What are some of the newer components of health benefits programs?
Some health benefits companies are adding discount programs that focus on healthy living, including diet and nutrition counseling, and discounts at local fitness centers. Meanwhile, disease management programs focus attention and resources on conditions where patient self-care efforts are significant. There are specific intervention programs for diabetes, asthma, wound care and congestive heart failure. If you thought health care didn’t have enough acronyms, here is one more. Some carriers are beginning to offer Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) programs. CAM focuses on alternative forms of health care treatment, such as massage therapy, acupuncture or homeopathy. It is one of the fastest-growing areas of employee health benefits. There are estimates that as many as 36 percent of adults use some form of CAM. These additional benefits are not just bells and whistles, because the introduction of these programs often increases employee satisfaction. The goal of these programs is to
