Look Beyond Health Care Financing to Workforce Health
Originally posted February 26, 2014 by Thomas Parry on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Employer focus on employee health care will expand in 2014 beyond financing health coverage to managing employee health. We expect to see employers focusing more strategically on workforce heath — in particular, how to build business impacts such as lost work time and performance into their overall assessment of best practices — and how to connect investments in health back to business goals.
However employers’ decisions have been determined by the Affordable Care Act, the reasons to continue investing in employee health and productivity remain, given their impact on employers’ bottom-line costs and top-line job performance. The evidence is clear: poor workforce health has a profound impact on companies, regardless of their industry or size.
Research by our organization, the Integrated Benefits Institute, has investigated financial productivity losses due to worker illnesses including depression, diabetes, low back pain, stress and metabolic conditions. Our findings highlight the necessity for employers to think beyond how health issues impact medical costs. Our research shows:
- Depression costs employers approximately $62,000 annually per 100 employees in lost work time and medical treatments.
- Employees with diabetes are 47% more likely to miss at least one day of work per month than workers with normal fasting blood glucose.
- Low-back pain costs employers $51,400 annually per 100 employees in lost productivity and medical treatments.
- Employees with metabolic syndromeare three times more likely to have a work-disabling event such as a heart attack or stroke.
- Stress at work contributes more to poor job performance than either stress at home or financial worries.
Over the course of the year, I’ll be sharing more of our findings related to these illnesses, and the benefits to organizations with a strong commitment to employee health and performance. Our research reveals that employees in organizations with a strong health culture report that they spend more time working, work more carefully and concentrate better than employees at organizations with poor cultures of health.
Workers with better work environments — such as favorable workloads, work-life balance, good relations with managers and fewer demands on their time — also report fewer sick days than those in less healthy workplaces.
Employers can take several steps to acting more strategically about investing in employee health:
1. Assess where you are. Use key metrics to know where your organization currently is and what you have achieved to date regarding employee health. Work with your benefits supplier partners to obtain data and determine your company’s performance relative to organizations, especially organizations within your industry.
2. Use comparisons to identify the greatest opportunities to improve employee health. Since organizations have limited resources, start by focusing on the biggest problems — and the biggest opportunities — facing your company.
3. Measure outcomes. Determine beforehand how you will track results — and track them beyond health care costs alone. Simply saying a program is successful isn’t enough to convince the CFO of the business case for health improvement — results must be measured quantitatively. Senior management is more responsive to requests for investment when HR professionals are able to demonstrate the value of programs in business-relevant terms with metrics demonstrating changes over time.
Employers will find that their investments in workforce health and performance will be most effective when integrated with a broader strategy that includes an understanding of how their organizations can positively or negatively influence workers’ health.
Study Shows Value of Benefits Begins to Erode for Employees
Originally posted February 27, 2014 on https://ifawebnews.com
While benefits remain a critical part of the overall employee experience, the perceived value of workplace benefits among employees who participate in both health and retirement plans is starting to erode, according to a new report by global insurance consultancy Mercer.
The trend was revealed in the latest edition of the Mercer Workplace Survey, a broadly cited study that measures attitudes and perceptions of benefit plan participants nationwide.
Mercer reports that despite the concern, the firm has identified ways to enhance both benefit delivery and choice, thereby improving employee perception of benefits.
With benefit coverage cost, reach and adequacy seeming to dominate U.S. news headlines, this drop in perceived value should be of major concern to employers, legislators, regulators and other concerned parties, Mercer suggests. The firm reports that a closer examination of the findings shows that the decreased value perception is being driven by concerns about rising out-of-pocket health costs. And, perhaps of most concern, workers under 50 years of age who say their benefits are “definitely worth it” in terms of what they pay out of pocket has dropped precipitously in just two years from 45% to 30%.
Even with these concerns, participants overall see benefits as critically important. In fact, 93% agree with the statement “my health benefits are as important as my salary,” while 86% disagree with the statement “my benefits don’t matter much to me.”
“Year after year, we find our survey respondents ranking benefits as one of the most important components of their employment value proposition,” said Kerry Donoghue, partner, health and benefits business leader for Mercer’s benefits administration business. “We feel strongly, however, that there are some areas of concern that plan sponsors must take into account as they evaluate and design their benefit plans, particularly as it relates to discontent about rising out-of-pocket expenses and an overall level of relative dissatisfaction among younger employees.”
“Out-of-pocket expenses for employees are likely to continue to rise,” said Beth Umland, director of research for Mercer’s Health and Benefits business. “We’re seeing more cost-shifting and rapid growth in high-deductible consumer-directed health plans as employers are asked to cover more employees under health reform. So it’s critical for sponsors to explicitly communicate the value of the overall benefits program they provide and consider offering educational resources and tools to help participants better manage their health care spending. Giving employees more choice can also help build perceived value.”
Mercer encourages plan sponsors to address the erosion in perceived benefits by designing and implementing benefit plans that are more relevant and customizable to the individual participant. A full array of plan options, such as consumer-directed health plans and private exchanges, can give plan sponsors and their participants potential savings and greater flexibility that more closely aligns with their personal situation and lifestyles.
Is PPACA a Threat to Employer-Sponsored Plans?
Originally posted February 27, 2014 by Linda Bergthold on https://www.healthinsurance.org
If you are among the 60 percent of Americans who have health insurance coverage through your workplace, you may be worried about how the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is affecting your coverage.
There are so many rumors circulating about the impact of the new law on private companies that it is not surprising you may be concerned. First, there was a threat that employers would drop their full-time employees to part-time to avoid penalties in the law. Then we heard that they might drop your coverage altogether or raise your premiums because of the law. A few weeks ago, the Obama Administration delayed the implementation of the law forsome employers even longer.
Should any of this keep you awake at night?
To address some of these concerns, I asked Larry Levitt, the Senior Vice President for Special Initiatives at the Kaiser Family Foundation, to respond to some questions about employer-sponsored coverage. Larry has been working in health policy for over 25 years and was a Senior Health Policy Advisor in the Clinton Administration.
Are employers dropping health benefits?
Linda Bergthold: Despite all the dire warnings about medium- or large-size employers dropping their health insurance benefits or making significant changes, does it look like the Affordable Care Act is having that impact? Other than pure political pressure, why did the Administration delay the mandate for employers between 51 and 100 employees to provide insurance?
Larry Levitt: I always believed that the fear of larger employers dropping health benefits now or in the near future was highly exaggerated. The vast majority (93 percent) of firms with 50 or more employees already offer health coverage to their workers. They do so voluntarily to attract a quality workforce. That’s not likely to change anytime soon.
Over time, a small number of firms may drop health benefits. This is consistent with what the Congressional Budget Office has projected, showing a modest decline in employer coverage over time. Those that do drop benefits are likely to be smaller businesses not subject to the requirement to offer coverage or pay a penalty, and lower-wage firms where the tax exemption for employer-provided health benefits is lower and the availability of premium tax credits in exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provide greater subsidies for their workers.
Ultimately, employers will likely make economic judgments about whether to offer benefits or not, balancing a variety of factors such as:
- The value of the tax exemption for employer-provided insurance, which is greater for higher-wage employees whose desires are likely to carry the most weight.
- The penalty for not offering coverage for medium and large firms.
- Perceptions about the attractiveness of insurance in exchanges vs. employer coverage.
One consequence of the problematic rollout of the exchanges is that employers are likely to be even more cautious about making changes in their offering of health benefits until they see how the new marketplace works over time.
For a variety of reasons, regulations for the employer requirement were issued very late, and there were some complicated details to work out around employer reporting. That led to a delay in the coverage requirement for one year, and a subsequent phase-in of the requirement for another year. This provides for a gradual transition in much the same way that the law phased-in the individual mandate.
Are they changing hourly requirements?
Linda Bergthold: There has also been a lot of hype about employers reducing employees to part-time status to avoid requirements of the ACA. Are you aware of any data that shows employers changing hourly requirements? If you are an employee working 35 hours a week, what can you expect?
Larry Levitt: The aggregate data show no systematic shift to part-time work, and the recent CBO report on the labor effects of the ACA said there is no compelling evidence that such a shift is occurring.
That should not be surprising. The employer requirement was delayed, so there has been no economic incentive to reduce worker hours. And, reducing hours is not always so easy. The work still needs to get done, so it could mean more disruption and greater costs associated with hiring and training.
That said, there have been anecdotal reports of some employers reducing work hours of some part-time workers in anticipation of the requirement to offer coverage to those working an average of 30 or more hours per week. That will no doubt continue to occur, though it’s unlikely to add up to many people in aggregate terms.
It’s also important to put all this in context. Employers that offer coverage have always had hour thresholds that determine eligibility for health benefits. All the ACA did was make those thresholds uniform. Any time you require such uniformity, there will be some amount of movement and change on the margin.
Shifting from a 30-hour threshold to 40 hours would largely undermine the employer requirement to offer coverage. It would be a relatively simple matter for employers to reduce work hours for employees not offered coverage to just below that 40-hour threshold with minimal disruption to their businesses. It’s certainly a reasonable debate as to whether employers should be required to offer coverage or pay a penalty, but such a significant change would have economic consequences, significantly reducing revenue to the federal government and raising costs.
Are mandated benefits driving up costs?
Linda Bergthold: Most employer-sponsored health benefit packages are quite comprehensive and already include almost all of the essential benefits required by the ACA. The exception might be rehabilitation and MH/SA (Mental Health/Substance Abuse) benefits that are not always included in every benefit plan. Is there any evidence that requiring essential benefits has driven up employer benefit costs?
Larry Levitt: With a few minor exceptions, such has habilitationand mental health parity in some cases, the essential benefits in the ACA are very similar to what employers already provide. In fact, states had a variety of options for setting benchmarks for the essential benefits, and in the vast majority of cases chose one of the largest existing small-business plans in the state, so the package is based in large part on what most employers were already providing.
There is some confusion, though, about what benefit rules apply to employers. Medium and large employers do not have to offer the essential benefits (although many already do, per above). Small-business insurance does have to include the essential benefits, but again, the effect is likely to be modest. And, small businesses that self-insure, which may be a growing trend — are not subject to the benefit requirements.
The private exchange trend
Linda Bergthold: Large-employee benefit firms like Mercer, Aon Hewitt and Towers Watson are all offering “private exchanges” to their large-employer clients. These exchanges give employees or retirees more choice of carriers and plans and ultimately propose to lower costs. How do you view the “private” exchange trend? Do you see a two-track exchange landscape – one for individuals and low -income citizens and the other for middle and upper class people with job-based benefits? What would the impact on the public exchanges be in that case?
Larry Levitt: These new private exchange share a name with the ACA but are really quite different. For example, there are nopremium subsidies for low- and middle-income enrollees in private exchanges.
These efforts are more part of a long-running discussion about the potential for employers to move towards a defined contribution approach for health insurance, much the way they did for pensionsthrough the shift to 401(k) plans. This may – with an emphasis on “may” – finally be happening for a variety of reasons. Maybe it’s the semantic similarity to the ACA exchanges. Maybe it’s a response to the long-term trend of health insurance costs rising faster than inflation and wages (even though we are at this moment in a period of historically low increases in premiums). Or, maybe it’s in anticipation of the so-called Cadillac plan tax, which will impose a40 percent tax on high-cost plans beginning in 2018 and will provide a strong incentive to reduce the cost and growth of employer-sponsored health benefits.
Private exchanges, like ACA exchanges, provide individual employees with a choice of health plans, though they also facilitate employers turning their contributions towards coverage into what is in effect a voucher, shifting the risk of rising costs to employees.
I don’t think private exchanges represent a two-track landscape any more than the reality that most people of working age will still get their insurance through employers, while some will be covered through Medicaid or ACA exchanges. And, the ACA will significantly equalize coverage across the population, so what kind of insurance people have access to will vary much less than it did historically.
The future of employer-based benefits
Linda Bergthold: What do you see as the future of our employer-based benefit approach? Will the economics of health reform ultimately force employers to drop this benefit and send employees to the public exchanges, which may turn out to provideless costly coverage?
Larry Levitt: There’s nothing inherently advantageous to our employer-based health insurance system, which is mostly an accident of history. Proposals from the right and the left have both advocated moving away from it.
However, employer-based coverage does do a remarkable job of pooling risk and facilitating people to sign up for coverage. And, any significant dropping of coverage by employers – which I don’t think is likely – would increase government expenditures for premium subsidies.
While the ACA does not require a shift away from employer-sponsored insurance, it does provide some of the same benefits as breaking the tie between employment and health insurance coverage. People who lose their jobs will no longer lose their insurance in most cases, with expanded Medicaid coverage, guaranteed access to private insurance, and premium subsidies in exchanges.
This will largely eliminate the problem of “job lock” where people stay in a job simply because they fear losing their insurance. (Note that some people are still left out, in particular many poor adults in states that choose not to expand Medicaid.)
So, while there is some uncertainty around the future of employer-based health insurance under the ACA, there is now a safety net that didn’t exist before, if the availability of employer coverage declines.
The Morning Rituals Of 15 Highly Successful Small Business Owners
Originally posted February 13, 2014 by Richard Feloni on https://www.businessinsider.com
Each morning, small business owners awake with a fresh determination to continue growing their companies, developing their employees, and keeping their customers happy.
This unique intimacy with both staff and clients requires a high level of effective time management that starts as soon as they get out of bed.
We spoke with 15 successful entrepreneurs who have developed morning routines that clear their minds, energize their bodies, and prepare them for the day ahead.
Jeffrey Zurofsky, CEO and co-founder of 'wichcraft, Riverpark, and Riverpark Farm, is 'an animal' about his rituals.
Zurofsky is a co-founder of the gourmet sandwich chain 'wichcraft, which started in New York City in 2003 and grew to 15 locations spread over New York, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. He and his two business partners, Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortuzar, also opened the restaurant Riverpark and its accompanying urban farm.
Zurofsky is so passionate about his morning ritual that he prepares the night before, when he writes out his to-do list and organizes emails. Before he goes to sleep sometime between midnight and 2 a.m., he eats two scoops of almond butter because he says it helps build energy for the following morning.
After he wakes up at 5:30 (he makes up for the limited sleep with a nap later in the day), he walks his dog and does some kind of exercise, whether it's running, a workout, or squash. He follows it up with some meditation, and then he's ready for an intense meal. "I have an enormous breakfast: 1,000 calories, 30 grams of protein," he says. "It changes cuisines, but it's always eggs, a cup of legumes, veggies, and typically some meats — whether it's chicken breast or leftover something." He washes it all down with a glass of green juice with ginger.
Jeffrey 'jeffstaple' Ng, founder and owner of Staple Design, starts his day with a Japanese pour-over coffee.
Ng, who goes by jeffstaple, started his cutting edge design brand in New York City with a single T-shirt back in 1997. Staple Design has worked with international clients such as Nike, HBO, Puma, and Uniqlo, and his signature pigeon logo has made Staple Clothing an instantly recognizable brand in streetwear.
Ng brings the same energy to his mornings as he does to his business. He wakes at 8 every day and scans his phone for urgent emails or messages while still in bed. And rather than settling for a cup of Folgers, he hand grinds quality coffee beans and then does a Japanese pour-over, a style of drip brewing that takes five to 10 minutes for a single cup.
In the shower, he uses AquaNotes, a waterproof notepad, to jot down ideas as his mind wanders. Three times a week, he'll work out with his personal trainer after coffee.
And of course, his outfit is a top priority, which he said he starts from the bottom up: "I get dressed by choosing my footwear first, then build my outfit based on which shoes I'm going to be wearing. Luckily, my wardrobe is mostly clothing I've designed...so it's pretty straightforward."
Jamie Walker, co-founder and CEO of Fit Approach and SweatGuru, starts her day with a 'good sweat session.'
Walker and her cousin Alyse Mason-Brill started Fit Approach in 2010 as a San Francisco-based fitness "boot camp" that has grown to a network of over 4,000 "ambassadors" throughout the country. The two then launched SweatGuru last year as a tool to set up workouts with friends and colleagues. Walker says that over 1,500 businesses are using SweatGuru's services.
Taking a dose of her own medicine, Walker gets up at 5:30 each morning to get in a "good sweat session," which can mean running, working out, or yoga. It helps her begin her day "on a refreshed and calm note," and making exercise her first priority ensures that it doesn't fall off the to-do list later, "since things tend to come up throughout the day when you own two businesses."
Dave Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, gets going by riding his bike to work.
Gilboa founded the innovative eyewear company Warby Parker with Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, and Jeffrey Raider back in 2010. Since that time, the brand has sold over half a million frames, a healthy number for an online startup competing against the near-monopolistic Luxottica prescription eyewear corporation.
Gilboa's not really a morning person, but he thinks he's found a solution: "I'm usually a little groggy in the morning, but I find that anytime I exercise to get the blood flowing, I have more energy throughout the day. So I've been riding my bike to work, even in the winter." He usually makes it to the office by 8 a.m., with his brain "woken up" by the bike ride.
Geoff McQueen, CEO of AffinityLive, holds stand-up meetings each morning in the office.
AffinityLive is a growing small business in Silicon Valley that creates business automation software. It doubled its business last year and the team made significant software upgrades.
McQueen hates meetings that serve only as status updates, because he finds that they waste time and lower efficiency. But he also knows the importance of checking in with his team. His solution is a stand-up meeting to start each day.
"We all gather in the middle of our office and stand while bringing up any urgent updates that need to be discussed," McQueen says. "Standing enforces a sense of urgency, so these meetings are quick and efficient, and I'm still able to get a sense of exactly what's going on with my business.
Elle Kaplan, founding partner and CEO of LexION Capital Management, draws inspirations from watching the sun rise over New York.
Kaplan started LexION in 2010, making it one of the few American asset management firms owned by a woman. Within her first month, she achieved $1 million in assets, due to the network she established at firms she had previously worked for.
Kaplan wakes up some time before dawn to make coffee and give her dog Magic a bone. She then gets to reading the news and sifting through emails.
"Although I have technically begun working, the dog at my feet and the rising orange sun evoke a time before the work day begins," she says. "I look out over the park at Lincoln Center and see New York waking up, the energy invigorating me, too, and I get excited for the day. And I am ready to work."
Click here to see the full list of Small Business Owners
6 Ways to Say Goodbye to Excuses and Achieve Your Goals
Originally posted on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
“Often, people fall back on excuses and give up on trying to reach their goals,” says business strategist Dan Waldschmidt, author of “Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Achieve Outrageous Success.” Follow these tips to trick yourself out of making excuses and to lead you down a more successful path in business and in life.
Waldschmidt says that it’s the small-minded people who are “cranky and eager to point out others’ mistakes.” This tactic is only used by low-achievers to take the spotlight off their own failure. So don’t blame others, it’s purely lazy.
Put time in for your boss because that matters, explains Waldschmidt. What doesn’t matter is television, certain meetings that suck time out of your and anything else that gets in the way of productivity. He says to replace entertainment with any activity that meets your goal.
Waldschmidt says that we’re alive to succeed. If you let your past failures creep into your current work, you won’t get anywhere.
Ask yourself, “What can I do differently next time?” and then actually do things differently, according to Waldschmidt. “Learn from mistakes and use the lessons to dominate,” he adds.
If exercise helps you clear your head and work harder, then do it. Invest in activities that help you feel good about yourself and your goals, so that you don’t have any excuses for not achieving them.
If you get into a funk, apologize to yourself and those around you and you’ll snap out of it quickly, Waldschmidt says. When you learn to genuinely recognize how your mood is affecting yourself and others’ ability to get things done, you’ll change.
Employers’ Corporate Wellness Incentives Climb to New Heights
Originally posted February 20, 2014 by Michael Giardina on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
With a reported 15% increase in wellness incentive spending within their health care plans, corporate employers have their sights set on improving their workforce’s overall health in 2014 through wellness programs for both employees and their significant others, according to a new survey from Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health.
The fifth annual study finds that corporate employers expect to spend an average of $594 per employee on wellness-based incentives, an increase from 2013’s $521 average. For smaller employers with less than 5,000 employees, the employee average reached $595, a $151 increase from levels reported in 2013.
Approximately 95% of employers plan to offer some sort of health improvement program, highlighting that benefit plan sponsors have labeled wellness programs as an integral part of their benefits program in this post-Affordable Care Act world. Also, 74% note that they offer incentives for employee participation, which is a 12% dip from last year.
“While the use and measurement of corporate wellness programs continue to evolve, it has become clear that many employers understand the value of – and are committed to – wellness-based incentives in their company health plan,” says Robert Kennedy, health and welfare practice leader with Fidelity’s benefits consulting business.
The most popular programs include lifestyle management courses that focus on physical activity, weight and stress management. Disease and care management programs – which look to manage chronic health conditions – were also favored.
Doling out for spouses/HSAs
From the 2014 survey, Fidelity and NBGH found that nearly four out of 10 employers disclosed that their plan will include options for spouses or domestic partners. Last year, results highlighted that 54% set out plans to expand wellness-based incentives to include dependents and roughly half said they were including spouses and dependents in wellness communications.
Average payouts for spouse and domestic partners are expected to reach $530 in 2014. Employers with more than 20,000 employees expect to spend an average of $611 on this group.
Other incentives such as heath savings accounts and flexible spending accounts were expected to incentivize more employees use. Roughly 34% list that they plant to contribute to these accounts in order to bolster disease or care management engagement and 30% hope these deposits will add to weight management programs participation.
“Based on the feedback from this year’s survey respondents, it’s obvious that wellness programs not only play a key role in many corporate health care plans today, but they’ll continue to be an integral part of corporate benefit programs in the future,” says Helen Darling, the retiring president and CEO of NBGH.
9 Levels of Office Worker’s Hell
Originally posted February 20, 2014 by Dan Cook on https://www.benefitspro.com
Sometimes even an obviously self-serving study by a corporation can be helpful. The e-book “The 9 Levels of Enterprise Work Hell” fits into this category. The Utah company behind this e-book, AtTask, sells work management tools for business teams, and much of the “advice” contained in the book involves getting the right work management tools for business teams.
Yet the e-book is cleverly designed and written, with lots of spooky graphics and gothic images and typeface. The data was derived from 1,000 survey responses, so it’s not a bad sample, either. And, most of all, AtTask has found a fun way to deliver serious information about those things that irritate people most.
Fast Company also pulled together a fine synopsis on this, interviewing AtTask Chief Marketing Officer Bryan Nielson, whose quotes are included here. And now, without further ado, here are AtTask’s workplace equivalents of Dante’s levels (or, to be accurate, circles) of hell:
1. Tool Hell
The average person uses 13 different tools or methods to manage their day, says Nielson. That’s way too many and leads to workers spending more time trying to remember how to use existing tools, learn how to use new ones and get the old and new ones to work together, than actually using them to do important work.
“All that toggling back and forth creates challenges and fragments work experience,” he says. Nielson says the fix is to consolidate tools, using one or two that are easily accessible by everyone. And, of course, choose a task-management tool. AtTask makes them. Also, AtTask advices setting up best practices for the team and making sure everyone knows what they are and sticks to them.
2. Rework Hell
Workers spend 14 percent of their day duplicating information and forwarding emails and phone calls. A quarter to 40 percent of project budgets are wasted as a result of rework, says Nielson.
“The cause for this is disconnect; workers aren’t getting the right information from those who request the work,” he says.
Part of the problem is that the work, and its outcomes, were not clearly defined before the tasks began. Before a new request is taken, take plenty of time to gather information upfront, Nielson says, and get stakeholders involved at every stage by managing feedback and approvals in a central location.
3. Fire Drill Hell
In this level of chaos and insanity, fires are bursting out all over the place (oftentimes strategically set by those who use a fire to cover their lack of productivity). No one has a chance to stand back and consider how the work should be done or what the outcomes of the work should be. The “average” corporation spends about half its time in fire-drill mode, Nielson says. To eliminate this type of work hell, don’t start by pretending fires aren’t breaking out or that you can immediately stop them. Instead, acknowledge their existence by building time in project schedules for them. That way, they are part of the timeline, not the disrupter of timelines. Then, start to fireproof your workplace by improving communication. “Encourage workers to give feedback on requests such as, ‘I can take this urgent project, but it will cause these four other things to slip. Are you OK with that?’” he says.
4. Silo Hell
More than half of workers say departmentally “siloed” information is their top challenge in managing data, says Nielson. People often create their own silos intentionally. Everyone is using different systems and solutions, no one is smoothly sharing information, and transparency is nil. Teams don’t talk and don’t work together. “The problem is not having complete alignment,” Nielson says. His solutions: eliminate needless formalities that throw up obstacles between people and departments, such as going through proper channels. Encourage collaboration, using such techniques as a new office layout, shifting of job responsibilities, rearranging reporting channels. Diversify project teams and organize staff meetings by project instead of department.
5. Reporting Hell
Old data isn’t very useful except for comparison’s sake. But how often does your data need to be updated? When is data out of date, and when is an update not really very useful? These are other questions are raised in Reporting Hell, as direct reports send in mounds of numbers and analyses in different formats, at different times and with little thought to whether the latest report matters to the enterprise.
Managers gather information for meetings and to justify their jobs, says Nielson, but the collection method is often outdated. Instead, he says companies should create a communication plan that will identify who needs to get updates, what information they need, when they need it, where the data will be stored and how it will be distributed. Then create a process in collaboration with your team members that automatically distributes information to the right people.
6. Meeting Hell
At the enterprise level, all meeting cannot be eliminated. But, says Nielson, an awful lot of them can be, thus freeing you and your workers from “the prison of the working dead.”
“Fifty percent of meetings are considered a waste of time, and 74 percent of workers do other work while in meetings,” he says. That’s because most meetings aren’t collaboration meetings, they’re status updates.”
Eliminate status meetings and review meetings, he advises. These can be handled asynchronously with a robust work management system that everyone has access to. Never schedule any other kind of meeting without first asking, “Is this meeting really necessary? Is there a faster way to get information to and from people.” If the meeting is necessary, he says, clearly define the purpose beforehand so participants can prepare.
7. Interruption Hell
Nielson says about 50 percent of the average worker’s day is consumed by interruptions, of which 80 percent have “no value.” These can range from someone dropping by a workstation with a “quick request” to emails with random and unapproved work requests to text messages, instant messages and sticky notes that mysteriously appear stuck on a computer screen during a worker’s break.
Like the fire drill, you’ll never eliminate all interruptions, Nielson says. But you can reduce the amount you get each day. Categorize the common types of disruptions you get each day and plan for them, he says. Set up a specific process for making requests that allows workers to check their inbox at set times during the day or week. This can be an online work management tool, or something as simple as a paper tray or dedicated email address. These assignments should be approved and prioritized. And until everyone gets the message, don’t take requests in any other way, and do not suffer non-essential interruptions without pointing them out to the perp.
8. Email Hell
This one, says Nielson, gets hellish really fast but can be remedied fairly easily.
Most workers say they feel overwhelmed by the welter of emails that flood into their inboxes every working day. They spend so much time managing email that they don’t get any serious work done.
“Email is overwhelming organizations,” he says. “We get hundreds each day. It’s impossible to get through them all, but we’re expected to. We end up doing email at all hours of the day.”
The solution: break everyone’s addiction to email as the single source for communicating everything from meeting time updates to the location of the company picnic. Remove its status as a management, collaboration status update, feedback and document-sharing tool, says Nielson. Use a project management tool instead. This will significantly decrease the amount of email you receive, and put communication within the proper context.
9. Collaboration Hell
What kills collaboration is one-on-one communication between two team members that leaves everyone else out. Or everyone not on the system collaboration platform, or never collaborating in the same physical place. The solution is to centralize correspondence, says Nielson, giving the whole team visibility into each other’s work and feedback. “Chat or instant messengers are great for real-time, but those conversations are lost when the window is closed,” says Nielson. “True work collaboration needs to be documented, visible and easy to track.” When the project demands true collaboration, the collaborators need to be inputting and outputting from the same work process tool. When all parties are talking to one another, the work gets done right. When the pieces and players are scattered, collaboration fail happens.
Flu hitting younger and middle-age adults hardest this season
Originally posted February 20, 2014 by Steven Ross Johnson on https://www.modernhealthcare.com
Younger and middle-age adults make up the majority of hospitalizations and deaths from influenza this season, matching rates not seen since the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, federal health officials said Thursday.
Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show people between ages 18 and 64 have accounted for 61% of flu hospitalizations since September through Feb. 8. That's almost double the average rate of 35% over the past three seasons, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“Influenza can make anyone very sick, very fast, and it can kill,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said.
Frieden urged healthcare providers not to wait to treat patients with flu symptoms. “It's important that everyone get vaccinated,” he said. “It's also important to remember that some people who get vaccinated may still get sick, and we need to use our second line of defense against flu: antiviral drugs to treat flu illness. People at high risk of complications should seek treatment if they get a flu-like illness. Their doctors may prescribe antiviral drugs if it looks like they have influenza."
The H1N1 strain of the virus, which the World Health Organization said was responsible for about 18,000 deaths worldwide in 2009, has resurfaced this year.
The CDC said deaths from influenza this season are following similar patterns from those observed during that pandemic. As in 2009-2010, about 60% of flu deaths in the past five months have been people between ages 25 and 64.
Flu vaccinations have been effective this season, reducing a person's risk of seeking medical help by about 60%, according to a second report this week in the MMWR.
Analysis questions value of ACA deductible cap
Originally posted February 14, 2014 by Bruce Shutan on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
In a sign of just how difficult it is to rein in out-of-pocket costs, 35% of 2014 bronze-level plans in the Small Business Health Options Program exchange had deductibles that exceeded suggested annual caps under the Affordable Care Act. The conclusion was based on a HealthPocket analysis of government data from small group health plans in 32 states.
Another key finding was that the lowest level of coverage generated the highest possible costs. A whopping 96% of 2014 bronze-metal SHOP plans, for example, had deductibles of more than the ACA’s $2,000 individual and $4,000 family limits. That same result wasn’t nearly as prevalent for silver or gold plans (28% and 6%, respectively, for individuals and 88% and 6%, respectively, for families), nor was it an issue at the platinum level.
At the bronze level, the medical deductible for an individual enrollee averaged more than twice the amount of the original deductible limit at $4,216 and $8,667 for family coverage, while the annual cap on out-of-pocket costs averaged $6,224 for an individual and $12,518 for a family.
Any strict enforcement of the deductible caps could have substantially narrowed the inventory of health plans in the SHOP exchange, according to the study, which found that fewer than 4% of bronze-tier plans would have satisfied the ACA limits for individual and family enrollees. Small group plans are able to exceed the deductible caps only under the condition of necessity.
“The government effectively abandoned the deductible cap since it would prevent a significant minority of plans from meeting their actuarial value requirements,” explains Kev Coleman, head of research and data at HealthPocket, Inc. and a co-author of the study. He says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated in February 2013 that these deductible limits must be “applied so as to not affect the actuarial value of any health plan.”
But if the first few months of the HIX marketplace are any indication, there could be changes made that force plans to be re-designed. The study noted that if the deductible cap waivers are removed from future regulations, “then almost all qualified bronze plans would have to decrease their deductibles to satisfy the limits. Decreased deductibles could, in turn, require increases in other categories of enrollee cost-sharing such as co-payments in order for the plans to maintain their actuarial values.”
Last August, U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) introduced H.R. 2995, which would eliminate the deductible caps for SHOP marketplace plans. The bill, which was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has five co-sponsors.
Fewer Americans getting health insurance through employers
Originally posted February 13, 2014 by Melissa Winn on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Fewer people are getting their primary health insurance coverage through their employers, according to a Gallup Poll released Wednesday, which also reported the number of uninsured Americans has reached a five-year low.
The poll found 43.5% of Americans now get their primary health insurance coverage through their current or former employer, down from 45.5% in the fourth quarter of 2013. More people now say they have a plan fully paid for by themselves or a family member — 18% versus 17.2% at the end of last year.
The poll also found the percentage of uninsured Americans fell to 16%, down from 17.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013. While more than a month remains in the first quarter of 2014, Wednesday’s data show the uninsured rate appears to be on track to drop to the lowest quarterly level since 2008.
Although the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to have health insurance went into effect Jan. 1, it’s still too early to tell if that requirement has led to the decline in uninsured Americans, the poll says. If the uninsured rate continues to fall over the next few months, however, it could suggest the Affordable Care Act is responsible for the decline, it adds.
Several provisions of the ACA have yet to go into effect, including the mandate for employer health insurance coverage by 2015 or 2016. These provisions are expected to affect the number of uninsured Americans, as well as what types of insurance they have.
The Gallup poll also found the percentage of Americans insured through Medicaid has increased to 7.4% from 6.6% in the fourth quarter of 2013. This increase may be because some states have chosen to participate in the Medicaid expansion under a provision of the ACA, the poll adds.