Poll of Business Executives Shows Most Companies Not Aware of True Costs of Healthcare

Poll of Business Executives Shows Most Companies Not Aware of True Costs of
Healthcare
- Nearly 74 percent of respondents polled during an online webinar said
medical and pharmacy expenses were the largest cost drivers for their business

MARIETTA, Ga., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Contrary to a conventional perspective
among business executives that the top healthcare cost drivers for employers
are pharmacy and medical expenses, research presented during a recent online
webinar, hosted by Source Media, showed that lost workplace productivity due
to chronic and other illnesses is actually more costly to employers. The
purpose of the webinar was to clarify the true cost drivers because, as
three-quarters of webinar participants who responded to the webinar poll
indicated, many employers are still focusing primarily on reducing medical and
pharmacy costs.

Presenting the research was Ron Loeppke, MD, MPH, executive vice president of
health and productivity strategy for Alere, who led a recent multiemployer
study demonstrating that for every dollar an employer spends on medical and
pharmacy expenses, they spend $2.3 on health-related productivity costs. The
study, published in the April edition of the Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, examined the effects of absenteeism and presenteeism,
which occurs when employee workplace performance is impaired by a health
condition. The study was sponsored by the American College of Occupational and
Environment Medicine and conducted by the Alere Center for Health Intelligence
in conjunction with the Integrated Benefits Institute.

Some 180 of the nation's top employers, health plans and benefit consulting
firms learned about the study and other key facts while participating in "The
Business Case for Better Health" webinar hosted by SourceMedia, publishers of
Employee Benefits News and Employee Benefit Adviser. Nearly 74 percent of
webinar participants who responded to the poll stated that pharmacy and
medical expenses were the top cost drivers for their healthcare benefit
programs, while 75 percent noted that the primary reason they offered health
improvement programs was to save money.

"We need to find ways to encourage employers to look beyond just medical and
pharmacy costs," noted Dr. Loeppke, who has also conducted a number of other
studies on the impact of health on productivity. "We need to look at the
burden of chronic illness as well as the health risks as precursors to chronic
conditions and how that relates back to health-related productivity loss
(presenteeism and absenteeism) - those are key factors that are eating into
employers' profitability."

Loeppke and the other presenters - including Michael Taylor, MD, FACP, medical
director for Health Promotion for Caterpillar and chairman of the Center for
Health Value Innovation (CHVI), and Christine A. Reichardt, senior benefit
analyst with Journal Communications, Inc. and also a member of CHVI -
highlighted the value of health improvement and wellness programs as a tool to
help improve businesses' bottom lines and preserve their "human capital."
They emphasized the need for an integrated approach to healthcare benefits -
one that focuses on prevention and wellness as well as worksite health
programs, focusing on such issues as smoking cessation, diet, exercise and
health screenings.

Prevention, health improvement and evidence-based treatment can make
significant reductions to the economic burden of illness in America, according
to Dr. Loeppke. In fact, he says, the Milken Institute has shown that compared
to current trends, by 2023 with plausible improvements in preventing and
treating chronic conditions, the U.S. could:
-- Avoid 40 million cases of chronic disease
-- Decrease treatment costs by $218 billion per year
-- Reduce the economic impact of disease by 27 percent, or $1.1 trillion
annually

-- Increase the nation's GDP by $905 billion through productivity
gains

Identifying the true cost drivers and the value of productivity enables
employers to create more targeted and meaningful benefit programs, according
to presenters. More importantly, they said, such information helps to
demonstrate the business value of a healthier workforce and sell the value of
health and wellness programs to top executives.

For additional information or to view and listen to the webinar, go to
http://eba.benefitnews.com/blog/bythenumbers/-2681123-1.html

To order a hard copy reprint of Dr. Loeppke's study, email
alerenews@alere.com. Please include your name, title, organization, address
and phone number.

About Alere
Alere(R) (www.alere.com) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inverness Medical
Innovations, Inc. (www.invernessmedical.com) (NYSE: IMA). Alere, a Latin verb,
meaning "to care for" or "to support," offers the most patient-centered health
management services available from a single provider in the industry. Alere
services provide health interventions that are designed for the entire
lifespan from pre-cradle (high-risk pregnancy and NICU management) to
end-of-life care (complex care) as well as the continuum of health from
wellness (health and productivity programs) and prevention to total health
management of the individual for those having various chronic illnesses.

SOURCE Alere

Jan McClure, +1-770-559-1016, janm@mccluremedia.com, or Brenna Harrington,
+1-770-338-0357, brenna@mccluremedia.com