It is somewhat ironic after 15 years, that dHMS is finally getting to the Health Management piece of business.  With emphasis in the last 15 years on managing disability claims for employers, dHMS is moving to also help employers in managing their employees’ health.

While we continue to believe that it is vitally important for an organization to initiate cost containment when it comes to absenteeism, it is also very prudent to strategically review why their employees are increasingly becoming chronically ill with diseases that are preventable.

The continued rise in health care costs and absenteeism, have not been contained with present medical measures.  It is now time to address health first to prevent disability with alternative choices to staying healthy, in collaboration with the medical measures that we are all so familiar with.

Health and wellness programs in the United States have been in existence for over 60 years, while here in Canada, these programs are just beginning to peek the interest of workplace senior managers. The ongoing debate is whether or not a corporation sees a return on their investment.  Do you personally see a return on your investment when it comes to managing your health by seeing a variety of health professionals or participating in different modalities?  This isn’t a complex question or a mystery.  The answer is yes!

Health education is vitally important in today’s times to empower individuals to get healthy and stay healthy.  For myself, Director at dHMS, I believe I am the average when it comes to health – I’m always working at it! Some don’t work at it whatsoever and some are fanatics, like anything else in life.

Health isn’t a destination – it really is a journey – one step at a time – one issue at a time. The problem is, that ‘others’ believe we should all lose weight, we should all stop smoking, that we should all exercise every day for an hour – this one size fits all, doesn’t work for everyone.  We can continue to push for this type of health and wellness in the workplace, or we can get to the root of each individual and help them succeed in their health from THEIR  perspective. At least offer them a variety of choices.

Forcing people to quit smoking – yep – we know it’s good for their health but sometimes it isn’t the first thing we should be tackling.  Why are they smoking should be at the top of our list.  The quitting comes later.

When you hire your next disability management company to manage your claims, ask yourself, are they really addressing the root of the problem, or some words written on a medical note? Do they even see your employees face to face or are your employees just a piece of paper to them?  If we are going to make any difference in managing an employee’s absenteeism – don’t you think that a client centered approach is so much more effective?

Something to consider – at disAbility & Health Management Solutions – we actively manage health and absenteeism by sitting in front of the worker, looking at them in the eye and saying, ‘how can we help?’ The companies that have used our services understand the importance of personal one on one involvement.  If an employee’s health isn’t personal, I’m not so sure what is.

Make sure the disability management process you are using is the right one for your company.  When I see a health care facility, whose primary business is the health of those living in the community, I fail to understand why they would choose a telephonic approach to managing their employees’ health. It is important that organizations look at what is going to benefit the work environment in the long run, not necessarily this year’s budget.  And while I totally agree, that you will see a financial return on your investment, ask yourself, is this enough?

For more information on how we manage health & disability, feel free to contact us.