To help employers improve the health of children, adolescents, and women of childbearing age, as well as potentially reduce health care costs, the National Business Group on Health recently unveiled a comprehensive publication for employers. 

It offers a maternal and child health plan benefit model, includes case studies from Marriott International and AOL and lists best practices and suggestions for cost structure and plan design. It was developed by an advisory board of business leaders and representatives from leading medical associations. 

As an employer, if you improve the health of child-bearing women, children and adolescents, you will see lower overall health care costs, increased productivity, improved retention and less turnover than employers that do not offer similar programs, says Helen Darling, president of NBGH. 

About $1 of every $5 spent on health care by large employers is used for maternal and child health care, the report estimates. 

Pregnancy and childbirth account for nearly 25% of all hospitalizations in the U.S., according to 2006 data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The agency estimates that more than 4 million hospitalizations per year could be prevented by improving primary care, increasing access to quality treatment and encouraging Americans to live a healthier lifestyle.  

Peter van Dyck, associate administrator for maternal and child health at the Health Resources and Service Administration, says, "If we improve the health of children, adolescents and pregnant women … we advance the nation and lead to a healthier, more productive workforce." 

As with the general population, the high cost of maternal and child health care for a small percentage of individuals drives premiums across the board. While children with special needs represent less than 15% of the population, they account for 41% of all child health care expenditures. 

Benchmark data within the toolkit will "enable employers to make evidence-informed benefits decisions," says Lew Yeouze, worldwide partner at Mercer and a member of the advisory board that designed the study. Projects such as this one are an important step in allowing employers to "tailor approaches to their specific needs," he adds. 

• Data on the cost of maternal and child health care services
• The business case for investing in child and adolescent health, healthy pregnancies and primary care services for all beneficiaries
• Strategies employers can use to engage their employees in family health promotion
• Employer case studies
• Education materials for employees about important maternal and child health topics
• Tools employers can use to develop a maternal and child health strategy, communicate the value of their maternal and child health benefits and link maternal and child health outcomes to organizational performance.
• A benchmarking crosswalk linking maternal and child health plan benefit model recommendations to current HEDIS measures

Click here to download the complete toolkit.