Q&A: How employers can shift their focus to preventive employee health
Dr. Alain Sotto, Director, Year-Round Care at Medcan, answers our questions
We interviewed Dr. Alain Sotto to discuss the ways health relates to workplace safety and how employers can help prevent chronic disease.
1. Why is it important for employers to invest in employee health?
I like to tell employers to think of health as part of the safety and culture of your organization. Safety doesn’t just mean providing safety goggles and hard hats—though the risks and costly liabilities involved in not doing so on a hazardous job sites are clear.
In a more corporate setting, safety risks are still there. Mental health issues, obesity and poor sleep can cause hazards in the workplace. This is worth considering on top of the costs of chronic disease to a business – the costs of absenteeism, presenteeism and drug costs.
Essentially, investing in employee health is integral to reducing these workplace hazards, reducing these costs and preventing chronic disease.
2. What costs, specifically, are related to chronic disease?
There are five chronic diseases that are going to be your biggest cost drivers.
- Mental health issues: which basically count for 35 to 40 per cent of disability in the workplace, both short-term and long-term
- Diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome: all in one cluster
- Cardiovascular diseases: heart attacks, stroke and other related diseases
- Musculoskeletal problems: Chronic back problems, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.
- Cancer
3. How can employers help mitigate these costs?
Employers should focus on mental health services and accommodation first, because that’s the biggest cost driver.
Diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome should come second. And then cardiovascular disease.
Those three are going to be the bulk of your cost drivers and drug utilization. And this is where preventive employee wellness really pays off in a big way.
4. What do you mean by preventive employee wellness?
Employers still tend to have a reactive approach when it comes to wellness plans. Prescription drug costs are going up but we’re not doing enough for prevention.
Your employee’s family physician can help deal with acute reactionary problems, but generally won’t have time to concentrate on prevention in a big way.
That’s why helping employees reach better health and mitigate chronic disease through preventive care is really the hallmark of employee benefit plans. Benefits should focus on services that provide lifestyle counselling.
For example, I believe having dietitians and other lifestyle counselling professionals as a core part of all benefits plans is a big step in the right direction. They can help employees reach better health and mitigate the chronic disease that affects all employers.
5. Why are dietitians important for employee health?
Dietitians are an example of professionals who are focused on prevention.
To break it down, Type 2 diabetes has doubled in Canada since 2000 according to Green Shield Canada. This causes all kinds of benefit costs that could be prevented by changes in eating habits with the guidance of a professional.
Currently dietitians are not covered in most benefit plans. Green Shield Canada found that only $100,000 was spent on benefits related to dietitians in 2014. Meanwhile, $144 million was spent on glasses, orthotic shoes and chiropractic and massage services in the same year.
Dietitians are integral to preventing diabetes, obesity and all the chronic diseases associated, saving employers in costs and ultimately saving lives.
More to come from Dr. Sotto
We sat down with Dr. Sotto to talk about how early detection, education and engagement is integral to preventing chronic disease in employees. Watch for the second part of our interview coming soon.
