How ethnic profiling can lower benefits costs
September 17, 2008 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Healthcare costs, Special Report, Wellness
Generally when we hear about racial and ethnic profiling, it’s in a negative light. But what about when it comes to wellness programs?
When used for the specific purpose of starting – or reviewing – a wellness or disease management program, profiling isn’t just legal. It’s also encouraged.
Affects health risks
Different racial and ethnic groups tend to be more at risk – for genetic and/or cultural reasons – of certain health problems. Examples:
- African-American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders are
at higher risk of diabetes than Caucasian employees - Chinese women are statistically twice as likely to get cervical cancer
- Caucasians have disproportionately high rates of obesity and high blood pressure, and
- Latinos have higher rates of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than other groups.
Bottom line: By reviewing the ethnic breakdown of your employee population, you can set disease management program priorities with greater confidence and accuracy.
Healthcare quality an issue
Several studies also show there’s an unfortunate relationship between ethnicity and quality of health care. Many times, minority employees receive inferior treatment and health education at the same facilities where others receive top-notch care.
This usually happens for innocent reasons. A common scenario: a lack of Spanish-speaking doctors in the network for your Latino employees. But the result is usually higher health costs for you and, often, greater reluctance among minority employees to seek needed treatments.
By profiling employees against the doctors in the network, you ultimately help employees get the care they need and the company to better control long-term costs.
Tags: chronic illnesses, Wellness
September 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Your tagline really caught my eye, and I was relieved to see the direction this article was taking; i.e., “know your employee population, and make sure your benefits and wellness programs are designed to serve that population”.
However, I think there is a danger of potential use of this information for the wrong purposes. Although I like to believe that most companies act with integrity, there is a possibility, especially for those who are self-insured, to review annual benefit usage and reduce or eliminate coverage for certain conditions that prove to be high-loss items.
So I would caution others to consider this possibility, and ensure that this doesn’t happen – and that the information you gather is used to benefit the employee population, while at the same time reducing your benefit costs.
September 18th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
There is another racial group that is not mentioned – Asian Indians. A large amount of that population is vegen but the preparation is thru something called ‘Ghee’ which is nothing but clarified butter. The consumption of cooking oil is also extremely high. I work with a larget number people from this ethnic group and there is very little concept or understanding how to alter their eating and cooking habits.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Or, Dawna – also frightening – some might not hire from a certain racial group because of the cost of the conditions they are prone too.
Just a point of information, ghee is not vegan…butter is an animal product. Whether one is a vegetarian, vegan, or non-veg s/he has to make healthful choices within his/her own standards. You can make healthful or unhealthful choices no matter what your style of diet. Perhaps it’s not the lack of understanding of how to alter their habits; perhaps it’s the same lack of desire to alter that keeps people at fast food drive-thrus.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Iknow you mean well however your choice of terminology “ethnic profiling” is totally unintelligent!
September 19th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I think it’s kind of silly that we try to pretend like there are no differences between ethnic groups. Obviously, there are, and those differences truly make life more fun and interesting. However, I also think it’s totally and completely wrong to discriminate in any way because of someone’s race, gender, etc. I think we have a responsibility to use information in a positive manner and this article is a good example of responsibly and ethically using data. The goal should always be to better take care of the employee population and to better meet their needs. If we are doing that, specifically in a wellness plan, it will reduce cost in the long term because employees will be getting the quality of preventative care they need to better manage their health. Nothing good will be accomplished by wearing blinders and denying differences. In a situation like this, it’s only when we respect and value those differences that we truly banish discrimination. Then we can focus on what we can do to better meet those varying needs.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I agree Gwynn, the terms ethnic profiling immediately conjures up negative thoughts as the articles states. I perfectly understand the purpose of this article, however it would have been best to say “cultural profiling” instead. It’s already enough minority ethnic profiling that has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare.
Some solutions to the healthcare culture shock: hire interpreters and bilingual health educators. My background is healthcare, and countless times I’ve encountered patients at doctor’s offices who didn’t speak English and we had to scramble around until we could find someone who could understand the patient or find an interpreter. I’ve also worked in hospitals that have interpreters on hand that can assist with a phone call.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Often cultural diet practices are driven by socio-economic status. Income or the lack thereof determines the types of food one might consume over a lifetime. A person who is raised on eating the intestines and other scrap parts of animals are more likely to develop chronic disease in adulthood. Whole grain breads and cereals are more expensive than processed varieties. What is a choice of eat what you can or die evolves into die because you ate what you could. Additionally the lack of income makes preventative measure virtually impossible, for well-care visits and annual physicals are too expensive, so trends go undetected until they become out of control.
If employers want to truly influence employee health and reduce benefit expenses long-term, they should pay all employees a living wage based on the cost of living where they reside. Minimum wage contributes to minimum health and minimum life.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
To my mind, the very use of the term “ethnic profiling” puts this whole subject in a negative light. If all employers always had the best of intentions and all employees completely trusted their employers, I wouldn’t have a job. This is a slippery slope, one best navigated without regard to the probability of any employee’s genetic tendencies. Better to apply wellness programs across the board and let employees choose for themselves the screenings and programs that are, in their own judgement, best suited to help them manage their health on their own.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
James, what minority group does this “person” belong to when you say, “A person who is raised on eating the intestines and other scrap parts of animals are more likely to develop chronic disease in adulthood.” How did you come about this information? When you say intestines, are you referring to chitlins?