This article accompanies Back to Work.

This Health & Benefits Perspective by Mercer reviews some of the prevailing absence and disability issues as employers decide how to move forward in the post-health-reform era.

The enactment of federal healthcare reform has placed employer-sponsored health plans at a crossroads, and most employers will be facing key strategic decisions over the next few years.

In addition, to lower costs and gain the most value from health-management initiatives, employers need to manage the cost of absence with an integrated approach that incorporates their health-management strategies.

However, developing and executing an integrated approach that's right for a specific employer is tricky, but there are some basic building blocks.

Rich Fuerstenberg, national group benefits specialty practice leader at Mercer, and Denise Fleury, a senior associate and expert in the area of absence and disability management, offer some best practices for managing disability absences in the era of healthcare reform.