Survey finds allergies most expensive condition
Productivity toll: $1.4 million per 1,000 employees
If you’re debating what your next disease management initiative should be, you may want to look closely at the findings of a recently released study of health care costs in Florida.
The study found that allergies cost employers nearly $1.4 million per 1,000 employees annually in lost productivity alone, more than any other medical condition. The recently released "Healthy People/Productive Community" survey was conducted by two Tampa-based companies, the Employers Health Coalition and the Employers Purchasing Alliance. The eye-opening data gathered from more than 3,500 employees of eight large Tampa-based employers have those employers looking to their health plans and local providers for help with allergy management.
Surveys often measure health plan member satisfaction or track medical claims. The Healthy People survey relied on employees to report what ails them and how much they are affected by those ailments, notes Frank Brocato, MSHA, DMin, president and CEO of the Employers Health Coalition. The survey is a second-generation tool, which followed an earlier measurement that identified the most prevalent diseases among employers, he adds.
Sneeze-away productivity
Allergies topped all other conditions in costs due to lost productivity. Nearly 28% of employees surveyed reported suffering from allergies. Those employees reported losing an average of 3.2 days every four weeks due to lowered productivity caused by allergy symptoms, and another one-tenth of a day every four weeks for sick days associated with allergies. That means if the average employee earns $15 per hour, companies are losing $1.4 million per 1,000 employees annually due to allergies alone. (See box, above, for cost calculation formula.)
Other survey findings include:
• Depression costs employers $880,152 annually in lost productivity and affects roughly 9.1% of employees surveyed.
• Hypertension costs employers $520,884 annually in lost productivity and affects roughly 15.9% of employees surveyed.
• Other, non-allergy related, respiratory conditions cost employers $398,580 annually in lost productivity and affects 7.3% of employees surveyed.
• Asthma costs employers $275,808 annually in lost productivity and affects 5.2% of employees surveyed.
• Diabetes costs employers $187,200 annually in lost productivity and affects 5% of employees surveyed.
• Heart disease costs employers $148,512 in lost productivity annually and affects 3.4% of employees surveyed.
• Hepatitis costs employers $36,504 annually in lost productivity and affects 1.3% of employees surveyed.
• High-risk pregnancy costs employers $46,644 in lost productivity annually and affects 2.3% of employees surveyed.
• Breast cancer costs employers $25,272 annually in lost productivity and affects .6% of employees surveyed.
For more information on the survey, contact the Employers Health Coalition, 1111 N. Westshore Blvd., Suite 608, Tampa, FL 33607-4702. Telephone: (813) 281-5665. Fax: (813) 286-2730.
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