Aon Consulting Research Brief Shows Consumer Directed Health Model Can Motivate Improved Lifestyle Habits and Lower Spending
28 Novembre 2006 - 5:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
CHICAGO, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aon Consulting, the
human capital consulting organization of Aon Corporation
(NYSE:AOC), today released a research brief confirming the
long-term positive impact of consumer-directed health (CDH) care.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO )
Among the findings, this research brief (which can be found at
http://www.aon.com/cdh_impact_research_brief ) shows that when
health promotion and wellness programs are integrated with an
overall CDH plan, members are positively motivated to modify
behavior. "CDH provides significant motivation for employees to
spend their health care dollars wisely, and one of the best ways to
do this is by developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle," said
Tom Lerche, senior vice president with Aon Consulting. "Health
promotion and wellness programs connected to more traditional
health plans have experienced limited success due to a lack of both
personal and financial motivation. However, we now have evidence
that CDH works with promotion and wellness programs to improve
personal health status and lower claims." Plan data selected for
analysis were provided by South Africa-based Discovery Health and
its subsidiaries, including U.S.-based Destiny Health, which
together cover more than two million lives and, with few
exceptions, offer plans only on a full-replacement basis. "We
focused this research on organizations that only have CDH coverage
plans," said Lerche. "This allowed us to address claims from
skeptics that positive results are merely due to cost shifting or
adverse selection, which suggests that only the healthiest people
choose a CDH plan. The results reinforce our belief that by
leveraging the power of consumerism, CDH can play a role in
bringing the health care cost spiral under control." CDH Best
Practices This research brief reveals the following: 1. CDH plans
with integrated health promotion and wellness programs achieve
notable success in positively motivating members and modifying
their behaviors. Discovery's Vitality Program offers monetary,
vacation and merchandise rewards for healthy behaviors including
seeking preventive care, lowering cholesterol levels and improving
one's body mass index. Thirty three percent of the members of
Discovery's U.K. plan, offered in collaboration with PruHealth,
report changing their behaviors specifically to earn points under
the program. Also in response to the program, more than 80 percent
of Destiny Health Vitality participants in the U.S. report starting
either a nutrition or exercise program in the prior 12 months. 2.
Plans that include a wellness/incentive plan and offer riders for
individuals with chronic conditions work well for both the healthy
and the sick. By providing first-dollar coverage for maintenance
medications (outside the employee's health savings account),
Discovery has been able to assist its South African members with
chronic disease to accumulate savings, thus promoting equity and
ownership. In addition, Destiny Health's members with chronic
disease are eligible for incentives based on completion of disease
management programs, and cash-based recognition for participation
in risk-reducing programs, such as smoking-cessation, weight-loss
and exercise. 3. CDH members consume less health care when paying
from their HSAs, but do not accomplish this by avoiding necessary
care. Rather, the savings trace to a reduction of more
discretionary spending. For example, chiropractic care runs less
than two-thirds the industry standard, and emergency room visits
are 15 percent below the norm. 4. Short-term cost-saving behaviors
do not result in long-term ill effects. Members who have been in
the Discovery and Destiny Health plans the longest continue to
exhibit lower claims and hospital admissions -- a result that would
not occur if savings were the result of skipping preventive care.
On the contrary, in the analyzed plans, immunizations and well-baby
care ran 12 percent and 40 percent, respectively, above applicable
industry norms. For more information, contact: Joe Micucci, Aon
Consulting, 312-381-4786, . About Aon Aon Corporation (
http://www.aon.com/ ) provides more insurance brokerage,
reinsurance brokerage and risk management services than any other
company in the world, and is a leader in human capital and
management consulting and specialty insurance underwriting. Aon has
45,000 employees in 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed
by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon
professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk
management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon Consulting
Worldwide ( http://www.aon.com/hcc ) is among the top global human
capital consulting firms, with 2005 revenues of $1.255 billion and
6,800 professionals in 117 offices worldwide. Aon Consulting is
reshaping the workplace of the future through benefits, talent
management and rewards strategies and solutions. In August 2006,
Aon Consulting was named the best employee benefit consulting firm
by the readers of Business Insurance magazine. This press release
contains certain statements related to future results, or states
our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the
future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from either historical or anticipated results depending on a
variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results
include: general economic conditions in different countries in
which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and
fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested
assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could
influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could
affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension
plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to
implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended
to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase
program, our ability to consummate the pending sale of the Aon
Warranty Group, our ability to obtain regulatory or legislative
changes to permit continuous sales of our supplemental Medicare
health product, changes in commercial property and casualty markets
and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in
revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent
commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation
model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys
general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and
federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual
lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions,
derivative actions, and ERISA class actions, the cost of resolution
of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the
difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies
from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the
Company and its business, including factors that potentially could
materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in
the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Aon Corporation CONTACT:
Joe Micucci of Aon Consulting, +1-312-381-4786, Web site:
http://www.aon.com/ http://www.aon.com/cdh_impact_research_brief
http://www.aon.com/hcc
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