This issue brief from the National Business Group on Health outlines the business case for employers to address issues of racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health among their employees. The issue brief notes the following direct benefits when employers address these disparities:
- Decreases in utilization and medical costs
- Decreases in medical claims costs for serious conditions avoided by better screening, treatments and preventive care.
Indirect benefits include:
- Increased employee and dependent satisfaction with health care benefits
- Decreased absenteeism and presenteeism and increased productivity
- Less turnover, i.e., greater employee retention
- Increased organizational intellectual capacity
- Increased employee loyalty and workforce stability
- Increased competitiveness in attracting and retaining talent
- Increased longevity and quality of life because of earlier detection of disease and better management of chronic conditions
- Decreased short- and long-term disability costs
- Decreased workers’ compensation claims
Ignatius Bau 