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Get More Benefit Out of Your Benefits Package |
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You may know Barber Foods best for their Chicken Cordon Bleu and Chicken Kieve, but here in Maine they’re about to get noticed for an entirely different reason– their 0% healthcare cost increase for 2011. With a workforce of over 450 people who speak more than 50 languages, Barber Foods is breaking new ground in their quest to subdue ever-rising health care costs.
Here’s how they’re doing it:
Plan Design – Beginning in 2010, Barber Foods made some major changes to their benefit plan. With the belief that high quality doctors and preventative medicine were the most effective cost saving tools at their disposal, they began to steer their employees in the right direction. Barber Foods began urging their staff to find high quality doctors and hospitals on the Maine Health Management Coalition Foundation’s website, www.getbettermaine.org, and when they did, coinsurance was reduced and copays were waived. Barber Foods also began covering preventative medicine at 100%, and offering discounts to reward healthy behaviors. For doing things like getting an annual physical, meeting with a free health coach, and abstaining from smoking, employees received discounts on their monthly premiums.
Wellness Programs – Plan design was coupled closely with a comprehensive wellness program developed by Occupational Medical Consulting (OMC). OMC provided Barber Foods with onsite health coaches four days a week that offered free support to employees. The only stipulation for staff was that in order to participate in the program they had to first complete an initial health risk assessment (HRA). The HRA helped to determine what problem areas the health coaches could help employees work on, and what treatment plan to pursue. For employees that had a low health risk, coaches were available, but they only needed to see them 2 or 3 times a year to check in. For higher risk employees, health coaches became a weekly support tool that helped them set and meet goals.
Communications – Communication was an essential part in making the transition to the new wellness-based insurance model. Before making any changes, Barber Foods ran a 6-month informational campaign to alert staff of their plans. There were posters, emails, table-top cards, newsletters and meetings scheduled to help address questions and concerns, and all supervisors were expected to offer guidance if they were asked. There was also a free language line that employees could use if they had trouble understanding English. By the time the new plan was launched, every Barber Foods employee knew what to expect, and hostility towards the changes virtually disappeared.
The results of Barber Foods’ efforts have been significant. Aside from the 0% cost increase mentioned earlier, they’ve begun to see some truly amazing differences in their staff. One employee lost 60 lbs. after working with their health coach and managed to get off all of their diabetes and high blood pressure medications! Another lost 40 lbs. and now eats healthy and exercises regularly! It’s clear that a thoughtful benefit design does far more than just save company money. With a few simple tweaks, any company can start putting the health back in health insurance.
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