Senior management as wellness partners
Share "unconventional metrics"
In your quest to obtain resources for occupational health programs, don't consider management out of reach or earshot. "You might be surprised at some of the people who have the ear of senior management," says Tamara Y. Blow, RN, MSA, COHN-S/CM, CBM, FAAOHN, a Richmond, VA-based manager of occupational health services.
It may be that one of those individuals can be your ally in getting a senior level person to champion occupational health. Another option is to ask someone directly.
"Communicate to senior management that if they would work with you in a wellness program, they will not only be perceived by the employees as concerned about their wellbeing but also they will be able to decrease healthcare costs," says Blow.
As luck would have it, you may already have a senior leader who is very health-conscious. "If you do, say, 'I would like to use you as a role model to champion our health promotion programs!'" she advises. "Senior management is always motivated by a strategic plan to save money, improve productivity, and increase stakeholder value."
Always stress the decrease in health insurance and disability costs. "There are unconventional metrics that a nonmedical person wouldn't be able to interpret," says Blow.
For instance, if an employee is diagnosed with hypertension because the occupational health nurse performed on-site blood pressure screenings, only the occupational health nurse can demonstrate the associated cost savings by the avoidance of a heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure.
"Partner with someone in benefits to find out the hospitalization costs for a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure," she says. "Compute how much time that employee would miss from work if hospitalized and the impact on health insurance costs." Use those metrics to show cost avoidance because of early detection of high blood pressure.
"There are so many ways to show cost avoidance," she says. "Occupational health nurses can demonstrate dramatic cost savings even from a routine clinic visit." She recalls a case where an employee's doctor told her that she had Bell's palsy, and an occupational health nurse checked her pupils and found a brain tumor as a result.
"No one can articulate what we do like we can," says Blow. There may be occupational health programs that provide on-site leave and disability administration. You can demonstrate cost savings by returning the employee back to work sooner than normative disability guidelines. Later, multiply the saved days by the employees' salaries.
Blow notes that often, occupational health nurses are on the forefront working as consultants to human resources, management, and employees to create "win-win situations" for all parties involved.
"By doing so, the occupational health nurse functions as a mediator that will decrease potential lawsuits," says Blow. "There is also the question of reputational harm how do you put a price on that? You can't buy back the good will of employees."
The ability to create a win-win situation for disputing parties "is integral to our line of business. That is what we do best," she says. "These negotiation skills will help posture us as leaders in the future. What type of metric can you assign to the cost avoidance of potential lawsuits? Whatever the metric, the data belongs with the occupational health services department."
In your quest to obtain resources for occupational health programs, don't consider management out of reach or earshot. "You might be surprised at some of the people who have the ear of senior management," says Tamara Y. Blow, RN, MSA, COHN-S/CM, CBM, FAAOHN, a Richmond, VA-based manager of occupational health services.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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