Aetna and Tufts-New England Medical Center To Help Employers Measure Link Between Health and Productivity.HARTFORD, Conn. -- Presenteeism Presenteeism is the opposite of absenteeism. In contrast to absenteeism, when employees are absent from work illegitimately, presenteeism discusses the problems faced when employees come to work in spite of illness, which can have similar negative repercussions on business (impaired productivity while at work) costs American businesses $150 billion annually in direct and indirect costs Indirect costs are costs that are not directly accountable to a particular function or product; these are fixed costs. Indirect costs include taxes, administration, personnel and security costs. See also
In a continuing effort to provide information-driven services to enhance a member's health status, including productivity, Aetna (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AET AET Aetna, Inc. AET After Extra Time AET Actual Evapotranspiration AET Alliance for Environmental Technology AET Alpha-Ethyltryptamine AET Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc. ) today announced a significant step to help employers quantify on-the-job functionality. This insight will help employers work with their Aetna health plan to design programs and services that will address key health issues, create a more productive employee population, and drive more predictable benefit costs. Aetna is licensing the Work Limitation Questionnaire(C) (WLQ WLQ Work Limitations Questionnaire ) from Tufts-New England Medical Center Tufts-New England Medical Center (Tufts-NEMC) is a medical institution in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a center for research and is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine where all full-time Tufts-NEMC physicians hold faculty appointments. (Tufts-NEMC) to help employers understand employee health status and to help employees to improve their own health and productivity. The WLQ is a self-administered questionnaire that measures the effect chronic health problems have on job performance and productivity. "Our agreement with Tufts-NEMC reinforces Aetna's commitment to measure the value of medical, pharmacy, disability and behavioral health Behavioral health was first used in the 1980's to name the combination of the fields mental health and substance abuse. As an example, an organization serving both mental health and substance abuse clients might refer to its practice as behavioral health or benefits and programs in the most comprehensive manner for employers and consumers," said Charles M. Cutler, M.D., M.S., Aetna's national medical director, National Quality Management and Clinical Integration. "By using the WLQ and continuing to integrate their benefits and programs with us, employers will gain valuable insights and practical means to improve the health status and productivity of their workforce." Published studies in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world. (JAMA JAMA abbr. Journal of the American Medical Association ) indicate that common aliments ALIMENTS. In the Roman and French law this word signifies the food and other things necessary to the support of life, as clothing and the like. The same name is given to the money allowed for aliments. Dig. 50, 16, 43. 2. can contribute to excess absenteeism (missed work days) and presenteeism (impaired productivity while at work). Last year, JAMA reported that depression cost U.S. employers $35 billion a year in reduced performance at work and that pain conditions such as arthritis, headaches and back problems cost nearly $47 billion. By measuring the dimensions of these adverse effects, the WLQ helps employers, clinicians and disability managers to identify both the magnitude and consequences that health problems have in the workplace. Measuring Health-Related Work Outcomes "A person's ability to earn a living is a central component to one's overall quality of life. Work is also essential to the economic health of the nation," said Debra Lerner, MS, PhD, who is a senior research scientist at Tufts-NEMC's Health Institute/Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies and an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine The Tufts University School of Medicine is one of the eight schools that comprise Tufts University. Located on the university's health sciences campus in the Chinatown district of Boston, Massachusetts, the medical school has clinical affiliations with thousands of doctors and . "When health problems interfere with the ability to work, the negative impact is felt by employers, employees and their dependents alike." "The WLQ can provide a roadmap for identifying and creating services to improve employee health and employer productivity," added Lerner. The questionnaire has 9 items that ask respondents to rate their level of difficulty or ability to perform specific job demands. Items in the questionnaire are aggregated into four scales. --The Time Demands scale contains questions that address difficulty handling time and scheduling demands. --The Physical Demands scale covers a person's ability to perform job tasks that involve bodily strength, movement, endurance, coordination and flexibility. --The Mental-Interpersonal Demands scale addresses cognitive job tasks and on-the-job social interactions. --The Output Demands scale measures the quantity and quality of work. Addressing Presenteeism Part of a Broader Effort To Offer More Integrated Care Management Programs "Many employers never get a full picture of the true cost of employee illness, partly because health and disability are managed separately," said Tim Blevins, head of Clinical Integration, Aetna National Quality Management. "Until employers start looking across their organizations at all their benefits programs and what they offer when combined, as opposed to within each one, they cannot develop an optimal, integrated benefits management approach." To illustrate this point, Aetna conducted a study in 2005 to learn more about the care patterns, health outcomes and health care costs of members who participate in benefit plans that are integrated with Aetna benefits versus those that are not. The study revealed that an integrated benefits package that includes Aetna medical, pharmacy and disease management services can yield significant improvements in certain health outcomes for members and substantial medical cost savings for the employer. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the data, overall costs dropped by 20 percent for high-risk members with integrated benefits compared to similar members with just medical insurance benefits. "Health and productivity management, coupled with clinical integration, creates a real opportunity to positively impact the health of the individual and allows employers to become more strategic about how they manage employee health - and how they make decisions for purchasing health benefits," added Blevins. About Aetna Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 27.9 million unique members with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care long-term care (LTC), n the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. and disability plans, and medical management capabilities. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans and government-sponsored plans. www.aetna.com About Tufts-New England Medical Center Tufts-NEMC is a world-class, academic medical institution that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and the Floating Hospital for Children and has long been recognized as a leader in cancer care, cardiology, organ transplantation The transfer of organs such as the kidneys, heart, or liver from one body to another. The transplantation of human organs has become a common medical procedure. Typical organs transplanted are the kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, cornea, skin, bones, and lungs. and pediatrics. Founded in 1796 as the Boston Dispensary dispensary: see clinic. to care for sick and needy Bostonians, Tufts-New England Medical Center is the oldest health care facility in New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. . It serves as the principal clinical and teaching affiliate of Tufts University School of Medicine. For more information, access our web site www.tufts-nemc.org. (1)Paul Hemp, "Presenteeism: At Work - But Out of It," Harvard Business Review, October 2004. |
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