Also, the share of employers funding wellness programs has passed the 50% mark, but not all employees use them.
A poll by National Public Radio, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that workplace stress is an important health problem for adults. Stress has been linked to diabetes, obesity, and mental health problems including depression—and burnout from stress is costly for employers. The poll also found that 51% of employers have a formal wellness or health improvement program, but that only 40% of employees who have one available participate.
Mental health advocates are optimistic that the Senate will act on a comprehensive mental health bill that recently passed the House of Representatives by a 422-2 margin. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act will fill gaps in the nation’s system by creating hospital beds for people who need a short-term hospitalization. The bill will also allow parents to access medical information of adult children with serious mental illnesses. Also, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration must create an interagency group to integrate evidence-based findings into systems of care.
While the FDA has banned sales of premixed cocktails that combine energy drinks with alcohol, the combinations remain popular with social drinkers and bartenders. A study by Research Society on Alcoholism has found that combining energy drinks and alcohol creates a desire for more alcohol that goes beyond what would occur by drinking alcohol alone. FDA banned the premixed combinations because they were determined to be unsafe.
How Can Employers Leverage the DPP to Improve Diabetes Rates?
February 15th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Jill Hutt, vice president of member services at the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health, explains the Coalition’s efforts to reduce diabetes rates through the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).
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Key Issues Influencing 2022 Employer Health Care Strategy and Plan Design
August 31st 2021On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of the Business Group on Health, on the findings from her organization's 2022 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey.
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Fendrick: Embrace of VBID Even More Crucial Amid Equity Conversations, Braidwood Ruling
May 24th 2023Kicking off the 2023 Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health annual conference, Mark Fendrick, MD, of the University of Michigan, delivered a keynote exhorting the audience of employers and payers to implement the principles of value-based insurance design (VBID) in order to improve individual and population health and drive toward equity.
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