Zero Trends: Health as a Serious Economic Strategy is the new book by Dee W. Edington, PhD, the director of the University of Michigan Health Management Research Center. The blurb on the back cover sums up this book pretty well. “Dr. Edington proposes three key strategies for reducing the total medical and productivity-related cost trends that are bankrupting American businesses: 1.) Don’t get worse; 2.) Keep healthy employees healthy; 3.) Create a culture of health.”
While at first read these may seem like obvious points, Dr. Edington presents compelling research to support that keeping sick employees from getting worse and keeping healthy employees healthy can actually slow the growth of medical spend.
In addition, the last section of the book presents a comprehensive strategy for creating a culture of health, and makes the point that even if your company cannot make broad leaps, anything you can do is better than nothing.
For more information on the Health Management Research Center, visit this link: www.hmrc.umich.edu.