While employers have moved four out of five workers into HMOs or PPOs, many still do not provide the preventive services that are the hallmark of managed care.
One employer in five does not cover mammography and more than one in four doesn't offer a prenatal program, according to Business & Health's 1996 executive opinion poll. The findings, detailed in the December issue of the magazine, apply to U.S. firms with 20 or more employees and reflect the responses of CEOs, benefits managers, and HR executives at companies nationwide.
Employers are especially lax in their use of workplace strategies to combat high blood pressure, smoking and obesity, all of which are major contributing factors to the nation's health expenditures.
For example:
- Nearly nine out of 10 respondents have never conducted on-site screenings for hypertension or high cholesterol, and fewer than 3 percent offer them now.
-More than eight in ten haven't tried smoking cessation or weight loss programs.
-Only about one in ten has an in-house gym or subsidizes participation in off-site programs, despite solid evidence of the benefits of regular exercise.
"Cost is at least partly responsible for keeping employers from instituting aggressive preventive practices or pushing their health plans to do so," writes Helen Lippman, managing editor and author of the article.
Or, more accurately, perceived cost, since firms that have tried such measures rate them reasonably cost effective and overall increases in healthcare spending were minimal. (Business & Health, contact: Rick Service, Editor, 201-358-7208, or Mary Doherty, 201-358-2231)