HPM: Aligning Interests of Employers and Employees

Posted on | December 6, 2006 | Comments Off on HPM: Aligning Interests of Employers and Employees

In this week’s Health Politics program, I discuss a new way of viewing health in
the workplace called Health and Productivity Management, or HPM. As you probably know, and as I’ve discussed in previous Health Politics programs, our unique American approach to health care — defining coverage as a non-transferable benefit of employment, an approach that really doesn’t make much sense — has imposed a serious cost burden on U.S. businesses trying to stay competitive in the global marketplace. In fact, it’s typical for companies to attempt to keep their health costs down by defining “health” as an expense — a line item to keep low by managing the cost of benefits packages.

This emerging concept of HPM, however, turns the old paradigm of managing health expenses on its head. HPM calls for doing more to keep employees healthy, like investing in health coaching programs, building on-site wellness facilities, and screening for and managing chronic disease. To see some companies that have successfully implemented HPM, check out DaimlerChrysler and Quad/Graphics.

With conscientious implementation of HPM, the health — and therefore the lives — of American workers can be improved. What’s in it for the companies? Those who adopt HPM are finding that not only do healthy workers cost a company less — they can actually boost productivity.

The HPM movement is part of a larger national trend toward helping individuals take more control over their own health care. Many refer to it as “consumer-directed health care,” and it is clearly a force to be reckoned with — drawing health plans, health care providers, employers and policy makers into a debate about how we can give individuals more autonomy and control while keeping the system manageable. There are lots of challenges to be worked out, but this concept is now squarely a part of the debate.

That’s partly why Health Politics has decided to go on the road next week to the Consumer Health World conference in Washington, D.C. We will be participating in the discussion about consumer-directed health, and we want you to, as well. Please be sure to visit HealthPolitics.org and my blog Dec. 10-13 as I report back to viewers on news from the conference. From the HP homepage, you’ll also be able to check out my one-on-one video interviews with some very influential health and technology leaders, including James Goodnight from the SAS Institute and Bill Crounse from Microsoft.

In the meantime, let me know what you think about HPM and how it might become standard practice among American businesses.