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In our last blog post, we discussed social wellness models and their potential to motivate people to achieve personal health and fitness goals. But rather than just “talk the talk,” we thought it would be interesting to tell you about a few of our employees who have decided to put one platform to the test. At stake? $10,000.
The advent of new technologies has opened up a host of new ways of communicating. At this point, it’s pretty clear social media has moved beyond a fad stage – it is now a core element of the way we communicate with each other. While you’re probably using social media in one way or another, have you considered leveraging social media to enhance your wellness efforts?
In a recent blog on driver retention, we focused on increasing communication – not only with
your driver managers and department heads, but also by listening to your current drivers and their needs. Another crucial aspect of driver retention is investing (and not just monetarily) in your driver fleet. Sure, everyone would like to be paid more, but it goes beyond that. By making an investment in your driver fleet, you are demonstrating respect and appreciation for your people, something that goes a long way when it comes to retaining drivers.
OSHA publishes counts of violations by company, as well as incidence rates by geography and industry. Now, they’re publishing the safety & health incident rate of many individual companies. Through a simple search engine, interested parties can type in a company’s name and access high level accident and injury data of many US-based business.
As costs continue to skyrocket in employee benefits, many HR professionals are looking for creative and innovative benefits strategies that can help control costs while providing a service employees will truly appreciate.
“Concierge medicine” [also known as boutique medicine] is a growing trend in healthcare that has potential to be a major gamechanger for physicians, patients and employers alike. In a concierge approach, a doctor charges an annual fee in exchange for providing highly attentive, 24/7 medical care. While this style of healthcare is still in the minority, the benefits may be worth weighing when evaluating potential options for you and your company. In any case, this is something every HR professional should be aware of.
Traditional medicine – healthcare as most of us know it – operates on a fee-for-service basis. When a patient needs care, he makes an appointment, visits a doctor, and pays for the services delivered. Since insurance companies can negotiate who is considered “in network,” doctors may have to defer to the insurance company’s fee schedule when deciding what to charge for their services.
The trouble with the traditional approach is that it prioritizes volume. To make a reasonable profit, doctors usually have to schedule appointments every 15 minutes, and often serve upwards of 3,000 patients a year.
The result for the patient isn’t very pretty. Patients of a doctor stretched too thin may struggle to get an appointment when they need one on short notice. They spend longer in the waiting room than they do with an actual doctor. Worse still, if a doctor is rushing from appointment to appointment, they may not get the doctor’s full attention and have little medical advice around preventative care.
Concierge medicine takes a different approach. In this system, doctors charge an annual fee in exchange for providing highly attentive medical care available 24/7. Doctors work with many fewer patients, typically 10% of what doctors in a traditional practice would take on.
With fewer patients and a guaranteed source of income, concierge medical professionals can provide more comprehensive care for patients. They may be able to promise any number of services that just aren’t possible in traditional medicine – such as same day appointments, access to the doctor after hours and via email, and even making house calls when the patient is too ill to travel.
Beyond the added convenience, patients benefit from additional attention when it comes to discussing preventive health care and individual lifestyle issues. Due to time constraints, these issues are often pushed aside in traditional medical practices.
Employers are increasingly recognizing that healthy employees are essential to a healthy business. Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism have a major impact on profitability. Additionally, in a time when competition of talent is high, providing an innovative benefit package can be a major differentiator.
Concierge medicine typically does not replace an insurance program, but is used to enhance a benefit package that an employer offers. Most concierge medical professionals accept group insurance to cover the services they provide, such as tests, lab work, etc. Any services not covered by the insurance company are usually considered covered by the concierge practice’s annual fee.
Insurance companies rarely will pay for the annual fee itself, but this can usually be paid for from an employee’s HSA, HRA or FSA account.
Today's environment demands a creative approach to benefits programming, as cost shifting is not a sustainable way to manage health care spend. If the health of your employees is important to your business operations, concierge medicine is certainly worth exploring.
For more information on this and nine other "Innovative Benefits Strategies," download the free workshop recording.
The transportation industry involves a high degree of risk. It only takes one major accident to put a trucking company’s future in jeopardy. Are you prepared to defend your company if you find yourself in court? You should take proactive steps to prepare long before setting foot in a courtroom – or it can mean financial ruin for your company.
Picture this scenario. Your driver is following all the rules. He’s driving the speed limit. But a woman suddenly cuts in front of him and breaks hard. Too big to slow down in time, your truck rear ends the small car, killing the driver and permanently paralyzing her young son.
You can bet there will be lawyers lined up to take this case. Even if all of the hard evidence – witness testimony, driver logs, ECM data, etc. – shows the accident wasn’t your driver’s fault, whose story do you think will arouse more pity from a jury?
The plaintiff is going to dig deep to find whatever they can to cast suspicion on the driver and your company. Has the driver had a rear ender accident in the past? Was he screened for sleep apnea? What are his CSA scores like? Was he being rushed to complete a delivery? If even some of the details suggest that the motor carrier is at fault, it will be easy to stir up emotions of the jury with the gruesome details of the accident and the story of the young child’s pain and suffering. Your company is likely looking at years in court and a multimillion dollar judgment for wrongful death, medical expenses, and pain and suffering.
It's important to know the risks associated with doing business in the trucking industry so you can better protect yourself against possible claims. Although some incidents are unavoidable, educating managers and employees on the depth that lawyers will go to find fault in your company. Knowledge and proactive treatment to prevent hurtful scores can result in huge cost savings in the event of legal action.
FMCSA stirred up the trucking industry by releasing the new hours of service ruling just two days before Christmas. Upon reviewing this rulemaking, I think its best explained in the following format:
Go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and take a look in the bus tubs. I think you’ll find they are full of half-eaten entrees and extra helpings of side dishes. In line at the buffet, few of us show restraint. We pile our plates high. After all, we’re not really paying any more for that extra portion of shrimp. Who cares if we don’t need it? Who cares if it goes to waste?
We wanted to say thank you to all of you. Really, THANK YOU – whether you’re our client (current or potential), partner, or insurance carrier – for the opportunity to do business with you in 2011. Because of you, it’s been a great year for HNI.
Competition and the power of educated consumers keep the price of flat screen TVs in check. Why can’t it do the same for health care?
HNI works with high-performing companies to help them address the hidden risks in their business and avoid The Insurance Dependency Trap. This is done by proactively DE-RISKING their business so they can be less dependent on insurance.
HNI also offers the basic services of insurance and employee benefits. HNI has offices in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Minneapolis.