Newswise — A new case study by Mayo Clinic Health Management Resources shows how a risk-stratification approach helped First Tennessee National Corporation reach their employee health-management goals. Mayo Clinic Health Management Resources e-Health Strategies at First Tennessee National Corporation are designed to reach employees with risk- and need-appropriate health programs -- in other words, to deliver the right level of health services when employees need them.
"Our goal is simple: To support employees and their families in leading healthy lifestyles and to reward them for doing so," says William Schwindt, senior vice president of Compensation and Benefits, First Tennessee National Corporation. "As individuals identify health-risk factors and modify lifestyle accordingly, we expect to see a decrease in the growth of medical-plan expenses over time. This program will benefit everyone -- the company and employees."
Here's how risk stratification works: A company-wide health-risk assessment helps categorize the population's risk of certain medical conditions and then matches those risks with appropriate services and interventions. Individuals with a low risk of medical problems receive broad-based services while those at higher risk are matched with personalized services to help prevent the development of serious health problems or the worsening of chronic health conditions.
The case study documents how risk stratification works at First Tennessee National Corporation. On any given day, employees at First Tennessee National Corporation can read a customized employee health newsletter from Mayo Clinic or refer to the book, Mayo Clinic Guide to Self-Care. First Tennessee National Corporation employees can go online from work or home to their customized Mayo Clinic Web site to participate in disease management programs, start a healthy lifestyle program, complete a health-risk assessment and find answers to health questions.
Advice on health concerns also is available by calling Ask Mayo Clinic nurse line. Employees needing more specific health-management information can get confidential, one-on-one guidance and telephone counseling through the pregnancy-care program and the quit-smoking program.
Through a Health Risk Assessment Group Report, First Tennessee National Corporation can identify it's population's top health risks, including which risks employees may be ready to change. With this information, human resource and wellness planners can map patterns of risk by work site and offer appropriate interventions delivered through other resources such as the newsletter.
"Access to this level of robust data is what puts the 'management' in health management," says Neil Sullivan, implementation manager for Mayo Clinic Health Management Resources.
In the first year after launching its Mayo Clinic custom Web site, First Tennessee National Corporation learned the most popular topics were women's health, pregnancy and baby care, and food and nutrition. More than 70 percent of First Tennessee National Corporation's employees are female, and so pregnancy is the highest benefit cost and a main target of the program.
The case study provides an example of how one woman with a difficult pregnancy received counseling from a Mayo Clinic nurse, who helped her understand complications, medical tests and warning signs of gestational diabetes.
"I wasn't as apprehensive because I knew what to look for," says Karen, a para-planner in First Tennessee's Chattanooga offices. "Cathy [the nurse] was more readily available than my doctor."
The risk-stratification approach has helped First Tennessee National Corporation create a culture in which employees are encouraged and assisted in making wise decisions about benefits enrollment and their retirement planning.
"Logically, if employees make appropriate decisions about their benefits, this helps the company in terms of indirect costs measured in productivity gains and reduced absenteeism," says Sullivan.
Mayo Clinic Health Management Resources works with employers and member organizations throughout the United States to provide population health-management tools, including customized health newsletters, self-care books, Web sites, health-risk assessments and telephone health programs. Companies interested in more information about Mayo Clinic Health Management Resources may call 800-430-9699.
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