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Workshops
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Workshop
A-1: Employers tackle health disparities
National Business Group on Health:
Employer Toolkit for Reducing Racial & Ethnic Health Disparities
The National Business Group on Health – aware of the evidence documenting
racial and ethnic health disparities – launched the Health Disparities
Initiative in 2001 to raise awareness about the health and cost repercussions
of these disparities on an increasingly diverse workforce. As a component
of the Initiative, the Business Group developed – An
Employer Toolkit: Reducing
Racial & Ethnic Health Disparities – to provide large
employers with pertinent information about and practical strategies to
assess and reduce racial and ethnic health disparities among their workforces.
The National Business Group on Health hopes that large employers champion
this toolkit as a comprehensive, practical resource for the corporate
sector to use to learn about, assess and reduce racial and ethnic health
disparities among the workforce. Additionally, the Business Group encourages
large employers to consider implementing some of the strategies recommended
in the toolkit or to use them as a catalyst to design and launch innovative
programs to help reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.
Key Facts
and Information
- Reducing Health Disparities: Why and How Companies Are Making It
Their Business
- Bridging Language and Culture Gaps in the Workplace
Important
Findings
- The Executive Summary and the Analysis Paper of Racial and Ethnic
Differences in Health Risks and Health Care Experiences: Findings from
Pilots at Company-Sponsored Health Fairs
- The Executive Summary and Chartpack of the Findings of the Employer
Survey on Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities 2003
Strategies
and Solutions
While an emphasis on strategies and solutions underscores all of the
information in this toolkit, this section contains culturally and linguistically
competent surveys, and innovative and practical recommendations that large
employers can implement today to help assess and reduce racial and ethnic
health disparities among their diverse workforces.
Attached to the employer toolkit is Help
Your Employees Reach Their Health Goals – a culturally
competent CD-Rom designed to help large employers educate their diverse
workforces about cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and raise awareness
about healthy decisions.
Courtney
Rees serves as a Program Associate at the National Business
Group on Health. In her position, she works on projects and resources
that focus on preventative and health promotion activities in the corporate
sector. Currently, Ms. Rees directs the Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Initiative at the Business Group. It is a multi-pronged effort to: provide
information to large employers about the impact of health disparities
on the quality of health care among their employees; create practical
strategies on how employers can purchase health care for an increasingly
diverse working population; and serve as a link between the business and
public health communities. Ms. Rees holds a BA with Honors and Distinction
in Human Biology – with a concentration on Race/Ethnicity and Health
Care Policy – from Stanford University.
Courtney
Rees
Program Associate, National Business Group on Health
50 F St. NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20001
rees@businessgrouphealth.org
202.585.1824
www.businessgrouphealth.org
Verizon Communications
Silver Spring, MD
Who We
Are
A Fortune 20 company and a leading provider of communications services
with approximately $68 billion in revenue (2003). We bring the benefits
of communications to everybody. We cover over 700,000 people with health
benefits, 154,000 employees (without Wireless); 30% minority employee
base. We spent $2.6 billion on health care in 2003. We are charged with
managing our health care dollars through a mix of activities including
improving health care quality. Our strong commitment to diversity extends
to all aspects of our business, including health care management.
What We
Are Doing
- Working with our health plans across the country (about 49 carriers)
to encourage activities within their membership and provider networks
to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, including cultural competence
and awareness.
- Targeting internal communications to educate on disparities using
NBGH Employer Toolkit flyers and handouts.
- Sharing our efforts with other employers to encourage broader emphasis
for purchasers to incorporate activities to reduce disparities and strengthen
the dialogue between their constituents and providers about their health.
How We Can
Contribute
Employers as purchasers have a stake in ensuring that their finite health
care dollars are being used to provide quality health care coverage for
all of their constituents. Innovative efforts to improve the quality of
care provided, especially to include diversity as part of the equation,
and enhance services to provide better outcomes and quality of life should
be incorporated in the evaluation of health plan performance. In addition,
the IOM included patient education as an initiative to help reduce racial
and ethnic disparities. Employers have prime opportunities to communicate
this concern within their populations and should take full advantage of
those opportunities.
Our Challenges
- Make sure the disparities message stays before senior management and
does not get lost in the debate on other health care issues. We’ve
incorporated the disparities expectations in our public policy statements
on health care issues, soon to be released.
- Partnering with health plans whose census reports small concentrations
of minorities in their service area. Working with NCQA to assess the
feasibility of strengthening accreditation and/or HEDIS standards to
evaluate disparities efforts within all health plans.
Audrietta
is one of the Human Resources Benefits Specialists for Verizon Communications
and is located in Silver Spring, MD. She manages the Verizon HMOs for
the Washington Metropolitan area, DE, VA and WV. She is also responsible
for making recommendations to senior management regarding benefit design
changes and the medical plan's overall performance. Audrietta is also
responsible for program implementation for the Prescription Drug Program.
Audrietta represents Verizon as the Chair of the Employer Council for
Health Disparities for the National Business Group on Health. This Council's
focus is to raise awareness among employers about the issue of Health
Disparities for disease conditions among employees across various race,
ethnic and gender groups with the same access to insurance and provider
base. Audrietta was featured in an article in the April, 2004 issue of
HR Magazine encouraging other employers to join the fight against racial
and ethnic disparities in health care. She has been working with Verizon’s
health plans to continue to raise awareness and is also working within
Verizon to bring the issue to the forefront for employees, retirees and
their dependents. Audrietta is also currently serving on a panel with
the NCQA on assessing the feasibility of adding performance measurement
for implementing actions to combat disparities in health plans. Audrietta
began her career in healthcare management over seventeen years ago at
Marriott International in Benefits Administration. While at Verizon, she
completed requirements for the designation Professional, Academy for Healthcare
Management. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing
from Howard University in Washington, DC and is currently working on her
Master of Healthcare Administration/MBA from the University of Maryland
University College. She and her husband, Al, have two sons, Benjamin II
and J. Coleman.
Audrietta
C. Izlar, PAHM
Benefits Strategy and Design
Health Care Management
Verizon Communications
13100 Columbia Pike, C14
301-989-3960; Fax: 301-236-5723f
audrietta.c.izlar@verizon.com
www.verizon.com
Marriott International, Inc.
Washington, DC
Who We
Are
Marriott is an international corporation with 130,000 associates and
2,700 properties worldwide. Our health plan costs are approximately $350
million annually, covering 159,000 employees and dependents in the United
States through 67 HMO plans and 1 national PPO plan. Forty percent of
Marriott employees do not speak English as their primary language and
therefore have communication and cultural barriers within the health care
system. Understanding the vast body of research documenting the health
challenges and risk factors affecting racial and ethnic minority populations
in the U.S. – particularly Hispanic Americans, Marriott confronts
health disparities on several levels.
What We
Are Doing
- Active Health Management: Preventing adverse clinical events and reducing
healthcare costs for health plan members through evidence-based clinical
information, innovative technology and targeted communications. This
is used for our 47,000 PPO members. Active Health has created Informed
Care Management for Marriott employees with chronic conditions. Informed
Care Management develops customized care plans for employees that have
been proven effective by engaging the patient, addressing health disparities,
and monitoring of clinical issues on an ongoing basis.
- EValue8 RFI: Joining with other health care coalitions and large
employers to address health care disparities.
- Aetna-Marriott Initiative: Working with Aetna to understand the needs
of Marriott employees in the health care system. After gathering feedback,
Aetna and Marriott worked together to improve services and begin outreach
to providers and employees.
How We
Can Contribute
All three of these innovative programs have produced positive results,
both on employee health as well as health care spending. Marriott is confident
that by addressing racial and ethnic health disparities among our diverse
employee population, we can make a significant impact. Improving communications
and outreach to employees, especially in providing materials and interpreters
in preferred languages, have contributed to our success in beginning to
tackle the issue. We will continue to address the needs and desires of
our associates, ensuring a healthy employee population for many future
years.
Jill Berger
is the Vice-President, Health & Welfare Plan Mgmt and Design for Marriott
International, a leading hospitality company with 130,000 employees nationwide.
Jill is responsible for the strategy, design and management of Marriott’s
benefit plans – with an emphasis in health plan quality improvement.
She serves on the NCQA Purchaser Advisory Council, is an active member
of the Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety, and serves on the Executive
Client Advisory Groups for Aetna, Kaiser and eValue8. Jill is also President
of the Mid-Atlantic Health Care Coalition.
Jill
Berger
Vice President, Health & Welfare Plan Management and Design
Marriott International, Inc.
One Marriott Drive
Dept. 52/935.62
Washington, DC 20058
(301) 380-5712
jill.berger@marriott.com
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