Healthcare

This article accompanies Is the Price Right?

This article accompanies Game Change.

This article accompanies Is the Price Right?

In what is said to be the study linking binge eating to decreased workplace productivity, researchers say organizations should address this risk by addressing it in health-risk assessments and routine screening.

A recent study finds that, while some employee-assistance programs can offer help to victims of intimate-partner abuse, none has a standardized program to screen and offer help to perpetrators of such violence. Fear of legal ramifications is part of the reason, but HR leaders can work with their EAPs to enhance services.

Why do some workers find themselves permanently disabled when medical evidence suggests they should be able to recover from their injuries? Understanding neuroscience may offer a solution.

Specialty drugs are providing relief for sufferers of many chronic illnesses -- as long as they can pay for the treatment. Spending on such drugs accounted for one-fifth of all drug expenditures in the country in 2009, and it's expected to continue to grow.

With an unprecedented three days of hearings, demonstrating protestors and a nation's healthcare future hanging in the balance, the U.S. Supreme Court had its most hotly contested case in years -- reviewing the Obama Administration's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

It appears there is now proof that helping employees deal with their finances can help companies cut healthcare costs and boost productivity.

Employees are become more comfortable with the idea of health-savings accounts, but HR leaders need to make sure their organization's policies and procedures support enrollment in such accounts.

As organizations continue to grapple with requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the creation of new disclosure requirements has emerged as a particular problem.

Although the rate of healthcare-cost increases is expected to remain somewhat stable this year, employers say they are taking more aggressive steps to manage their rising costs and improve employee health.

The benefits offered to new employees now pale in comparison to what was standard in the past. But, as HR leaders balance rising costs against the need to attract and retain employees, some are beginning to rethink what they offer.

Dickens' "best of times/worst of times" quotation comes to mind when considering employers' changing approaches to healthcare.

When it comes to wellness, employers are moving toward cash incentives as a way to motivate employees, but it's still unclear whether positive or negative reinforcement works best -- and whether such efforts are seen by workers as encouragement or intimidation.

A recent study on employee-benefits trends finds some interesting trends since it first began annually analyzing the space 10 years ago. There are more worries about retirement savings, of course, but the study also shows a disconnect between employers and employees on the desirability of various insurance coverage.

Training employees on ways to meditate may be a low-cost method of reducing stress. While research on the subject is still ambiguous, such a method may be worth exploring by HR leaders.

Fatigued employees are more prone to increased accidents and decreased productivity. How well are your employees sleeping? Employers seeking to reduce their workers' comp costs may want to find out.