Health Care University

Pitney Bowes

Purpose:

To improve employee health and lower costs by providing health services demand management, disability management and disease management/prevention, utilizing a network of prevention programs and onsite primary care clinics

Target Population:

Pitney Bowes' more than 35,000 worldwide employees

Program Goals:

• Enhance health outcomes

• Avoid cost shifting/reward healthy behaviors

• Measure impact

• Enhance benefits

• Educate health care consumers

• Promote efficiency in utilization and purchasing practices

• Provide resources to achieve individual employees' objectives

Years in Operation:

Various forms of disease management involvement since the 1950s; the wellness program, Health Care University (HCU), began in 1993.13 Restructured pharmacy benefit began in 2001.

Results:

• Comparing program participants to non-participants, covered expenses were 7 percent higher in the non-participant group ($2,317 compared to $2,173). Additionally, the trend for participants showed an actual decrease of 5 percent over three years, while non-participants showed a 2 percent increase in costs.

• Participants averaged fewer than 0.1 emergency visits per year, while non-participants averaged more than 0.2 visits.

• Pre- and post-participation comparison of onsite fitness center members showed that they had: fewer sick days (47 percent fewer); reduced smoking prevalence (10 percent reduction); and better fitness status (20 percent of participants improved).

• Twenty percent of participants report improved nutritional habits, and 50 percent report increased work productivity.

• Overall analyses reveal a 2.8 to 1 cost savings for HCU.

• Lowering pharmacy copays for diabetes and asthma medicines improved compliance and reduced overall medical costs by $1 million in the first year and $2.5 million in the third year

Funding:

The program is funded through the Pitney Bowes corporate operations budget.

Key Partners:

Health coaches; onsite medical staff; disease management staff

What Works and Why:

Significant investment in integrated data systems and analysis enables Pitney Bowes to target resources and monitor progress effectively. The analysis uses online, individual-level data, including three years of medical claims information.

Structure and Operations:

Pitney Bowes supports good health by emphasizing prevention, early detection, wise consumerism, and appropriate, timely care for individuals at all levels of health. Integration of health nitiatives creates simplicity, efficient resource use, and consistency for participants. Preventive are is fully integrated with onsite medical and fitness facilities, ergonomic programs, the mployee Assistance Program, and disability and benefit areas. Resources, referral and data nalysis link these to create a unified, coordinated "Total Health" approach. Convenient access s assured through use of technology, such as kiosks equipped with health monitoring equipment and onsite resources.

The HCU program motivates employees by providing credits for participation in selected ctivities. If an employee earns six credits during the term (September-June), he or she is warded $25 toward future benefit purchases. Many activities are provided onsite for convenience, and/or are fully covered under the medical plan, if a physician's office visit is required.

Pitney Bowes' integrated health care strategy consists of three major building blocks: education, efficiency and employer design. Pitney Bowes' goal is to educate the health care consumers to provide for more efficient utilization and purchasing. It will provide employer support and guidance for these objectives internally and externally through plan design, programming, and support of internal and community health care resources. For example, starting in 2001, Pitney Bowes restricted its pharmacy benefit to move asthma, hypertension and diabetes medicines to the lowest copay to encourage compliance. Based on that success, the company has since reduced other pharmacy copays and added medical clinics at worksites to offer preventive services and regular medical care.

Barriers to Success:

With such a broad and comprehensive program, directing employees to the appropriate resources without overloading them with information.

More Information:

http://healthproject.stanford.edu/koop/pitneybowes/description.html

Download:

Download this program information in PDF format.