults, published in the journal Preventive Medicine in 2003, people who increased their physical activity from none to three days per week or more paid $2,200 less on average per year for health care than those who remained sedentary. According to NBGH research, obesity-related health issues alone cost American companies roughly $13 billion per year.

Wellness Programs Get a Makeover
By Joanne Wojcik
From Workforce Management on Sunday, August 31, 2008
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Comprehensive health promotion programs mostly start with health risk assessments, sometimes coupled with biometric screenings, which measure cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels. They also can include virtually anything designed to promote better health and well-being, services that were once associated with employee assistance programs combined with traditional wellness, disease management and sometimes even safety and occupational medicine.

"Some of it goes back to the old California mind-body connection that we all rolled our eyes at," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "There is a focus on mental health to make workers happy and engaged and interested. We want them to come to work ready and eager to work. If you want to keep knowledge workers productive, you've got to keep them healthy and not depressed. We know a lot more than we did back then. There's more science, more studies."

Aid From Unlikely Sources
By Jilian Mincer
From WSJ.com (Wall Street Journal Health Watch) on Sunday, August 24, 2008
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Patients often are automatically contacted by a case manager because a hospital visit will bring the situation to the insurance company's attention. Alternatively, the patient or a family member could check the insurer's Web site or contact the employee's human-resources department or the insurance company.

"It is cost effective for employers to do because even in a recession we're in a war for talent so we want our talent to come back to work," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health.

Two isn't always better than one
By David A Sharar
From Employee Benefit News on Friday, August 1, 2008
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Recent research indicates that employee assistance programs frequently aren't much different from counseling services available through employers' mental health benefits.

Many EAP practitioners vehemently argue that the programs are distinct from mental health services in that they are work-based, operating on behalf of an employer for the purpose of identifying troubled employees and providing interventions or referrals to treatment as needed.

However, in the National Business Group on Health's Guide to Behavioral Health, researchers conclude that services provided by EAPs "have become duplicative with services offered by the employer's mental health benefit plan." In other words, the boundaries between EAP intervention and outpatient mental health benefits are entirely blurred.

If this observation is accurate, employers with both types of benefits may be paying two premiums for what amounts to an identical service.

From reality-show star to wellness director
By Lydell C. Bridgeford
From Employee Benefit News on Friday, August 1, 2008
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Viewers may sometimes forget that the contestants on the television show "The Biggest Loser" are also just regular employees. From that vantage point, contestants' triumphs and setbacks on the show may offer insights for employers trying to create a healthy workforce.

Last year, Bill Germanakos, a medical sales representative for Quest Diagnostics, won top prize on "The Biggest Loser." He lost 164 pounds - 49.1% of his body weight - in 34 weeks, dramatically improving his health. In April, Quest Diagnostics appointed Germanakos, who had previously led a sales team selling new technologies, as its director of employee wellness initiatives.

"Now that I have been re-educated and have more knowledge about health and wellness, it seems like a natural fit for me to join the company's health and wellness management team," explains Germanakos.

On a quest for health

Germanakos clearly has the New Jersey-based company following in his healthy footsteps, as Quest Diagnostics was named a Gold Award winner among the 2008 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles.

The award, presented by the National Business Group on Health, annually honors more than 50 U.S. employers for their commitment to help employees choose a healthier way of life. This is the second consecutive year that NBGH has named Quest Diagnostics, which employs about 43,500 workers, as a Gold Award recipient.

The hard work has more than paid off - personally and professionally - not only for Germanakos, but his Quest colleagues as well.

"We are very pleased to honor these forward-thinking companies for their leadership in the development of a wide range of innovative programs and opportunities they are offering their workers to create a healthy work environment," says LuAnn Heinen, vice president and director of the NBGH Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity.

Employers Reach Out to Children With Wellness Programs
By Jessica Marquez
From Workforce Management on Thursday, July 31, 2008

The challenge is that companies don't want to be viewed as encroaching on parents' domain, says LuAnn Heinen, a vice president at the National Business Group on Health.

"Companies have to be cautious," she says. "They don't want to offend parents, but they want to include kids."

How Do Employers Cut Rx Costs? Let Us Count the Ways
By Martin Sipkoff
From Managed Care on Thursday, July 31, 2008
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Employers have implemented a number of methods to slow down prescription drug costs, but waiving copayments for chronic conditions has yet to enjoy widespread use.

Last year the cost of prescription drugs was the single largest part of health cost increases to employers, according to a recently released survey by Mercer, a national consultancy. As a result, promoting the use of generics and the management of specialty drugs are top priorities to employers - and therefore to health plans and pharmacy benefit managers.

"Employers expect health plans to have strategies that help them control the rise in costs," says Steven E. Wojcik, vice president for policy at the National Business Group on Health. "They look for aggressive, creative strategies."

Health experts advise against skipping vacations
By Agnes Jasinski
From The Gazette on Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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Americans on average already receive less time off than others around the world. The French, for example, receive on the average 37 days per year, compared to the United States' 14 days off annually, according to the survey. And the French use it, too.

Only about 20 percent surveyed by Expedia.com in France reported not using all of their vacation.

"It's a real problem," said Helen Darling, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit that focuses on employers' perspectives on health care issues. "Americans will eventually get back to realizing that for their physical and mental health, they need to take vacations."

According to the survey, Americans will not use about three days of their vacation on average this year, the same number reported by those surveyed in 2007.

Catherine Tunis, a Takoma Park resident who works for the federal government, said it took her 13 years to take a dream vacation to Yosemite National Park. While she said she uses most of her vacation time fairly easily -- she receives four hours per week of annual leave -- most of that has been spent on visiting elderly family members or on family emergencies.

"I felt like I was a person, rather than an employee," Tunis said of her long-awaited vacation. "Clearly, I didn't put myself first for a long time. ... And I even felt guilty for taking this."

Tunis said that by the time people are settled enough in their jobs to be able to afford trips, other responsibilities take over, such as aging parents, children or home improvements.

But Darling said any break from work was beneficial, whether that was taking a few days off or staying close to home to compensate for the expense of a more elaborate vacation.

"Now, people are so worried about the price of gas, food and energy that they're worrying in a different way. ... The view is, if you want to be successful, you have to work hard," she said. "But we're saying they should work hard in a smart way. ... It's very dysfunctional for people to work too long hours."

Dieting at work may be advantage
By Neil Munshi
From The Boston Globe on Thursday, July 17, 2008
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Business groups agree that workplace diets pose ethical problems. "We would never ever say we're putting our employees on a diet," said LuAnn Heinen, vice president of the nonprofit National Business Group on Health. "But companies have really connected the dots: We're paying for healthcare costs, our employees are paying for healthcare costs, and we're serving them Krispy Kremes every morning."

Instead of diets, she said, businesses are now taking steps to write caloric limits or nutritional guidelines into their contracts with food service providers.

While the U.S. Spends Heavily on Health Care, a Study Faults the Quality
By Reed Abelson
From The New York Times on Thursday, July 17, 2008
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Business leaders also see a pressing need for health care changes, said Helen Darling, the president of the National Business Group on Health, which represents big employers that provide medical benefits to their workers. The report "documents that it's been as bad as we have been thinking it is," she said.

But Ms. Darling and others were also heartened because some areas in the report said that the United States had shown marked improvement, including the measurements hospitals use to track how well they treated conditions like heart failure and pneumonia.

"It proves once again if you have quantitative information and metrics and make people pay attention, they change," Ms. Darling said.

But the report also emphasizes the inefficiencies of the American health care system. The administrative costs of the medical insurance system consume much more of the current health care dollar, about 7.5 percent, than in other countries.

Bringing those administrative costs down to the level of 5 percent or so as in Germany and Switzerland, where private insurers play a significant role, would save an estimated $50 billion a year in the United States, Ms. Davis said.

"It kind of dwarfs everything else you can do," she said.

Much of the high costs are attributed to the lack of computerized systems that may link pharmacies and doctors' offices for filling prescriptions, for example, or that may enable insurers to more efficiently pay doctors' bills.

"An awful lot of the waste in this system is the antiquity of the information technology," Ms. Darling said.

Financial Health Incentives on the Rise, but Design Is Key
By Jeremy Smerd
From Workforce Management on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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Employers increasingly are using financial incentives to steer employees toward healthy lifestyles and reduce health care costs, but the effectiveness of those incentives depends on how they are used.

About half of the 453 employers surveyed by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health say they use financial incentives to encourage healthy behaviors, such as quitting smoking or losing weight. Seventy-nine percent of employers surveyed say they will offer such incentives next year.

Employer-Based Health Coverage and Wellness Programs Critical to Keeping Workers Healthy, Panel Says
By Danielle Parnass
From CQ HEALTHBEAT NEWS on Monday, July 14, 2008
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Research has shown that education programs and activities, such as tracking logs, pedometers and internal competition, can increase worker participation in wellness programs by at least 21 percent, according to a report also released Monday by BCBSA and Harvard Medical School's Department of Health Care Policy.

But encouraging employees to begin and maintain healthy habits is still a challenge for many employers, according to a separate report also released Monday by the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit organization of mostly 300 large employers.

"We can change plan design, we can increase co-pays, we can put in deductibles, but if the population underlying is still sick . . . you're not gonna do anything other than move the pieces around of an exploding cost scenario," said Helen Darling, president of NBGH.

Darling described employers' approaches to health care over the past five years as "revolutionary."

"They're beginning to understand what they have to change," she said. For example, 83 percent of employers offered health risk appraisals in 2008, an 18 percentage-point change since 2006, the report said.

In addition, a recent NGBH survey showed that 80 percent of employees said employers should actively provide health information. Meanwhile, sixty-six percent of workers support discounts for employees who show healthy lifestyles. But more than half said they have not seen information to help them compare and assess different health plans or providers and that the medical information available is too difficult to understand.

Wellness Programs Require More Than Education
By Mark Schoeff Jr.
From Workforce Management on Monday, July 14, 2008
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Company programs that encourage weight loss, a healthy diet and exercise are more likely to be embraced by workers if employers motivate them to sign up and give them tools to record their progress, according to a study released in Washington on Monday, July 14, by a major health insurer.

"More employers are designing and executing programs," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "It is deeply embedded in the culture of these companies. C-Suite leadership is the key. It really is a sea change."

Genetic-Testing Guidance
By JILIAN MINCER
From The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, July 13, 2008
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In recent years, about 1,000 genetic tests have become available. Many are covered by health insurance plans, as are additional screenings or interventions that may be advisable based on the results.

A new federal law and many state laws prohibit employers and health insurers from discriminating on the basis of genetic tests.

Consumers should recognize, however, that some genetic tests involve more out-of-pocket costs -- and also raise thorny questions about their benefits and desirability.

Insurers typically cover a genetic test that's definitive and could make a difference in someone's treatment, says Helen Darling, president of the nonprofit National Business Group on Health. In such cases, "it is advantageous for the [insurance] plan for these risks to be identified," she says.

Consumers can look at their insurance carriers' Web sites for more details about coverage for genetic testing and associated counseling.

Ms. Darling recommends also getting information from sources such as the National Institutes of Health or an association affiliated with a condition, such as the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society. Useful Web sites to visit include MedlinePlus.gov1, Mayoclinic.com2 and nsgc.org3.

Health-Incentive Use Increasing
By Kristen B. Frasch
From Human Resource Executive on Thursday, July 10, 2008
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The number of employers offering workers financial incentives to better manage their health is expected to jump sharply next year, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health.

The two Washington-based organizations polled 453 large employers and found that half currently use incentives to encourage their workers to participate in health-improvement activities, such as smoking cessation or weight-management programs.

It also found that, by 2009, that percentage is expected to increase to three-quarters (74 percent), based on those citing plans to add incentives to their existing health-benefit programs.

Problems found with consumer-directed health plans
From Portland Business Journal on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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The number of large companies offering a consumer-directed health plan has nearly doubled over the last two years, according to research published earlier this year by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health. About one-half of large U.S. employers offer the plans, up from 33 percent in 2006. Fifteen percent of employees at organizations that offer consumer-directed health plans are currently enrolled in such plans, up from 8 percent in 2006.

Get Your Shots: Adults Needs Vaccines, Too
By Laura Landro
From The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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Public-Health Experts Push For National Inoculation Plan; A Rise in Whooping Cough

One problem is a lack of any national system to promote and monitor adult vaccination. While the federal Vaccines for Children Program provides vaccines at no cost to children who can't afford them, and carefully monitors supply and demand, "the infrastructure to ensure the adult-vaccination pipeline is woefully inadequate," says L.J. Tan, director, Infectious Disease, Immunology, and Molecular Medicine at the AMA. He says there is currently little coordination between federal public health agencies, private medical providers, and the private companies that make adult vaccines.

Most adults over 65 have many vaccines paid for by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurers. But for adults under 65, insurance often doesn't cover all types of recommended vaccines. Several bills have been introduced in Congress that would create a national vaccine program to provide free immunizations for uninsured and under-insured adults and streamline the way vaccines are covered by Medicare to cut paperwork. The National Business Group on Health, an employer coalition, is recommending that its members cover all CDC recommended vaccines at 100% and educate employees about the benefits of vaccination.

Talking Health: A Webcast on Covering the Underinsured
From www.commonwealthfund.org on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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A series of health-related webcasts, Talking Health, debuted last week with an episode on the growing problem of the underinsured -- people who have insurance but are still at risk for substantial out-of-pocket expenses.

Talking Health is presented by the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ), The Commonwealth Fund, and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. An archived version of the webcast on the underinsured is now available on the Commonwealth Fund Web site.

The program featured panelists Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., an assistant vice president at The Commonwealth Fund; Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health; and Mila Kofman, Maine's superintendent of insurance. In a special feature of the webcast, two journalists, Julie Appleby of USA Today and Reed Abelson of The New York Times, offered suggestions and ideas for reporters based on the information discussed by the panelists. AHCJ board president Trudy Lieberman moderated both sessions.

Can your company force you to be healthy?
By Maya Dollarhide
From CNN.com on Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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Almost a third of companies offering health insurance benefits to their employees also provide a wellness program of some sort. Fitness, smoking cessation and weight-loss programs are provided most frequently, according to 2006 employer health benefits survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The telephone survey contacted 2,122 randomly selected public and private employers.

While most companies say they have a genuine concern for their employees' well being, the rising cost of health care is obviously part of the equation. Obesity-related health issues, for example, cost American companies approximately $13 billion dollars per year, according to the Washington D.C.-based National Business Group on Health, a non-profit organization representing large employers on health policy issues.

Waistlines Expand Into a Workplace Issue
By KELLEY HOLLAND
From The New York Times on Sunday, June 22, 2008
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But here is where the situation becomes confusing. Corporate leaders often speak out on issues that cost them tens of billions of dollars annually. Numerous executives have called for a plan for providing health insurance to the uninsured, for example. So why aren't they making more noise about obesity?

"People in charge of benefits plans completely, 100 percent get it," said LuAnn Heinen, director of the Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity, an offshoot of the National Business Group on Health. It is also clear, she said, that top executives are very interested in health benefit costs. But, she added, "their perception of obesity as a driver of costs -- they may not understand that as well."

Or maybe they are generally aware of obesity's cost -- almost 14 percent of United States chief executives counted it as a top health care benefits concern in the Conference Board-RTI report -- but, as Ms. Heinen said, "It's a sensitive issue to address head-on." (It's quite a contrast to Japan, where employers are actually measuring workers' waists and doling out dieting guidance.)

Obesity surgery for diabetes is a tough sell
By Kim Dixon and Debra Sherman
From Thomson Reuters on Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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Obesity surgeries have risen dramatically in recent years, from 23,100 procedures in 1997 to an estimated 205,000 in 2007, according to the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.

Employers and insurers see a big price tag, as well as the risk of severe complications, including bleeding, pneumonia, heart issues and even death. These can tack on even more costs from emergency room visits and additional hospital stays.

The surgeons' group says only 1 percent of those eligible for weight-loss surgery seek it out.

"Even the numbers that are going up so dramatically are the tip of the iceberg," said LuAnn Heinen, a vice president at the National Business Group on Health, which represents large U.S. employers.

Officials of insurers Cigna Corp, Aetna Inc and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it was too early to make any coverage changes based on available data.

It would take five to 10 years for an employer to recoup surgery costs by not having to pay for other treatments and medications, such as insulin injections, according to a study by the Research Triangle Institute, which consults for business and governments.

"It's clear to me that a lot of employers would not see an ROI (return on investment) in this," Heinen said.

Single Payor Bill Hits Bottom Again In Md.
By Jan Shuxteau
From Mid-Atlantic Health Plan Analysis on Monday, June 16, 2008

Steve Wojcik, vice president of public policy for the National Business Group on Health, is skeptical about how a single payor system would be paid for and claims that current funding would not be enough. "I'm assuming the [legislators] would end up trying to tax employers like the did with the Wal-Mart Bill two years ago," he said.

Employers wary of new role embodied in platforms
By Lydell C. Bridgeford
From Employee Benefit News on Sunday, June 15, 2008
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Employers understand that politicians have to offer proposals to reform the health care system, considering that escalating medical costs are straining the nation's and consumers' budgets.

Yet overall, employers are not rushing to revamp their health benefits in response to ideas floating around in the public policy sphere regarding universal coverage, private/public health insurance or a single-payer health system.

According to the National Business Group on Health and Watson Wyatt, 35% of employers say that health care reform proposals have no influence on their benefit plan designs, while 62% report that they are monitoring reform proposals but will continue to make changes to their benefits programs. The HR consulting firm and NBGH surveyed 453 companies that employ 8.4 million workers and spend $60 billion on health care.

"Rather then focusing on how the proposals will affect their benefit designs, employers are asking broader questions about how the proposals will redefine their role, and whether the [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] will change," says Steven Wojcik, vice president of public policy at NBGH.

Digitizing Healthcare
By Tom Starner
From Human Resource Executive on Monday, June 9, 2008
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The total cost savings from using information technology in healthcare may be disputed, but there's little doubt some savings would ensue. HR professionals should try to boost the use of electronic health records and e-prescribing in their local and regional medical networks, experts say.

Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a Washington-based group that represents the large employers' perspective on national health-policy issues, says that if you read both reports carefully, you will see that the two are not really at odds.

"Our view is that at no point, in all the material we put out about the RAND report, did anyone say just moving everything to digital files was going to save any money," says Darling. "What we have always said, and the CBO talked about it in its report, is that if you took all paper files and digitized them, nothing would be different. But the transformative nature of improving the processes would make things better, and that's where cost savings would occur."

The point, Darling says, and what CBO correctly reports, is that you can't count savings until you transform the business processes.

"This has turned more into a battle of headlines," she says. "But both sides on the issue have merit."

The CBO report questioned the estimated $77 billion annual savings projected by the RAND Corp. analysis. However, the CBO report also said there are potential savings in specific situations, including improved technology combined with "broader reforms," which is what Darling refers to as improved business processes.

Employers Forced to Pick and Choose When it Comes to Benefits
By Kathryn Glass
From FOXBusiness on Friday, June 6, 2008
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To cover skyrocketing health care costs, employers have had to get creative. Sometimes that means cutting spending on other benefits.

"Even though current statistics show the overall healthcare increase is 7% each year, many large employers have been working to keep the trend at 1% or 0% by putting in active care programs," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "So for example you have someone with diabetes work with a nutritionist or specialist to keep them from going to the hospital to keep them from getting sicker."

Insurer's venture to focus on wellness
By Emma L. Carew
From StarTribune.com on Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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The JourneyWell program by HealthPartners will sell the benefits of healthier lifestyles.

Health coaching programs have taken off in recent years as employers strain to pay rising health care costs. According to the Mayo Clinic, the average employee costs upwards of $8,000 per year for health care.

Employees in turn are paying higher out-of-pocket costs for medical care, providing added incentive for them to sign on to programs that help keep them well.

"If we can be healthier and need less care, it's a clear win for employers and employees," said LuAnn Heinen, vice president for the National Business Group on Health.

Swapping the carrot for a stick
By Lisa Tanner
From Dallas Business Journal on Monday, June 2, 2008
(View Website)

Paying for employees' health insurance is one of the biggest expenses many companies face. So, when employers hear of a way to cut insurance premium costs, they're eager to listen.

One of the biggest challenges in controlling costs can be the poor health habits of their employees.

About 31% of employers nationally offer rewards for workers who improve their health, while 6% penalize employees for poorly managing their health conditions, according to the 2008 National Business Group on Health/Watson Wyatt Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care. Many of the companies surveyed reported that they may well consider implementing a punishment program in the next two years.

But as companies move from using the carrot approach to brandishing the stick, they run the risk of breaching company culture, alienating their work force or even running afoul of antidiscrimination laws.

Companies typically consider punitive approaches after they've already taken other steps to handle costs, including shifting more of the premium cost to the employee.

"No employer wants to remove employee choice, but they do want to remove obstacles to healthy living," said LuAnn Heinen, vice president of the employer coalition National Business Group on Health. And with companies spending $7,211 per employee in 2007 on health care costs and no significant letup in the forecast, more businesses are exploring the difficult decision to institute penalties.

"After trying the carrot for a long time, they're starting to think about the stick," Heinen said.

Tackling Health Problems by Addressing Racial Disparities
By Patty Kujawa
From Workforce Management on Friday, May 30, 2008
(View Website)

A government/private sector group is spending the next two years and $300,000 building the case that improving the quality of health care for minority employees will have positive results for everyone.

Two major players in health care have joined forces to create new, practical approaches employers could use to improve the quality of health care for minority employees.

Earlier this year, the National Business Group on Health formed a partnership with the federal Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health to develop strategies aimed at addressing racial and ethnic health disparities.

The Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities Board and its five subcommittees, comprising employers, scholars, consultants, providers and other health care experts, are spending the next two years and $300,000 building the case that improving the quality of health care for minority employees will have positive results for everyone.

"I hope we begin to have thousands of people's lives improved through this," says National Business Group on Health president Helen Darling, adding that the board is trying to show that narrowing or eliminating gaps in care for minority groups will end up saving lives and money in the long run.

The subcommittees are examining how to effectively collect data, refine communication, upgrade the National Business Group on Health's current business case in addressing disparities in health care, and encourage employers to be more specific in what they require from health providers.

The board will also try to answer medical privacy questions and other complications companies may face in addressing minority health care gaps. The subcommittees' recommendations will help develop a more sophisticated tool kit than the National Business Group on Health currently has, so more employers can start addressing the issue.

"We need to show what success will look like," Darling says.

Darling and others agree. The first obstacle to increasing minority participation in health plans is gathering demographic data. Federal law--and laws in most states--allows health care providers to collect information on patients' race and ethnicity. Getting employees to volunteer the information through enrollment forms, health risk assessments and other Web-based systems is one way to get it.

It's important to have these kinds of multilingual and culturally sensitive health care and administrative professionals in networks if employees require them, Darling says. Today, employers need to tell providers that not meeting these requirements is unacceptable.

Employers "need to make sure these systems are in place," Darling says.

Employers, Consumers and Physicians Agree: Major System Reforms Needed to Improve the State of Primary Care Medicine in the U.S.
By David Kinsman and Jacquelyn Blaser
From acponline on Friday, May 30, 2008
(View Website)

(Washington) Declaring that "Primary care medicine is in a precipitous decline," David C. Dale, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), today joined with leading representatives of employers and consumers to issue a call for comprehensive reforms to attract, recruit and retain general internists and other primary care physicians.

During a panel discussion of the state of primary care medicine in the U.S., Dr. Dale and other panelists spoke about the challenges facing primary care and potential solutions.

"Despite the important role that a primary care physician plays in the health care system, it is increasingly becoming a 'fall back' option and not a true career choice among medical students," continued Dr. Dale.

Other panelists were Paul Grundy, MD, IBM director of health care, technology and strategic planning; Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families; Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health; Yul D. Ejnes, MD, FACP, incoming chair of ACP's Medical Services Committee; and Ryan D. Mire, MD, FACP, a member of ACP's Council of Young Physicians.

"We believe we have to radically transform the payment system," Darling pointed out.

Wellness incentives need oversight
By Gloria Gonzalez
From Business Insurance on Monday, May 26, 2008
(View Website)

Employers using incentives to promote participation in their wellness programs have found the inducements do not always result in the desired change in employees' behavior, benefit managers say.

Benefit managers say employers need to find ways other than incentives to promote wellness among their employees.

Both Humana and Campbell's recently won awards from the National Business Group on Health in Washington for their efforts to encourage their employees to live healthier lifestyles. Despite the time-consuming process of applying for such recognition, the awards can be used as communication tools to encourage employees to participate in wellness initiatives and to secure senior management buy-in for future wellness programs, the benefit managers said.

Hearing Raises Concerns About HSAs, Which May Factor in Health Care Debate
From Inside Consumer-Directed Care on Friday, May 23, 2008

"I'd be surprised if something this tactical gets caught up in the fall elections," says Helen Darling, president of employer coalition National Business Group on Health, based in Washington, D.C. "But I do think that it's possible that after the campaigns, we will hear more and more about different visions of health care."

Legislation Would Put Drugs And Other Therapies to a Useful Test
By John Carroll
From Managed Care on Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A proposed research institute would pit medications against each other instead of against placebos, and that might save $368 billion over 10 years

"It's exactly the kind of initiative that can deliver significant savings as well as improve care by offering unbiased information on medical alternatives," says Steve Wojcik, vice president for public policy for the National Business Group on Health.

It's a logical approach to avoid the rationing of therapies that will inevitably follow a sustained failure to rein in costs.

Wojcik has heard some patient groups expressing concern that comparative effectiveness would spur one-size-fits-all medicine, discouraging payers from covering therapies that apply to only a segment of the population.

"Our view is the opposite. The research stops the one-size-fits-all research we have comparing therapies to a placebo and allows us to taylor it to specific needs. Instead of mass marketing medical interventions, this research will show which interventions would be most effective."

Ideally, the NBGH would like to see research cover both effectiveness and cost, but it will compromise at the beginning.

"Just having that information on clinical efficacy is definitely progress," says Wojcik.

It's hard to find anyone completely opposed to the legislation. However, the companies that are most likely to find their products under the microscope have some clear reservations about how Congress should define a new institute's mission.

Wellness Programs On The Rise
By Kristen B. Frasch
From Human Resource Executive on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
(View Website)

Two studies show increases in the number wellness initiatives offered by companies, as employers focus on improving worker health as a way to decrease healthcare costs. The need to retain older boomers on the job is also a factor.

And key to reducing healthcare costs is focusing on worker health, says LuAnn Heinen, a vice president at the National Business Group on Health, who founded its Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity programs and who works extensively with wellness programs at large companies.

"I think what we're seeing in this steady uptick is an overriding firm belief among employers that putting all your dollars into paying medical claims isn't working, so let's increase the investment instead," says Heinen.

"I think it's a positive change," she says, "because companies are feeling much more empowered by creating a culture of health. They now know there's a series of things they can do proactively; they don't feel so helpless."

A joint report by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the NBGH, both based in Washington, shows steady increases in health-risk appraisals and wellness initiatives at 453 mostly large companies in the United States.

According to that study, The One Percent Strategy: Lessons Learned from Best Performers, 83 percent of respondents say they currently offer such health appraisals and initiatives -- up from 72 percent in 2007 and 65 percent in 2006.

Even the Insured Feel Strain of Health Costs
By Reed Abelson and Milt Freudenheim
From The New York Times on Sunday, May 4, 2008
(View Website)

The economic slowdown has swelled the ranks of people without health insurance. But now it is also threatening millions of people who have insurance but find that the coverage is too limited or that they cannot afford their own share of medical costs.

Companies and policy makers have yet to focus on what the faltering economy means for employees medical care, said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a Washington association of about 200 large employers.

"It's a bad-news situation when an individual or household has to pay out-of-pocket three, four or five times as much for their health plan as they would have at the time of the last recession," she said. "Americans have been giving their pay raise to the health care system."

A Mandate for Change
By Carolyn Hirschman
From Human Resource Executive on Friday, May 2, 2008
(View Website)

Paying for medical care used to be like buying anything else. People paid doctors directly with cash, food or whatever else they had. Government-imposed price controls in the late 1940s froze wages, forcing employers to find other ways to compete for labor. Unionized companies, then others, turned to health benefits to boost compensation. The modern employment-based health insurance system was born.

Today this voluntary benefit has become de facto required. Employees and job candidates expect and value health plans -- a survey conducted last year by the National Business Group on Health found that 75 percent of the 1,619 workers surveyed value their employer's health plan as the most important benefit, while 83 percent of them said they would rather see their salary or retirement benefit reduced rather than their health benefit.

Most employees would prefer to keep the current system as well. About three out of four participants in the NBGH survey said they'd prefer to continue getting health benefits through their employer rather than getting additional salary to purchase benefits on their own.

"Mandating employers to offer coverage or requiring them to pay the government is very harmful . . . because it will only force employers to eliminate jobs, move more jobs offshore, stunt future job growth or raise consumer prices," said NBGH President Helen Darling, in announcing her group's opposition to employer mandates. The group and ERIC support an individual mandate that requires individuals to purchase at least basic health coverage.

Big business vows to leave sizable imprint on health
By Lydell C. Bridgeford
From Employee Benefit News on Thursday, May 1, 2008
(View Website)

Employers' ideas of health care reform sometimes don't mesh with politicians' ideas, especially in the nation's capital.

At the 2008 Business Health Agenda, a three-day conference in March sponsored by the National Business Group on Health, benefit executives and leaders from major U.S. corporations articulated a lobbying agenda that preaches the value of health information technology and health care consumerism.

No matter what health insurance mandates Congress throws at the public, whether it's universal coverage or an individual-based market, "employers will always play a substantial role in encouraging workers and retirees to be more accountable for their health," said Donna Chiffriller, vice president of corporate benefits at Verizon Communications.

As a result, if reforms move forward, workers will be better off, regardless of new laws on health insurance, she added.

Power to the Patient
By Grae Yohe
From Human Resource Executive on Thursday, May 1, 2008
(View Website)

Coaches can help employees become more accountable for maintaining and improving their own health.

"There are a handful of conditions where the patient is a key part of success with management and avoiding problems," says Helen Darling, president of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health. For this very reason, she says, more than one-third of NBGH's member companies now offer health coaches who -- via mentor-like ongoing relationships -- work with employees to uncover, discuss and alleviate their health risks, and keep them on track health-wise.

A recent NBGH/Watson Wyatt study revealed that 44 percent of large employers offered health coaching in 2007, with an additional 13 percent planning to offer it this year. Coaches work with employees (usually over the phone, but sometimes in person) to set goals for the treatment of their conditions and to keep them informed of potential risks.

"If the condition you're working with has very high costs, and what you're coaching on has a direct impact on those costs, [then coaching] can work," says Darling.

The challenge is that coaching can be a bit of a black box, which is one reason Darling includes that provisional "can." Privacy restrictions mean a company cannot know who's using the programs -- only that X number of employees are being coached for condition Y. Employers know what they spend on coaching, but can't correlate that with individual health improvements.

Report: 84 Percent of Companies Oppose Universal Health Care
From Occupational Health & Safety on Thursday, April 24, 2008
(View Website)

Most U.S. companies do not support a single-payer health care system or state legislation mandating coverage, preferring instead to rely on private-sector solutions, according to research by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health. In fact, 84 percent of employers do not support a single-payer system such as universal health care coverage, the groups say in the 13th annual Watson Wyatt/National Business Group on Health report.

Employers Almost Universally Hate Universal Health Care
By Mark Bruno
From Workforce Management on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
(View Website)

When it comes to the government getting involved in managing health care, most large companies are making it pretty clear where they stand: Thanks, but no thanks.

An overwhelming number of large corporations polled recently by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health said they have a strong preference for managing their own health care issues, as opposed to moving toward a "single-payer" solution, such as universal health care. Specifically, respondents at 380 of the 453 large employers - or 84 percent - said they don't support universal health care coverage.

Instead, they want to provide workers with their own health care programs.

Health Care Cost Hikes Are Significantly Lower for Companies With High Enrollment in Consumer-Directed Health Plans
By Bruce Goldfarb
From Inside Consumer-Directed Care on Tuesday, April 22, 2008
(View Website)

A consumer orientation in health benefits appears to have a halo effect with advantages that go beyond those enrolled in consumer-directed health (CDH), according to a new study from Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH).

The survey - the 13th annual study conducted by NBGH and Watson Wyatt - included 453 large employers. Overall, 47% of respondents now offer a CDH plan, up from 38% in 2007 and 33% in 2006. The proportion is expected to rise to 54% by 2009, according to the report.

"The most unexpected finding is the trend rate for the best performers and the differential between the best and worst performers," says NBGH President Helen Darling. While the trends for top performers have been steadily improving for several years, "I did not expect to see a 1% trend," she says.

Nussbaum and Darling report a strong correlation between lower health care costs and the presence of CDH, even among employees not enrolled in a CDH plan.

Employers get serious about wellness
By Associated Press
From Post-Bulletin on Monday, April 21, 2008
(View Website)

ST. PAUL -- Think your weight is nobody's business? Try telling that to employers.

Faced with ever-soaring health insurance costs, more employers are putting wellness programs into overdrive. They're no longer hinting that it might be time to think about getting healthier. They're making it part of the culture.

As we get fatter, diseases rooted in obesity are driving up health care costs. Obesity costs corporate America an estimated $13 billion a year in additional health insurance expenses, sick leave, life insurance and disability insurance, according to the National Business Group on Health. Alarmed employers are now focused on changing the demand for health care. For a growing number, that means using the workplace to preach the benefits of eating better, eating less and exercising more.

B of A leads the way on health-care shift
By Mark Bruno
From Financial Week on Monday, April 21, 2008
(View Website)

Bank consolidates a dozen bennies vendors into one (Aetna), hoping to stabilize costs

"The more vendors you have, the more complicated things can get in managing your platform, and communicating with your employees," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, whose membership consists of Fortune 500 companies that provide health-care coverage to a total of more than 50 million people. "Companies have been consolidating vendors to some degree, but pulling almost everything together like this is highly unusual for a company of B of A's size."

For B of A, the real payoff from the benefits makeover could be several years in the future, experts concluded. But the company must be banking on some savings in the near term, given that it has committed to as much as $150 million of additional spending under the new benefits program. Beginning in 2008, B of A will set up health-care accounts for its 130,000 employees who earn less than $100,000 a year. This new feature will be provided in addition to B of A's existing health-care plans, and the bank will fund the accounts with $600 to $1,200 per year that the employees can use to help pay for out-of-pocket expenses, such as co-payments, not covered by the broader plans. Any money that an employee does not spend can be rolled over to the next year, all the way through to retirement.

Ms. Darling said such a benefit is also rare because it is funded entirely by B of A. "Whenever employers can find a way to save money, they typically find a way to keep it for themselves," she said. "It rarely goes right back to the employee."

Wellness program incentives must comply with federal rules
By Colleen McCarthy
From Business Insurance on Monday, April 21, 2008
(View Website)

Companies that have been using financial incentives or other inducements as part of their wellness programs must reconsider those incentives in light of recent federal guidelines clarifying what constitutes health-related discrimination in employee benefit plans.

In an annual survey conducted by the Washington-based National Business Group on Health and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a majority of participating companies now use incentives to motivate employees to take charge of their health, with more than half of employers tying incentives to health improvement activities while another 24% plan to do so in 2009.

Mixed response to FMLA proposal
By By Leah Carlson Shepherd
From Employee Benefit News on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(View Website)

in February, the Department of Labor published a proposal to update the Family and Medical Leave Act, clarifying the rights and responsibilities of employers and workers. It also would speed the implementation of a new law that expands FMLA coverage for military family members.

"These new rules help to make clear what employees need to do to take FMLA leave for their own serious illnesses," comments Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health.

"The updated rules will also make it easier for HR professionals and employers to administer FMLA for serious medical illnesses."

Unclear and sometimes conflicting regulations and court decisions pertaining to FMLA leave continue to increase administrative costs for employers, cause workplace disruption for employees, lower productivity and invite litigation, Darling notes.

"Employers and employees alike have had difficulty interpreting the current FMLA regulations, triggering a great deal of litigation. The updated rules will help to make things clearer and reduce the number of court cases," says Steven Wojcik, vice president of public policy for the National Business Group on Health.

No Ifs, Ands or Butts: Smokers Need Not Apply
By Eileen P. Gunn
From The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(View Website)

Originally published December 14, 2004.

The reason for such attention: health and workplace experts know more about smoking today. "There's so much evidence about the impact of smoking on health and productivity," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, in Washington, D.C. At the same time, "we also know more about how to help people quit than we did five years ago."

Wellness experts can draw a more direct line between smoking and health-and-productivity issues than they can with problems like obesity and stress. For example, both Ms. Darling and Ms. Zauha note that smokers succumb more often than nonsmokers to colds, flu and bronchitis. The American Lung Association reports that smokers suffer on-the-job injuries at twice the rate of nonsmokers. And, when smokers fall sick, are injured or have surgery they take longer to heal, creating more absenteeism and a higher health-care tab for employers.

The Department of Health and Human Services reports that smokers account for 8% of U.S. health-care expenditures, or $75 billion, followed by another $80 billion in lost productivity, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Help for people who want to quit also is improving. "We know that a combination of medication and counseling helps more than the medication alone," Ms. Darling reports. Smoking-cessation programs often don't cost companies much, which means they can take a carrot-and-stick approach -- barring workplace smoking while lending support and even financial incentives like a discount on insurance to those who want to quit.

How the Biggest Loser Can Make You Money
By Lyneka Little
From TheStreet.com on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(View Website)

"When you can help people feel better about themselves, and their lives, and their health, then over time you will see the difference because people do have few sick days and less absenteeism and less disability," says Luann Heinen, Vice President at the National Business Group on Health.

About 370 companies use the NBGH to provide health solution suggestions, such as opening company stairwells to promote walking, or by removing the Krispy Kreme (KKD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) donuts from conference rooms. According to Wyatt, 46% of employers offer or plan to offer financial incentives to promote health. Unsure if yours does? Ask the human resources department.

Technology can help, too. Healthy Dining Finder is one of the food source Web sites utilized by NBGH for its network to find the restaurants in a given area that add nutritious food to the menu.

Express Scripts Studies How to Sway Customers
By Shirley S. Wang
From The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(View Website)

When money failed to motivate Express Scripts Inc. customers to switch to cheap generic cholesterol drugs, the pharmacy-benefits manager turned to psychological tactics. The company was so pleased by the result -- a six-fold increase in converts -- that on Tuesday it plans to announce the opening of a research center to learn more about what motivates customers' health-care decisions.

Changing consumers' health-care behavior traditionally has been difficult, though. Human-resources departments have found that a health-care benefit that "on the surface should be very beneficial to employees just falls flat," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health and an Express Scripts advisory board member.

Drop That Weight or You're Fired!
By Jennifer Barrett
From Newsweek on Monday, April 14, 2008

Can your boss put you on a diet? No, but she can make it worth your while to lose pounds. A number of companies--half of the 463 surveyed in a new report by the National Business Group on Health--are using financial rewards to persuade employees to join programs to improve their health.

More Employers Offering Only Consumer-Driven Health Plans
By Rupal Parekh
From Workforce Management on Sunday, April 13, 2008
(View Website)

Plagued by high health care costs, more employers are embracing the concept of replacing all existing medical insurance plans and implementing a full-replacement consumer-driven health care program. But, they are proceeding with caution.

Overall, though, the number of companies taking the plunge remains small; about 10 percent of companies now offer CDHPs as the sole coverage option, says Helen Darling, president of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health.

"Relatively few employers are offering consumer-directed health plans only," Darling says. "But the ones who do full replacement are the ones who get significant savings."

When imposing a high-deductible health plan, both the employer and the employee tend to save money since utilization of health care goes down in frequency, Darling says.

"If all employees are in [a CDHP] plan, the savings would be higher than if only 10 percent to 20 percent of employees were in the less costly plan," she says.

In order to provide ample warning and support to employees as they make the transition, companies should ideally have a full year, Darling says.

"If you were planning to do it in January 2008, it's probably too late," Darling says. "But if you want to make that change for 2009," it can be done.

"Bill of Health"-Healthcare Comes To The Workplace
By PBS
From Transcript from Nightly Business Report on Thursday, April 10, 2008
(View Website)

HELEN DARLING, PRES., NATIONAL BUSINESS GROUP ON HEALTH: From the point of view of productivity and investment in employees and lower turnover, then it's really advantageous. As employers see that, as companies see that, they're much more likely to put it in.

Firms' Health Clinics Cut Costs
By Victoria E. Knight
From The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, April 9, 2008
(View Website)

In the latest attempt to motivate workers to adopt more-healthful lifestyles, American employers are offering wellness coaching to employees at on-site clinics.

While American employers may like the idea of getting out of the business of providing health care, a growing number of corporations are discovering they can save money and boost employee productivity by getting more closely involved at an earlier stage.

Preventive services, such as health screenings and immunizations, are the most common type at the latest wave of clinics, according to a recent survey by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health. Four in 10 clinics offer pharmacy services, making it easier for those taking medications to fill their prescriptions.

Study finds CDHPs offer only modest reductions
By Joanne Wojcik
From Business Insurance on Monday, April 7, 2008
(View Website)

Healthier members, cost-shifting drive savings

The Milliman "Consumer-Driven Impact Study" analysed the performance of CDHPs offered by six employer members of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health covering collectively about 225,000 members, 30,000 of which were enrolled in CDHPs. The methodology adjusted actual experience for: benefit design, including the impact of benefits on utilization; age; gender; risk score, based on conditions; and geographic area.

Despite the findings that CDHP savings are more modest than the plans' predicted, Helen Darling, president of the NBGH, was not discouraged.

"Some of our employers did not move to CDHPs primarily to save money in the immediate term," she said in a statement. "Rather, they offered CDHPs to change how employees thought about their health care and how they would behave when their money was at stake. This is a strategy, not a tactic."

Employer mandates hit legal snag, states continue to search for options
By Amy Lynn Sorrel
From American Medical News on Monday, April 7, 2008
(View Website)

Businesses argue that a federal act overrides state and local employer responsibility laws. Court rulings so far run three to one against this type of health system reform.

Employers say it is and that ERISA gives them the protection and incentive they need to be able to offer health coverage.

"ERISA allows employers to provide the same benefits to employees [everywhere] and have only one set of costs," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, an organization of large employers that studies health care issues. The group supports expanded access, but contends mandating coverage through various state and local rules would increase expenses without adding value.

Echoing concerns from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Darling said allowing such laws to stand would set a dangerous precedent that could disrupt existing benefit plans.

Study finds modest savings from CDHP
By Joanne Wojcik
From Business Insurance on Tuesday, April 1, 2008
(View Website)

The Milliman Consumer-driven Impact Study provided a quantitative analysis of the performance of CDHPs offered by six employer members of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health. These programs collectively covered approximately 225,000 members, 30,000 of which were enrolled in CDHPs. The CDHP penetration rate of the participating employers ranged from 4.4% to 76%. For purposes of the study, a CDHP was defined as a high-deductible plan with access to either a health reimbursement arrangement or a health savings account. The methodology adjusted actual experience for the following factors: benefit design, including the impact of benefits on utilization; age; gender; risk score, based on conditions; and geographic area.

Despite the findings that CDHP savings are more modest than the plans predicted, Helen Darling, president of the NBGH, was not discouraged.

"Some of our employers did not move to CDHPs primarily to save money in the immediate term, either for themselves or their employees," she said in a statement. "Rather, they offered CDHPs to change how employees thought about their health care and how they would behave when their money was at stake. This is a strategy, not a tactic."

The complete Milliman Consumer-driven Impact Study is available for download at www.milliman.com by searching for "consumer-driven impact."

House measure seeks benefits parity for prosthetic care
By Colleen McCarthy
From Business Insurance on Monday, March 31, 2008
(View Website)

Legislation that would require group health plans to cover prosthetic care at the same level as other medical and surgical care has been introduced in Congress, but its prospect of passage is unclear, experts say.

...While the legislation says health insurers have started limiting prosthetic costs that they will cover at "unrealistic levels," health insurers and employers say the extra costs of a prosthetic coverage mandate likely would be passed down to employers in higher premiums.

"It's worrisome because the employer loses control over what they are paying for," said Steve Wojcik, vp of public policy at the Washington-based National Business Group on Health.

...While proponents say providing parity of prosthetic coverage would boost health insurance premiums by less than $1 per month, employer groups warn that any benefit mandate impacts health insurance affordability and puts additional financial pressure on employers.

"Companies will lose the ability to cover what their resources will allow," Mr. Wojcik said.

Newton firm to help obese children and their families
By Jeffrey Krasner
From The Boston Globe on Wednesday, March 26, 2008
(View Website)

Great Moves says it is the first local business to address the explosion in childhood obesity in a comprehensive, holistic fashion. Stanley M. Goldstein, the company's president and cofounder, said it is a response to what has been labeled a nationwide childhood obesity epidemic.

"This is a new problem and a new marketplace," said Goldstein.

He cites statistics showing that 16 percent of children ages 16 to 19 in the United States are considered obese, compared to 11 percent in a study from the early 1990s, according to the National Business Group on Health, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that represents large businesses on health policy issues. Obesity associated hospital costs for children tripled in the 20 years ending 1999, the group said.

Mental health care coverage may get boost
By RYN GARGULINSKI
From Tucson Citizen on Tuesday, March 25, 2008
(View Website)

The National Business Group on Health found treatment for mental illness and substance abuse in 2001 totaled $104 billion, which is less than 8 percent of the $1.4 trillion spent on overall health care across the nation.

Vendors held to account
By Gloria Gonzalez
From Business Insurance on Monday, March 24, 2008

Benefit managers have spent a great deal of time and effort in recent years restructuring benefits programs to focus on increased employee cost-sharing and audits of health care plan eligibility, but essentially have achieved all the savings they can through such methods, said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health in Washington.

Because employers are spending a sizeable portion of their benefit dollars on health improvement initiatives, such as wellness or disease management programs and tools designed to engage their employees in health care decisions, they are saying that "now is a reasonable time" to seek evidence of the return on investment, she said.

Benefit managers crunch numbers
By Joanne Wojcik
From Business Insurance on Monday, March 24, 2008
(View Website)

Access to new, better data and technology enhances program analysis.

Now that detailed health care plan data is becoming more readily available to employers as well as the technology to interpret it, benefit managers are putting the information to use.

In fact, more than one-third of the sessions at the National Business Group on Health's Business Health Agenda 2008 focused on employer use of data and technology, ranging from making benefit design decisions, to measuring the return on investment of wellness and disease management programs, to managing their provider contracts more effectively.

Paging Doctor Walgreen
By Mark Bruno
From Financial Week on Monday, March 24, 2008
(View Website)

Drugstore chain charges into the on-site corporate health-care market, citing expense management and worker productivity as benefits of its offerings. Now say 'ahh'

For Walgreen, it's a significant commitment to a concept that has been around for more than 25 years, noted Marne Bell, senior health-care consultant at Watson Wyatt. But she said corporate health centers are now starting to see a resurgence, as companies have become more focused on finding ways to control their health-care costs--expenses that have increased for most companies by at least 6% every year for roughly the last decade, according to a new report from Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health.

Behavior changes tied to lower costs
By Gary Gosslein
From Ann Arbor Business Review on Thursday, March 20, 2008
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University of Michigan has partnered with the 300-member National Business Group on Health to work on warehousing and analysis on data the group's companies feed into the Employers Measure of Productivity, Absence and Quality database.

U-M and the EMPAQ will release this year's summary research report at the end of March that will allow employers to compare specific program costs, lost time and productivity with their peers, said Amanda Cyr, HMRC project manager.

Healthcare Reform: What Hospitals Can Expect After the Election
By Lola Butcher
From HFMA Special Report - Leadership on Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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The problems that every hospital executive has been worrying about for years--healthcare costs, insurance, access, quality of care, and patient safety--have gone mainstream. The American people--that is to say, hospital customers--have become scared and seek solutions, forcing U.S. presidential candidates to put healthcare reform proposals near the top of their campaign platforms.

Some of health care's most influential thinkers share their perspectives on the policy changes most likely to occur in the foreseeable future.

Roundtable Participants:

Helen Darling, president, National Business Group on Health, which represents employers' perspectives on national health policy issues. She serves on the Committee on Performance Measurement of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine, the National Quality Forum board, and the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee.

Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropy that researches health and social policy issues. Current appointments include the Geisinger Health System board of directors, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and the Panel of Health Advisors for the Congressional Budget Office.

Lloyd H. Dean, president and CEO, Catholic Healthcare West, the eighth largest hospital system in the nation with 42 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona, and Nevada. He cochairs Healthy San Francisco, a program designed to make health care accessible and affordable to uninsured residents, and serves on the board of the Catholic Health Association of the USA and Governor Schwarzeneggers California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth.

David B. Nash, the Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor and Chairman of the Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College, part of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He serves on board of trustees of Catholic Healthcare Partners, a 29-hospital system; the Joint Commission's Advisory Committee on Performance Measurement; the Disease Management Association of America board; and the Technical Advisory Group of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

Gail Wilensky, senior fellow at Project HOPE, an organization that works to make health care available around the world. The former top administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, she serves on the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health as well as the Maryland Health Care Commission.

Click on the link above to read the roundtable discussion.

Health Reform, Democratic-style
By Dallas Salisbury
From Human Resources Executive on Monday, March 17, 2008
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Healthcare proposals by Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are almost clones of each other. And both would require employers to provide coverage for workers -- or to contribute to the cost of coverage.

For all of the intensity of coverage, discussion and public reaction, a close look at the health plans proposed by the Democratic presidential candidates finds only minor differences. But both would mean change for employers.

The proposals of Sens. Barack Obama , D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton , D-NY, reflect their commitment to achieving universal healthcare protection.

Words differ, but the concepts could have been pulled right out of reports by the National Business Group on Health, the ERISA Industry Committee, Bridges to Excellence, the Business Roundtable, Leapfrog, the National Committee for Quality Assurance and other groups supported by business.

Consumer-Directed Health Plans Gain Traction Among Employers
By Victoria E. Knight
From CNNMoney on Thursday, March 13, 2008
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NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Consumer-directed health plans are gaining traction among America's largest employers - and their workers - as evidence emerges about the potential costs savings, according to a survey released Thursday.

Around half of large U.S. employers - 47% - now offer a CDHP, up from 39% last year. By 2009, 54% of companies plan to offer a CDHP, according to study by consulting firm Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health, or NBGH, a nonprofit association of nearly 300 large employers, including General Motors Corp. (GM) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT).

CDHPs are aimed at lowering insurance premiums for individuals and employers by giving consumers more control over - and a bigger stake in - health spending. CDHPs pair a high-deductible health plan with personal health savings accounts - typically a health savings account, or HSA - that can be used to fund medical expenses not covered under the plan on a tax-free basis. The Bush administration says such arrangements can make health care more affordable for American families.

Enrollment in CDHPs is increasing as a larger number of employers offer these types of plans and employees becomes more comfortable with these relatively new products. Around 15% of workers at employers that offer CDHPs are currently enrolled in such plans, up from 10% in 2007, according to the WW/NBGH survey. The survey involved 435 companies employing about 8.4 million workers in the U.S.

"Actively involving more workers in their health care and giving them the resources to make educated decisions can be a challenge, but it should be embraced. The end result can be a mutually beneficial system for both companies and their workers," says NBGH President Helen Darling.

Study finds widening gap in health cost hikes
By Joanne Wojcik
From Business Insurance on Thursday, March 13, 2008
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When it comes to health care cost increases, the gap between the best-performing employers and the poor performers is growing, a study shows.

The median two-year health care cost increase among the best-performing employers was 1.0%, while the poor-performing companies saw their health care costs grow by 10.0% for the same period, a survey has found. The median increase for all surveyed employers was 6.2%.

By comparison, the median two-year trend for the best performers in last year's survey was 2.5%, compared with 11.0% for poor performers, according to the "13th Annual National Business Group on Health/Watson Wyatt Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care."

The differential between the best performers and their poor-performing counterparts also has grown considerably in recent years, according to Ted Nussbaum, director of group and health care consulting North America at Watson Wyatt Worldwide in Stamford, Conn., who presented the survey results Thursday at the National Business Group on Health's 2008 Business Health Agenda in Washington.

New effort enlists businesses to correct health care disparities
By Susan J. Landers
From American Medical News on Monday, March 10, 2008
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Racial inequities are costly to individuals and to the companies that employ them, say members of a new public-private partnership.

This two-year drive to improve the quality of health care for minority populations was announced Feb. 11 by the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit organization of large employers, and by the Dept. of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health.

Disparities in care are costly, said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, and can lead to increased disability among employees and productivity loss for employers.

LETTER: Healthcare portability can be a win-win for everyone
By Hank Kearney
From Business Insurance on Monday, March 3, 2008
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TO THE EDITOR: It was interesting to read the strategic implications for employer benefit plans in two stories that ran in the Feb. 4 Business Insurance issue: the article "Big Employers Retool Retiree Medical" and the sidebar "NBGH Supports Mandate for Individuals."

The obvious reason for support of individual insurance mandates by the NBGH is evident in the first story: the limitations and eventual elimination of health coverage by employers.

One does question the reliance on employers as the source of health care coverage. Trends indicate employers themselves question this tradition, and increasing numbers of them are eliminating the benefit altogether.

Back in 1985, as a benefit administrator, we raised the question of company-paid retiree benefits in light of Medicare. Today the move is to cap or eliminate this benefit altogether.

With the NBGH's efforts to create a mandated individual market, thereby reducing employer benefit costs, we can now see the advantages predicted for some time:

1. Employers will stabilize their costs by providing supplemental, nonrisk bearing benefits and,

2. True insurance portability will allow employees greater freedom of employment.

Hank Kearney

PHM International

Union Pacific Seeks to Improve Employee Health as well as Workplace Safety
From Managed Care Outlook on Saturday, March 1, 2008

Last year marked the third consecutive year that the National Business Group on Health--a national non-profit organization of 266 large employers--honored Union Pacific for its commitment and dedication to combating obesity and promoting a healthy lifestyle for its employees.

Businesses split over insurance mandate
By Kent Hoover
From Washington Business Journal on Friday, February 29, 2008
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A growing number of business groups have embraced the idea of requiring individuals to purchase health insurance.

Supporters of an individual mandate, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, contend it is necessary to achieve universal health care and spread the burden of health care costs more fairly. Clinton's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, contends it is unfair to force people to buy insurance they can't afford and argues that most people would buy insurance if the cost is reduced.

In recent weeks, the National Small Business Association, the National Business Group on Health - which represents large employers - and the National Retail Federation have endorsed an individual mandate.

The National Federation of Independent Business hasn't taken a position on an individual mandate. NFIB helped kill Clinton's 1993 health care reform plan because it required all employers to provide insurance.

Should We Push Everyone Into The Health-insurance Pool?
By Kristen Gerencher
From MarketWatch on Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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The National Business Group on Health, a trade group representing 288 large employers that provide health insurance to 6 million people, last month endorsed the individual mandate as an effective means of expanding coverage. It also rejected a mandate for employers.

Nurses Can Help Care for Workers' Mental-Health Needs
By VICTORIA E. KNIGHT
From Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Employers are turning to nurses to triage workers' medical needs and improve their mental health, in an effort to combat the fastest-growing source of workplace disability: depression.

"Helping employees cope with stress and depression is becoming a major theme for employers," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit association of nearly 300 large employers.

Mental health bill faces hurdle
By Kathleen Masterson
From The Capital Times on Saturday, February 23, 2008
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Though mental illness and substance abuse disorders are both common and expensive, the indirect costs associated with these illnesses commonly match or exceed the direct treatment costs, according to recent study by the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit group devoted to representing large employers' perspective on national health policy.

The same study found that depression and other mental illness and substance abuse disorders are a major case of lost productivity and absenteeism.

With more than 70 percent of individuals with mental illness or substance use disorders working, growing evidence indicates that limiting mental health and substance disorders benefits actually increases the overall cost of health care, according to the National Business Group on Health.

Payment rate probe raises concerns about health care cost hikes
By Joanne Wojcik
From Business Insurance on Monday, February 18, 2008
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N.Y. official faults out-of-network data used by many insurers

The New York attorney general's attack on UCRs "defies everything that we've been doing in health care cost management for years," said Helen Darling, president of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health, a consortium of the nation's largest employers, all of which self-insure their health care plans.

UCRs were created to slow down the rate of increase in doctor fees and to curb billing abuses by physicians, Ms. Darling said. While employers could control their in-network expenses through their preferred provider contracts, there were no such cost controls on out-of-network provider billing, she noted.

"Physicians were constantly increasing fees," she said. "The doctors want costs to climb faster, while employers want to slow down the rate of increase."

Ms. Darling also asserted that despite the NYAG's allegations that UCRs are too low, "doctors are still getting good, reasonable fees from the commercial payers." The UCR rates are considerably higher than the compensation providers get under Medicare and Medicaid, she said.

Hospitals may join effort
By Jessica Zigmond
From Modern Healthcare on Monday, February 18, 2008
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Last week , HHS' Office of Minority Health and the National Business Group on Health said they would jointly invest $300,000 for a two-year collaborative effort to reduce racial and ethnic inequalities in healthcare. Part of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities-a broader effort by HHS and the Office of Minority Health to spotlight the problem-the new collaboration could benefit from hospital participation, according to Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health.

"The work is hard, and, for a lot of people, the pay is low," Darling said of the working environment in U.S. hospitals. "We also know there are a lot of minorities and a lot of immigrants working in hospitals. ... Figuring out how to provide services and programs is really complicated."

Darling emphasized the need for hospitals to become involved. "They probably have the most diverse workforces in the country," Darling said. "What we'd like to do is work together as quickly as possible and share the results together."

HHS, Employer Group Announce Plan To Reduce Racial, Ethnic Health Disparities
By Sarah Barr
From BNA's Health Care Daily Report on Monday, February 18, 2008
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The National Business Group on Health and HHS's Office of Minority Health will focus on the role employers can play in closing the health care gap, representatives of both organizations announced at a press conference.

NBGH President Helen Darling said that employers often think that if they provide equal opportunities to enroll in health insurance coverage that they are also making an equal investment. However, ethnic and racial disparities persist in terms of who enrolls and the care they receive, which has an impact on employers' bottom lines.

"Even if it weren't a human issue, we're not getting our money's worth in the health system for anybody, but especially for racial and ethnic minorities," Darling said.

Obese workers cost employers
By Jennifer Harper
From The Washington Times on Friday, February 15, 2008
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Obesity exacts a sizable toll on the workplace: Overweight workers are slower and less efficient than their slimmer counterparts - costing their employers an average of $1,800 a year in lost productivity, according to research from the University of Cincinnati.

...The District-based National Business Group on Health, meanwhile, estimates that obesity costs the nation's employers $13 billion a year.

Partnership Will Attack 'Disease of Social Injustice'
By Kathy Gurchiek
From HR News on Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Helping large employers address inequities in health care available to racial and ethnic minorities is the focus of a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health (OMH) and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH).

Tackling disparity not only is the right thing to do, said Helen Darling, NBGH president, but it also makes good business sense.

Disparities in care have health consequences such as misdiagnoses and less likelihood of receiving preventive services. These disparities also increase health care costs and contribute to absenteeism, disability and productivity loss, she noted.

Removing disparity entails meeting the needs of a culturally diverse workforce and contributing actively "to reducing unintended but nonetheless very harmful disparities," she said.

"It's no longer enough to provide the same benefits and hope everything works out," Darling said.

Business group wants to reduce health disparities among minorities
By Lydell C. Bridgeford
From Employee Benefit News on Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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The National Business Group on Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are teaming up to help employers become aware of racial and ethnic inequities in health care delivery.

Health disparities are defined as persistent gaps between the health status of minorities and non-minorities in the United States.

Medical research shows some racial and ethnic minority patients are less likely to receive preventive services, diagnoses and treatment for certain chronic conditions, compared to their white counterparts.

Given that large employers provide health benefits for most Americans, NBGH believes employers are well poised to leverage their collective resources to bring positive changes.