Dear Health Care Executives:

In this edition of the ASHHRA Benefits and Wellness Bulletin (BWB) we hope that the stories inspire you and provide ideas that just might work in your organizations, improving the life and the wellbeing of you and your employees.

All organizations struggle with health plan design and continue to seek ways to provide employees with great benefits, though costs continue to increase. Articles in the BWB will address trends in plan design and benefit offerings. I know in our own organization it is a balance that we need to adjust for every year. Also, as the wellness curve is just gaining momentum, hopefully it will provide some relief in health care costs as all of us start to invest in our own health and wellbeing. The BWB will provide new ways to inspire and invigorate your thought process and possibly save you dollars in all of your organizations.

ASHHRA promises that it will continue to focus on being your trusted and dependable resource, offering quality services that help you develop in your health care HR role. We want each of you to feel that by joining ASHHRA you have made a wise investment in your dollars. ASHHRA is about networking, expanding your breadth of knowledge, and most of all, aiding you in better serving your employees.

ASHHRA appreciates your dedication to the health care human resource profession, and we will continue to improve in assisting you in the way you do your work. Please feel free to email me at sdrake@aha.org for any reason—we are here to serve you, our valued members.

Sincerely,

Stephanie H. Drake
ASHHRA Executive Director

 

Communicating Benefits Just as Important as Benefits Themselves

By Ed Bray, J.D.
If someone had asked me 15 years ago about my biggest fears, one of them would have been communicating. Not the type of communicating with family and friends (they will tell you I was talking at birth!). More of the speaking-in-front-of-a-group communication. I was never more nervous in school than those days when I would have to stand in front of the class and present something.
SOURCE: EMPLOYEE BENEFIT NEWS

 

Falling Morale Tied to Flawed Education

By News Reports
Research suggests that a slow but steady decline in employee morale from 2008 levels presents an opportunity to improve employee engagement during the upcoming benefits enrollment season.
SOURCE: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS NEWS

 

Community Hospital Auxiliary Awards Scholarships to Employees’ Children

Community Hospital Auxiliary recently awarded 31 scholarships, in the amount of $1,500 each, to eligible children of hospital employees studying for careers in health care.
SOURCE: POST-TRIBUNE / CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

 

Use of Incentives Grows as U.S. Employers Look to Improve Workforce Health, Productivity

U.S. employers are increasingly relying on incentives to drive participation in health programs and encouraging employees and their families to take better care of themselves, according to a survey from Aon Hewitt.
SOURCE: WORLD AT WORK

 

As Year-End Approaches, Are You Asking Any of These Questions?

By Ann Bares
Year-end creeps up earlier these days, it seems. At one time, I considered year-end to be approaching when the leaves turned color and the air turned cooler. These days, in the middle of a warm green August, I know year-end is on its way because people are reviewing their incentive plans and trying to nail down any changes to be made for next year. And I know this because of the calls and the questions I am getting.
SOURCE: TLNT

 

Yoga on Commission: More Employers Pay for Good Health Habits

By Jessica Stoller-Conrad
The Affordable Care Act encourages more employers to offer health insurance plans to their employees. But poor health habits and preventable illnesses are adding to the expense of these plans for employers. A recent survey suggests that, increasingly, employers are seeking to cut health care costs from the bottom up—by directly addressing the health habits of their employees.
SOURCE: NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

 

Eighty-Four Percent of Companies Report Renewed Focus on Leadership Development

Fortune 1000 companies don't have enough leaders coming up through the ranks to fill open and future leadership positions, according to a survey by The Cara Group Inc., an HR consulting firm.
SOURCE: WORLD AT WORK

 

Multigenerational Employee Engagement Imperative

By Bruce Shutan
With an increasingly youthful workplace come dramatic implications for employee benefits from the standpoint of recruiting and retaining top talent, but the biggest challenge will be tailoring strategies to multiple generations.
SOURCE: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS NEWS

 

Employers Offer Health Insurance Policies That Reward Healthy Workers

By Patricia Anstett
April Shipp is laced up and ready for her daily 45-minute trek around Chrysler's spacious Auburn Hills headquarters. The 50-year-old UAW benefits coordinator attends occasional Zumba, yoga and weight-loss classes at work and has access to a free personal trainer in the company's state-of-the-art fitness center. The company even has a pharmacy and Henry Ford Health System clinic on site.
SOURCE: INSURANCENEWS.NET / DETROIT FREE PRESS

 

Financial Literacy Tied to Productivity

By Editorial Staff
Financial literacy is so critically important to working Americans that it can make them more productive and less vulnerable to major economic uncertainty, according to a new survey, but only about half of employers said they provide basic workplace financial education.
SOURCE: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS NEWS

 

Survey Shows How Employers Are Dealing With Rising Health Care Costs

By John Hollon
Employers expect health care costs to rise an average of 7 percent next year, forcing organizations to employ a variety of cost-control measures that largely focus on asking workers to pay more, according to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health.
SOURCE: TLNT

 

Poor Employee Health Habits Drive Lost Productivity

Unhealthy individual lifestyle choices may result in substantially higher levels of lost productive work time, according to findings from a study published in the October issue of Population Health Management.
SOURCE: WORLD AT WORK

 

The Bullying Culture of Medical School

By Pauline W. Chen, M.D.
For 30 years, medical educators have known that becoming a doctor requires more than an endless array of standardized exams, long hours on the wards and years spent in training. For many medical students, verbal and physical harassment and intimidation are part of the exhausting process, too.
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

 

Fierce Q&A: Cleveland Clinic Wellness Program Gets Results

By Karen M. Cheung
As Cleveland Clinic's wellness program hits its five-year anniversary, Chief Wellness Officer Michael Roizen says the program is showing real results and returns. FierceHealthcare spoke with Roizen about how the program has affected the patients, the community and employees—plus previews a patient wellness widget that's in the works.
SOURCE: FIERCE HEALTHCARE

 

America's Hospitals are Sick; Limeade Shares What the Healthiest Do Differently

Hospital employees spend 10 percent more on health care, consume more medical services, and are generally sicker than the rest of the U.S. workforce, according to a recent Thomson Reuters study. Assessing these results, Limeade CEO Henry Albrecht stated, "These results suggest that the pressure and stress of care-giving is taking a toll. However the healthiest hospitals are seeing a different trend—healthier employees and lower health care costs."
SOURCE: LIMEADE

 

Residents Willing to Work When They’re Sick

By Carolyne Krupa
Resident physicians who come to work sick risk passing their illness to colleagues and patients, yet many doctors-in-training take the gamble. A survey of 150 Illinois medical residents found that 51 percent reported coming to work with flu-like symptoms in the past year, and 16 percent said they had done so at least three times, says an article published online June 18 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
SOURCE: AMERICAN MEDICAL NEWS

 

Companies Linking Rewards, Penalties to Wellness Program Results

By Matt Dunning
While the majority of employee wellness incentives offered in 2012 were aimed at boosting participation rates, a growing number of companies are linking rewards and penalties to measurable results among program participants, according to a study released this week.
SOURCE: WORKFORCE

 

How Shifts, Night Work Affect Hospital Workers

By Karen M. Cheung
Recent findings about the ill effects of shift work and lack of sleep might be worrisome for hospital workers based on that lifestyle. For instance, residents now work regulated hours under duty-hour limits to improve patient safety. But few may have considered what shift work, particularly at night, can do to hospital workers.
SOURCE: FIERCE HEALTHCARE

 

Health Professionals Look Inward to Tackle Obesity

By Scott Dance
Research has shown that healthy lifestyle choices on the part of physicians can translate into better care for obese patients. That care is important as the health industry seeks to tackle the rising costs of care, particularly for many chronic conditions that can stem from obesity.
SOURCE: THE BALTIMORE SUN

 

Loveland Hospital Looks to Reward Healthy Eating, Banish Junk Food

By Jodi Mathis
Medical Center of the Rockies officials will make the hospital one of the first in the nation to serve up a taste of what doctors and nurses preach to their patients: Eating poorly will cost you. The hospital on Tuesday started its Healthy U program, which encourages healthy eating by lowering the prices of healthy foods while raising those of less-healthy foods.
SOURCE: REPORTER-HERALD

 

On-Site Wellness Programs See Growth, Gain Support of Senior Executives

By Matt Dunning
While a majority of employers offering on-site health services to their employees still struggle to calculate their programs' worth, an even larger majority says senior managers support the programs, according to a Towers Watson & Co. study released July 31.
SOURCE: WORKFORCE

 

Massive Study Shows True Return on Wellness Plan Investment

By Christian Schappel
Upper management is rarely willing to sink money into wellness ideas that are based on conclusions drawn from a single survey or two, and for good reason. But it’s hard to ignore this data that shows a whopping return on investment (ROI) for wellness initiatives.
SOURCE: HR MORNING

 

Unconventional Ways to Relieve Compassion Fatigue

By Lynda Lampert
If you’re feeling burned out or worn out, or just don’t have your head in the game anymore, you may be suffering from what is now recognized as compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is a condition experienced by many health care providers across the spectrum of care. It can manifest with physical symptoms, such as migraines, muscle pain, or abdominal pain. It can also have an emotional component and produce depression, anxiety and stress.
SOURCE: SCRUBS MAGAZINE