Health Costs Push Companies to Set Targets for Workers

More employers are getting involved in health care as well as cost soar.  The one item that would tend to make me feel uncomfortable is the overseeing by an insurance carrier.  Also, there is a big "supposed" in the final line below as to who will have access to the records.  Let's hope this is true to form.  BD

WATCH your cholesterol and triglycerides. Your boss and fellow workers are counting on it. As the nation’s employers aim to get their money’s worth from ever more expensive medical insurance, many are playing a bigger role in managing and monitoring their workers’ health. Employers not only want a healthy group, they want to keep a lid on health costs — and insurance premiums. 

Take Intuit, the Silicon Valley software company known for its Quicken and TurboTax financial software. Intuit pays employees $100 each for voluntarily filling out an online medical questionnaire that is intended to flag problems and suggest remedies.

Textron, a multinational conglomerate that insures more than 30,000 employees in the United States, tries to head off major medical expenses by using a contractor to sift through employees’ insurance claims. If the process detects a condition that may warrant closer monitoring, the employee will receive a call from a “health coach” to offer guidance for questions to ask a doctor.

Ms. Wilkins of Intuit said that when her company introduced its health questionnaire last year, she fielded many questions about who would see the data. She said that she reassured workers that no one at Intuit would have access to the questionnaires, which are overseen by Optum, a unit of the insurer United HealthCare. She also reminded them that the survey was voluntary.

Medical records are "supposed" to be accessible only to third-party health-plan administrators or other outside vendors the employee has authorized.

Source:  Health Costs Push Companies to Set Targets for Workers - New York Times