Alabama Construction News, June/July 2009: Workforce Development
Caterpillar trims health care costs with incentive strategies
Alabama Construction News did a three-page profile of the value-based approach to health care design, interviewing CHVI President Cyndy Nayer and chairman Mike Taylor. They talked about incentive-based measures to improve employee health and the experience of Caterpillar Inc., where Taylor is medical director for health promotion.
Caterpillar found that even a $5 copay was enough to deter some from taking prescribed statin medication. When the medications were free, the compliance level jumped 14 percent to 80 percent of those prescribed.
The company also uses monetary incentives to encourage employees to buy healthier foods in its cafeterias, and to quit smoking. The article also encouraged smaller companies to look at simple value-based measures such as free flu shots.
“Incentives for mitigating the financial impact of chronic and high risk diseases, such as management of pre-diabetes and cardiac disease, will lower health care cost trends in a relatively short time frame of one or two years,” says Cyndy Nayer, CHVI president and co-founder.
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