Physicians slow to adopt e-health records
The New England Journal of Medicine reports that fewer than one in five of the nation's doctors has started using electronic health records, with many citing cost as the reason why.
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In a government-sponsored survey, electronic health records were used in less than 9% of small offices with one to three doctors, where nearly half of the country's doctors practice medicine, the New York Times reports. "Bringing patient records into the computer age, experts say, is crucial to improving care, reducing errors and containing costs in the American health care system. The slow adoption of the technology is mainly economic."
The New England Journal of Medicine published the online report on Wednesday.
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Promoting chronic disease prevention in the workforce
New data from the American Cancer Society shows that an in-house program aimed at employers produced successful results with cost-effective strategies for chronic disease prevention.
The consulting program, Workplace Solutions, pushes employers to adopt or increase proven, cost-effective or cost-saving disease prevention practices in several areas. These areas include tobacco cessation, clinical preventive services (such as cancer screening), and healthy eating and exercise habits.
The eight sample employers in the study increased their overall implementation of the recommended chronic disease prevention practices from 38% to 61%. Most successfully implemented measures were covering tobacco-cessation treatment (31% mean change) and covering cancer screenings (18%).
"Historically, it's been more difficult to prevent chronic diseases than to pay for them," says Jeff Cross, coauthor of the study and ACS product manager. "Our goal is to make it easier for employers to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases in the workforce," he adds.
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The Friday Fray: Pump Pain
Millions of workers are suffering from pain at the pump. So what's an employer to do? Some say it's not an employer's responsibility; other say it is. Listen in this Friday (June 20 at 1:00 p.m. EST) as we wrestle with the issue in another installment of our occasional discussion series, "The Friday Fray."
Joining in this Friday's discussion will be Roy Saunderson of the Recognition Management Institute and Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, authors of "Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It."
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Returning execs dread the vacation backlash
Time away from the office is meant to be enjoyed, but for some executives, the mounds of work they come back to may make them feel like they need another vacation.
One in three advertising and marketing executives polled by The Creative Group said they enjoy breaks from the job but dread the work awaiting their return. Another 10% said they prevent this scenario by rarely taking vacations.
Survey participants were asked, "Which of the following statements most closely resembles your views on taking time off for vacation?" Click here to see their responses.
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Rising health care costs will increase federal deficit
Escalating health care spending will be the principal reason for a large federal budget deficit in the near future, thus placing the government in real fiscal jeopardy, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Soaring medical expenses will also endanger employers' ability to cover their workers, which inhibits their ability to compete in the marketplace, GAO analysts report.
Several other factors that cause health care spending to climb will continue to play a similar role in the future. They include increased incidence of risk factors, such as obesity; utilization of new medical technology; and limited transparency on health information about cost, quality of care and outcomes.
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Public sector outspends private firms on compensation
Total employee compensation costs for state and local government employers ($39.50 per hour worked) exceeded those for private sector employers ($26.09) by more than 50% in September 2007, reports the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
This margin reflects the differences between the compositions of the workforces and the nature of the work performed in each sector, as well as the prevalence of unionization, defined benefit plans and high participation rates in employee benefit programs in the public sector.
Of the $39.50 per hour that state and local governments spent on employee compensation, $13.24 went to employee benefits (primarily health insurance and retirement plans), compared to the $7.66 per hour spent by private-sector employers.
State and local governments spent $4.35 per hour on health insurance benefits and $3.04 on retirement and savings plans, significantly more than their private-sector counterparts ($1.85 and $0.92 per hour, respectively).
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