EAPs Help Manage Health Care Costs

Business Management Daily recently reported that Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are on the rise as employers cope with rising health care costs - and employees cope with the stresses of an uncertain economy.  Employee use of EAP services was up last year in nearly half the companies surveyed by Towers Watson.

Increasingly employers are integrating their EAP with other components of their health management strategy.  Positioned correctly, the EAP can act as an effective vehicle for managing health care costs and enhancing employee productivity in the following ways.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse (MH/SA) Gatekeeper
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 prohibits group health or self-insured plans covering more than 50 employees from imposing caps or limitations on mental health treatment or substance abuse benefits that are not also applied to medical and surgical benefits.

That means higher costs for coverage through traditional health insurance plans.  But EAPs with an MH/SA gatekeeper component can provide comparable services at much lower costs.  Gatekeepers coordinate mental health and substance abuse care.

Disability Claims
According to The Hartford Insurance Company, workers who accessed their EAP while on short-term disability (STD) leave returned to work twice as often at the conclusion of an STD claim than employees who did not have an EAP available to them.  The study also found that STD claim duration was 24% lower after EAP interventions, for members with cancer, musculoskeletal and psychiatric STD claims.

Wellness Promotion and Disease Prevention
EAPs now offer positive hands-on workshops and individual assistance around employee wellness and communication materials for organizations and wellness committees to help change the perception of EAPs from illness to wellness.

LMA-EAP offers many wellness programs - these workshops are open to all organizations.  See our current listing of programs.

Holly Gardner Socolow, MHS, is Manager of Employee Assistance Services at Life Management Associates.  You can contact Holly at 717.394.6688 / 800.327.7770 or via email hsocolow@lifemanagement.cc

Resources:
Business Management Daily
The Hartford Insurance Company