A recent survey finds nearly 42% of employers with 200 or fewer employees have some sort of disease management and/or smoking cessation program. That’s a huge increase from four years ago, when just 28% of smaller employers offered such programs.
There’s more to come, too. Fifteen percent of respondents that didn’t currently have a disease management component to their health plan hope to add one by 2011. Surprisingly, many firms consider the still-struggling economy to be an incentive to offer disease management. Reason: greater control over long-term health costs.
According to the survey, the highest-demand disease management programs are for diabetes, asthma and heart disease.
Source: Small Employer 2009 Benefits Survey, PDR Consulting Group.
