The Executive's Guide to Controlling Healthcare and Disability Costs: Strategy-based Solutions

"The Executive's Guide to Controlling Health Care and Disability Costs is much more than a standard guide to cost containment techniques. Rather, it brings together the achievements of leading organizations, the most current research, and a strategic vision incorporating quality and value imperatives, continuous learning and improvement, and information-driven action commitments. The authors show the opportunity for improvement is great regardless of the direction of change in state and national public policies." - Mary Jane England, MD President Washington Business Group on Health "A groundbreaking book offering both innovative strategies and concrete solutions for employers. A must for any executive interested in regaining control over health and disability costs." - William D. Hager President and Chief Executive Officer National Council on Compensation Insurance "This book integrates the key ingredients for successful control of health care and workers' compensation costs: active, hands-on management by the employer, attention to the human beings involved, an effective organizational culture, and the same care and attention as given to quality." - Douglas F. Stevenson Executive Director National Council of Self-Insurers "The Executive's Guide to Controlling Health Care and Disability Costs injects a much needed dash of optimism into a pessimistic broth. We all need to be reminded that there are things we can do to manage this problem and that waiting for Washington to solve it is simply not enough." - John W. Rowe President and Chief Executive Officer New England Electric System "Management of their own employee health plan ranks among the most significant challenges facing the 1990s executive. The authors explain managed care and outline all the critical associated issues in an uncommonly insightful, nonjargonistic manner. The chapter on the new importance of health care information systems is essential reading." - Brian S. Gould, MD Senior Vice President United Health Care Corporation

Table of Contents:
Employer Control Over Health and Disability Costs.; OPTIMIZING MANAGED CARE: LINKAGE WITH HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY.; Integrating Risk Management Into a Health and Disability Strategy.; Developing a Quality--Based Health System: Employer--Directed Management.; Managing Health: An Intervention Approach.; Managing Care: A Systematic Approach to Obtaining Value.; Managing Productivity: Integrating Workplace Health and Disability.; Operationalizing Strategy--Based Management Through Information: Control, Performance, Investment.; MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE.; Addressing High--Risk Behavior.; Supervision for the New Health Issues.; An Integrated Approach to Employee Wellness.; Fighting the War on Substance Abuse.; Managing Stress and Employee Mental Health.; Innovative Strategies for Workplace Safety.; CONCLUSION.; Conclusion: Achieving the Full Promise of Strategy--Based Solutions.; Index.

About the Author :
About the authors BRUCE N. BARGE is an organizational psychologist specializing in health and disability risk management and quality improvement. He is an internal quality improvement consultant for St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, as well as the company's Director of Human Factors Loss Control, a policy--holder risk consulting service. He holds a PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Minnesota. JOHN G. CARLSON is President of RHM Systems, Inc., located in Marlboro, Massachusetts, a management consulting, information services, and training company addressing organizational costs and productivity issues related to health and disability. His management experience includes senior financial and operating positions in electronics and health care. He has an MBA in finance from the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago.