Can data help employers prevent diseases?

Employers can easily identify vulnerable populations and implement health care strategies to help prevent disease using data.

Employers have access to troves of data that can help business leaders, consultants and health care providers minimize the impact of disease on employee populations. (Image: Shutterstock)

Many health benefits leaders and brokers would be happy to simply get more timely, accurate medical and pharmacy claims data that can help guide better health benefits planning. Even better would be insights that are actionable (beyond the table stakes of data aggregation). But perhaps we’re on the brink of employers taking the plunge into data in a way that can become more visionary — because ending preventable disease is within reach given the vast amounts of data we have on employee populations.

2020 was a challenging year in which employers stepped up to demonstrate care for their employees’ well-being. The next step in that progression is taking on the challenge of getting ahead of disease.

Related: Sustainable employee health care begins with prevention

When the coronavirus outbreak spread across the globe in early 2020, we all wanted to know how to avoid contracting COVID-19. The medical community gathered data and identified conditions in people that would statistically make them more susceptible to the novel virus. It was data that informed the public on how to avoid the disease and what populations were at risk. Given the amount of health care data we collect on behalf of employers, the same approach is possible for a great number of diseases. We can easily identify vulnerable populations and create education, implement benefit programs, or health care strategies to help prevent disease using data.

For decades, employers have tried myriad approaches to help address employee health — from smoking cessation programs to initiatives to increase breast cancer screenings to education about reducing diabetes. But the underlying motivation was typically centered around bringing down health care costs, not necessarily centered on a mission to reduce disease by using data already at their fingertips. The question is: Should employers play a role in preventing disease for reasons other than cost control? As administrators of health care plans for employee populations, they have access to troves of data that can help business leaders, health care consultants, and health care providers minimize the impact of disease.

The cost of doing nothing

The impact of health issues on productivity is immense — sick days caused by routine illness, chronic conditions, stress, mental health, and substance abuse. Employer health care costs are estimated to rise 5.3%, according to the nonprofit organization Business Group on Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that employers lose about $225 billion a year in absenteeism just related to stress.

Consider the business impact of the opioid crisis: The National Safety Council estimates that workers struggling with substance issues miss about five weeks a year in sick days, compared with the typical worker who misses three weeks a year due to illness. When workers suffer from mental health issues, their health care costs are 262% higher, according to aggregate Springbuk data. Helping employers identify these risks within their employee populations can cut down on lost productivity due to sick days, reduce absenteeism, and save countless dollars in health benefits spending.

How one company harnesses data

Let me share an example of how a company can take on this role of combating disease with data. Our team at Springbuk, together with Sequoia Consulting Group, helped an international retailer tackle opioid and mental health issues within the company’s employee population. Studying a broad spectrum of health-related data revealed that 80% of at-risk employees also had underlying orthopedic or mental health conditions. Examining medical claims data, the company found it was spending four times as much ($16,000 per year) on employees at risk of opioid abuse than typical employees.

Springbuk and Sequoia leveraged the insights from the health data of the retail company to develop a strategy to manage the potential health care costs of opioid usage. The company then designed benefits that:

What the company did in just six months was impressive. The number of opioid patients decreased by 16%, members receiving more than a seven-day supply decreased by 32.5%, and the company’s plan reduced health care spending on substance abuse–related claims by 60%.

The time is now to use health data for good

Addressing employee disease, whether it’s pandemic support or chronic conditions like diabetes, can drive home benefits to organizations beyond cost savings. Job candidates are increasingly attracted to brands that embrace a new social contract — serving a mission beyond the business interests. Attracting and retaining talent is easier when people view the activities of an organization as righteous — whether it’s charitable initiatives, volunteerism in the community, or when they take on causes such as racial injustice. It’s time to add overcoming disease with health data to employers’ missions to do better in our communities. Employees will notice. So will future employees.

Penny Moore joined the Springbuk team in the spring of 2020 as the Chief Commercial Officer, where she leads the Sales and Marketing team through strategic initiatives and promotes new market development. She has more than 25 years of health care leadership in working with self-funded employers through executive roles with United health care, Aetna, and leading growth strategies for early to mid-stage companies focused on improving population health through digital technology. 

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