Your employer clients need clinical expertise to address the growing reality that employees are facing increasing physical and mental health challenges. My fellow chief medical officers (CMOs) draw from their population health expertise to direct strategic planning, marketing and communications, evidence-based benefit design,
Clinical guidance enables organizations to identify and address the underlying drivers of poor health. They include prevalent risk factors, preventable complications of chronic disease, workplace stressors and untreated mental health conditions. It also fosters a culture of health and well-being that benefits employees and strengthens organizational performance.
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Benefit brokers and advisers play an important supporting role in this process. While excelling at connecting employers with point solutions and negotiating competitive rates, they also must recognize the importance of integrating clinical perspectives into their clients' strategies. By collaborating with clinical experts, such as CMOs, brokers and advisers can help employers design holistic health programs that not only bend the cost curve but also enhance workforce performance and morale.
For example, clinical guidance ensures that programs are tailored to meet the unique needs of all employees and covered lives regardless of where they are in the population health continuum. Efforts to maintain good health are reinforced while also supporting those with significant medical challenges like cancer or stroke. A colleague of mine, a former CMO for a national banking organization, relates a good example of responding to an identified clinical issue in a comprehensive population health manner.
After a flurry of traumatic mental health incidents within the company and identifying high levels of stress and anxiety, he worked with leadership to implement several initiatives. They included resiliency training, stress management programs, enhanced employee assistance programs (EAP), support for depression and anxiety, and suicide crisis intervention. These efforts not only supported employees during a critical time but also reinforced the company's commitment to their well-being.
To provide another example, a manufacturing company was tackling rising musculoskeletal (MSK) claims. By implementing a comprehensive program that included work hardening, ergonomic adjustments, early injury intervention, modified work options, case management, return-to-work initiatives and disability management strategies, the organization was able to reduce MSK-related claims while improving employee performance and satisfaction.
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These examples go beyond traditional cost-containment tactics, focusing instead on building a culture of health and well-being that emphasizes prevention, chronic disease management, mental health support and other key priorities across the population health continuum. Here's how your employer clients can achieve this:
- Develop a strategic health plan. By partnering with clinical experts, employers can create a comprehensive plan that integrates preventive care, wellness programs and condition management into their benefits offerings. For example, our
collaboration with DTE Energy demonstrated how creating a culture of health led to improved employee satisfaction and reduced healthcare costs. This strategic focus on prevention and well-being helped DTE outperform in both employee engagement and financial performance. - Address all the needs of a workforce. Sports teams have learned that keeping their athletes healthy can lead to high performance. Enlightened employers are realizing this as well. To maximize productivity, enterprises need to meet workforce needs to achieve physical, emotional, social and financial well-being. Brokers can assist employers in this pursuit by integrating health benefits, EAP services, health advocacy solution and financial guidance.
- Leverage data for continuous improvement. Employers can partner with benefit brokers and advisers to use claims data and workforce health analytics to monitor outcomes and refine their strategies. By implementing data-driven and targeted interventions that deliver measurable outcomes, employers are fostering a culture that empowers employees to make healthier choices both consciously and unconsciously. This ensures that the benefit plan remains responsive to employee needs while controlling costs.
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By incorporating clinical guidance through population health into their benefits strategy, employers can reduce reliance on limited reactive approaches to insurance claims while fostering a healthier, more engaged workforce. For benefit brokers and advisers, partnering with population health experts enhances their ability to design holistic strategies that bend the healthcare cost curve and enhance performance. This collaboration allows them to expand their role as strategic partners, helping employers address their complex healthcare challenges and build more resilient organizations.
