On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in under four minutes for the first time in recorded history. Not a professional athlete, Bannister was a medical student at Oxford University and ran the mile in 3:59:40.
This accomplishment may not sound as remarkable now - in the age of high-tech, computer-monitored training, professional sponsorships and cutting-edge nutritional science - as it did then, but in the early 1950s many people simply didn't believe that any man could run a mile in such a short amount of time.
It wasn't human physiology that kept athletes from breaking that four-minute barrier, but psychology. Amazingly, within three years of Bannister's record run, more than 30 other individuals broke the four-minute mile. Was this coincidence or had Bannister shattered the preconceived notions that were holding others back?
A modern challenge comparable to the race for the sub-four-minute mile is the struggle to effectively manage, or flat line, health care costs. Most companies still hold on to the unshakable belief that they can do nothing to combat never-ending increases.
Because of this self-imposed limitation, their best efforts are constrained to desperate tinkering and actions that result in only short-term effectiveness. These near-sighted attempts have very little or no impact on the long-term trend of their medical cost.
Paradigm shift
Just imagine what might be possible if companies and their senior leadership could shake their preconceived notions and adopt a new belief system that empowered them with the knowledge that they could significantly control their health care cost trends. Such a paradigm shift would represent a sweeping change to how we manage the health and well-being of our employees and even ourselves. But this new paradigm isn't just a dream; it can be a reality.
There are a growing number of corporations, large and small, across the nation that are successfully controlling their own health care costs. The revelation that is shocking more and more CEOs and CFOs is that these individual companies have more influence over their own health care spending than any other party involved in the process.
Unfortunately, managing health care cost is not as black and white as running a mile in under four minutes. It's influenced by countless variables from the age of the insured population, to the company's geographic location, to the effectiveness of the health providers in the network, to the efficiency of the third-party payer systems, to the speed of medical advancement. The list goes on and on.
Roger Bannister had very few variables with which to deal: the time on the stopwatch and his belief that he could break the barrier. Without his personal conviction, the record may never have been broken.
The Roger Bannisters of the corporate benefits world have long achieved the equivalent of a sub-four-minute mile. So why aren't companies standing in line to take advantage of lower health care costs and increased productivity?
Change is difficult, especially on a personal level, so companies often ignore the success stories they hear from benchmark corporations and hold tight to their comfortable paradigms. It's simpler. It's safer. It requires no effort.
Others have decided to wait for governmental health care reform to deliver the silver bullet that will miraculously solve the entire problem. To justify their lack of motivation and action, others still rely on the questionable argument that their businesses are different and that such programs would not work for them.
Regardless of size, companies should take matters in their own hands and break the harmful cycle of stagnation by shamelessly copying what the pioneers of health care cost management have already accomplished. Each and every employer has the opportunity, if not the responsibility, to take control of their own health care costs.
For the next few months, I intend to focus on providing profiles and insider information from companies that have achieved truly remarkable results in managing health care costs. These are companies that have reinvented the delivery of medical care for their insured population and improved the productivity of their workforce in order to become a beacon for other corporations currently sitting on the fence. -M.P.
Keys to organizational health promotion
Commitment
- We have a clearly defined vision and mission to engage in health promotion.
- Our policies and programs support our health promotion mission.
- We have strategic priorities for addressing the determinants of health.
- We value partnerships with diverse organizations and communities.
Culture
- Our leaders and managers enable health promotion practice.
- Health promotion principles and values are practiced and celebrated at all levels.
- Positive and nurturing relationships are fostered among employees.
- Communication throughout the organization is open and timely.
Structures
- Our structures facilitate collaboration, both internally and externally.
- We have effective policies for human resource development.
- We use evidence-based processes for strategic and program planning
Resources
- We dedicate adequate human resources to health promotion activities.
- Resources for health promotion are allocated from our core budget. Source: Prairie Region Health Promotion Research Centre
Contributing Editor Michael Puck, SPHR, is the benefits practice leader for 33,500 employees at a global defense, security and aerospace company, author of "Health care Cost Management - The High Road" and founder of www.8020wellness.com. E-mail him your success stories at michael@cut-healthcare-cost.com.
