Panel, Conference Presentation
How Leading-Edge Corporate Health Solutions Create a Healthier Bottom Line
Milken InstituteKent Bradley, Lynn Goldman, David Kirchhoff, Richard Merkin, Sue Siegel, Bianna Golodryga
- Corporations are projected to increasingly demand granular data to measure intervention effectiveness, drive agility, and adopt multi-faceted, long-term comprehensive approaches to obesity rather than single solutions, specifically targeting the projected doubling of the diabetic population since 1970 and the CDC forecast that one out of every three walking Americans will be diabetic by 2050.
- Employers will face escalating challenges from chronic disease epidemics, including rising rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, driven by generations with steepening weight gain per decade leading to unprecedented BMI levels, with obesity remaining the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
- The healthcare system is expected to shift from 20th-century fee-for-service models to 21st-century collaborative, team-based, and consumer-friendly care centered on the patient, utilizing technology and data science to predict hospitalizations and prevent unnecessary admissions while reversing incentives to reward health retention over sickness treatment.
- Strategic implementation plans include the adoption of rapid deployment strategies such as the "3-3-3 rule" (three people, $3,000, three days to develop; three weeks to implement), internal competitions, small-bet experiments, and the use of incentives like "prizes" to attract non-healthcare experts, alongside the expansion of initiatives from internal populations to local communities.
- Workforces are expected to establish patient-centered medical homes supported by telehealth and shared responsibility for health costs, with engagement becoming critical for operationalizing initiatives, while companies integrate long-term culture of health into supply chain management and performance appraisals.
- Specific cost and operational projections indicate that companies like Safeway may see relatively flat healthcare costs with approximately 1-2% growth, while GE's Healthy Communities Program is expected to save millions in emergency room admissions and improve satisfaction over the next few years, though rates may fluctuate for a year or more following the implementation of new legislation.
- Key risks and challenges include the difficulty of behavior modification due to low self-efficacy, the underestimation of slow weight accumulation over 10 to 15 years, the ineffectiveness of solely punitive "stick-based" approaches, and a dynamic regulatory environment where new legislation creates instability for the next couple of years before stabilization.
- Systemic changes involve hospitals facing pressure to reduce readmissions through reimbursement changes, uninsured individuals facing full charges versus fractional costs for the insured, and a potential shift to a "crazy" dynamic in the next couple of years before legislation stabilizes, with government intervention suggested to alter built environments through "paternal libertarianism."
- Future strategies will rely more on support mechanisms and personalized technology than purely punitive incentives, with massive education campaigns potentially involving media producers to increase consumer awareness, while the National Business Group on Health continues to serve as a repository for best practices in benefit design and engagement.