previous blog < /a > , we covered three out of the four drivers of healthcare costs: < br / > 1) Basic costs & amp; bad luck; < br / > 2) Demographics and labor market; and < br / > 3) Health status. < br / > < br / > We learned that #1 and #2 account for a portion of healthcare costs that are non-mo..."> previous blog < /a > , we covered three out of the four drivers of healthcare costs: < br / > 1) Basic costs & amp; bad luck; < br / > 2) Demographics and labor market; and < br / > 3) Health status. < br / > < br / > We learned that #1 and #2 account for a portion of healthcare costs that are non-mo..." /> previous blog < /a > , we covered three out of the four drivers of healthcare costs: < br / > 1) Basic costs & amp; bad luck; < br / > 2) Demographics and labor market; and < br / > 3) Health status. < br / > < br / > We learned that #1 and #2 account for a portion of healthcare costs that are non-mo..." />

Part IV: Business Practices —A major, modifiable driver of healthcare costs. Entry 21 - 2009

In the < a href= " http://hhcf.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-much-does-health-drive-healthcare.html " > previous blog < /a > , we covered three out of the four drivers of healthcare costs: < br / > 1) Basic costs & amp; bad luck; < br / > 2) Demographics and labor market; and < br / > 3) Health status. < br / > < br / > We learned that #1 and #2 account for a portion of healthcare costs that are non-modifiable, and that health status is a less influential driver than one might expect. < br / > < br / > We move to the final driver of healthcare costs, which is both modifiable and significant, but unfortunately too often overlooked: business practices. What do we mean? Business practices are the entire set of employee policies and practices captured in everyone ’s workplace environment and employment contract—such as how compensation works, how health benefits are structured, how time off is allotted, how employees are trained and managed, etc. In combination, these practices have amazing influence over employee behavior. (This topic has been touched i n previous blogs and will not be surprising to regular readers.) However, the magnitude of business practices’ influence on employee behavior catches most people off-guard. < br / > < br / > < strong > < span style= " COLOR: rgb(0,0,102) " > The bottom line: < /span > < /strong > business practices can have three times the impact on cost as health status. First, some history. If business practices matter so much, why haven ’t...
Source: Health as Human Capital - Illustrated Research Summaries - Category: Health Management Authors: Source Type: blogs