PEORIA, IL – Since 2002, Caterpillar has kept its medical inflation rate to below 2 percent while recently reporting positive employee health outcomes.
The global manufacturer’s success can be attributed to its data-driven focus on understanding the health risk profile of its employee population, developing value-based programs to manage those risks and later measuring how well the programs are doing, said Michael Taylor, MD, Caterpillar’s medical director of health promotion.
Caterpillar modified an existing artificial intelligence-based production tool and, using health risk assessment (HRA) data, deployed it to identify its high-risk groups.
Understanding that the data derived from HRAs triggers everything, Caterpillar incents its employees to fill out the HRAs twice yearly. As a result, 95 percent of its HRAs filled out by U.S. employees is current.
Better tools that better define risks lead to better intervention, said Taylor.
To date, the company’s 12-month tobacco cessation program has had 2,500 current and past enrollees and has achieved a 34 percent quit rate among its general employee group. Its diabetes and coaching programs each have had 2,000 employee participants.
The Center for Health Value Innovation, of which Caterpillar is a member, helped the company articulate the concept of value-based design – developing medical and wellness plan designs with cost tied to the value derived by employees who use the programs.
Caterpillar created a cross-functional collaborative team to develop and implement its programs, a process that includes educating and communicating with employees as well as physicians, hospitals and the community. Taylor said the company’s integrated plan design team was critical to the success of its programs.
The collaborative effort is a common thread among the most sophisticated programs nationwide, said Cyndy Nayer, president and executive director at the center.
Lynne Dunbrack, program director at Health Industry Insights, an IDC company, said medium- and large-sized employers are recognizing that these programs are good for reducing medical cost and medical inflation rate.
“Employers that view their employees as important assets also recognize that healthy employees are productive employees,” she said. “Wellness and prevention is a win-win for employers and employees.”
Nayer agreed, saying, “Investing in workforce health delivers a positive return on your investment every time.”