Kraft Foods Honored by IBI and NBCH for Health & Productivity Leadership
DALLAS, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was honored with the 2013 Healthy Workforce Productivity Award by the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) and the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) at the annual IBI/NBCH Health & Productivity Forum. The annual award recognizes leadership in the area of health and productivity and honors an employer that has worked with its employees to develop, implement, and measure an innovative health and productivity initiative.
In 2010 Kraft embarked on a new health and productivity strategy. The goal was to improve the health of their employees and families, maximize workforce productivity, provide affordable and accessible care to employees at all income levels, and manage health care costs in a sustainable way. Aetna was a key partner with Kraft on this new strategy providing comprehensive support and targeted outreach driven by robust population health data.
"In order to be effective, leadership, vendor, and management commitment and support are all critical," said Kathy McAlpine, senior director, benefits at Kraft Foods Group. "But in addition, the overall strategy has to be implemented thoughtfully with an understanding that changing behavior is a process and too much change too quickly can be overwhelming. It is so important to listen to feedback, review metrics and make adjustments when appropriate."
Kraft was honored for the integrated strategy that they worked with Aetna to develop. The company offers comprehensive programs and tools with targeted outreach supported by Aetna One, a high-deductible health plan and health savings account, as well as a four-tier prescription drug benefit program for employees. To engage employees and drive healthy behaviors, customer service and care management programs were integrated to make it easier for employees to participate, surcharges were added for non-participation in key health management programs and incentives of up to $500 per employee are paid for taking steps to manage and improve their health.
"Kraft's program demonstrates what we've known for some time—healthy employees are good for business," said Thomas Parry, IBI president. "By engaging senior leadership at the top and employees throughout Kraft, the company was able to create an organization-wide program that earned real results—both lowering health risks and boosting productivity."
As a result of this effort, Kraft reduced its medical spend trend from 8 percent in 2009 to 1.2 percent in 2012, and completed health risk assessments (HRAs) jumped from 39 percent to 99.5 percent from 2009 to 2010. Kraft also saw increases in clinical program engagement and improved clinical outcomes and realized a reduction in presenteeism. Most importantly, population health has improved based on health risk scores in all categories.
"Kraft is an excellent example of an employer fully integrating their health benefits program to reduce health care costs and improve population health and productivity," said Andrew Webber, NBCH president and CEO. "We congratulate them on this award and applaud their commitment to measure, manage and improve the productivity—and ultimately the health and well-being of their employees."
The award is sponsored by Ethicon Endo-Surgery and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems. Kraft is a member of the Midwest Business Group on Health.
About the Integrated Benefits Institute
The work of the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) emphasizes that healthy employees promote healthy business. As the leading research organization in health and productivity, IBI provides the data, research and tools that professionals need to make sound decisions about how they invest in the health of their workforce. Since 1997, IBI has been an independent nonprofit, currently serving 770 members—companies that provide health and productivity services and those that implement health-related programs to benefit their employees and their business.
About the National Business Coalition on Health
NBCH is a national, non-profit, membership organization of purchaser-led business and health coalitions, representing over 7,000 employers and 25 million employees and their dependents across the United States. NBCH and its members are dedicated to value-based purchasing of health care services through the collective action of public and private purchasers.
SOURCE Integrated Benefits Institute and the National Business Coalition on Health
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