Scant Drug Benefits Called Costly to Employers

June 27, 2007 - New York Times

Employers that shift too much of the cost of drugs to workers in their company health plans could wind up losing more than they save, through absenteeism and lost productivity, according to a study by health policy researchers. The three-year study, to be released today, looked at the medical histories of several thousand workers with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. The condition is a painful and incurable disease of the joints, but patients can keep it at bay by taking a special class of drugs.

Some Companies Are Helping Workers Look After Aging Parents

June 22, 2007 - The Wall Street Journal

Companies have long seen the elder-care burden as a productivity problem; the focus has been on helping workers find services for their family members, and then getting the employees back to work. Now, in the first shift in elder-care benefits in years, a few employers are offering elder-care programs aimed at the health and well-being of the workers themselves. By encouraging workers who also have elder-care duties to take better care of themselves, employers hope not only to raise productivity, but to scale down health-care costs.

Introducing the CHR, More like a PHR Than an EMR

May 2007 - Managed Care Magazine

A half-century ago, a pair of Midwestern brothers changed the accounting world when they started H&R Block, the first tax-preparation firm. Now, their company is hoping to change the health care world by helping to sponsor the nation's first employer-initiated community health record (CHR). A bit like an electronic health record and a personal health record - with a sideways glance at an electronic medical record - the CHR is an attempt to use the Internet to improve health care delivery and, ultimately, health care status, throughout the Kansas City, MO., metropolitan areas.