Integrated benefits make business sense

The economic cost and impact of employee absenteeism and medical treatment, as well as the growing focus on workforce productivity in the country, are resulting in a shift in the risk management strategies of many South African companies.

Corporations, from small to large enterprises, are increasingly considering and implementing risk management measures such as absentee management and wellness programmes to help reduce the health risks and costs to the business, while at the same time effectively boosting the productivity and wellbeing of their workforce. However, many companies currently use a range of providers to achieve their goals.

Integration

The integration of medical schemes with group life and disability benefits and absentee management by a single coordinator offers companies a distinct business advantage, in that a proactive approach can be taken to manage workers back to health and back to work, while minimising absenteeism and all the associated costs. This integrated solution also attempts to replace the typical model of insulated information silos of the distinct functional areas of insurance, medical aid and absentee management, allowing for a synergistic and symbiotic relationship between those parties. This also reduces the administrative burden placed on human resource departments when dealing with claims.

Pre-empting chronic conditions

The integration and combination of these services also means that a service provider who manages the integrated benefits of that company will be able to identify, pre-empt and work to prevent acute, treatable medical conditions exhibited by employees from developing into chronic conditions. High-risk individuals can also be more closely monitored, assisting with early intervention rather than costly, reactive medical treatment should an event occur.

Central management

The effectiveness and ability to pre-empt such occurrences requires that all aspects of the integrated benefit model be managed centrally, using absentee management to underpin the entire process. Effective absentee management is likely to pick up a problem long before medical aids can provide insight into a recurring ailment or acute condition. An effective integrated risk management programme will therefore correlate information from insurance and medical aid claims with company human resource absentee information, ensuring employees receive more appropriate management earlier, when necessary.

Tailored solutions

However, in order for these solutions to be effective, employers, and especially their line managers, need to buy into the concept 100% and they must commit to working with their sick leave management specialist, insurer and medical scheme to ensure that all relevant information is received and submitted in a timely manner. Also, as integrated benefits are needs based, and vary from one company to the next, it is unlikely that there will be a commoditised, off-the-shelf solution that can be box-dropped into every company.

Relationship management between all parties will therefore play a major role in the successful implementation of any integrated risk management initiative.