Protecting Employee Health and Preventing Employee Accidents in the Health Care Industry
Currently, many companies face a dilemma, regarding health care. Simply stated, "health care costs have skyrocketed," for all employees, and they show few signs of going down, nor does Congress seem motivated to instate a nation-wide solution any time soon. Also, as a result of these rising costs, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have likewise increased-an average of 11.2 percent in 2004, making 2004 the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, according to the 2004 Annual Employer Health Benefits survey. (Bell, 2005) One 'solution' to the proposed cost increases is not to provide health care, particularly for part-time employees-for instance, as a consequence, there were at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than in 2001. However, within the health care industry itself is hardly a viable 'solution,' given the on-the-job threats faced by many workers, such as violence in large, public hospitals, the threat of infection and the greater exposure of health care workers to even mild ailments. Also, there is often a more vocal demand for better health care within industry workers, given health care worker's greater knowledge of the need for regular health-related screenings and tests.
Also, in a confidential fashion, the human resource staff can assess the overall levels of health care education, concern, and scrupulousness of employees. How many employees have regular checkups? Does the health plan cover annual checkups? How many employees smoke? How many employees routinely follow standard safety procedures? Human resource staff can also conduct a workflow assessment, to determine if screenings or even regular exercise sessions could be slotted into an employee's regular daily schedule. Collective wellness programs could increase employee performance, loyalty to the company, overall company morale, and also-a fitter health care worker is a better health car worker. In fact, preventative medicine might be the best solution to escalating costs, suggests Vicki Bell, in her article "Keeping Employee health care costs down." Regular checkups and healthy habits not only improve employee health but also reduce long-term medical expenses, according to Bell. This is because "when health care plans come up for renewal, insurance companies review past claims and determine whether to increase premiums, change the plan, or even whether to continue providing coverage at all. Insurance companies can refuse to renew coverage for companies with employees who have excessive cla
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Approximate Word count = 872
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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