Gordian Health Solutions announced the addition of 52 new clients in 2005

Gordian Health Solutions, Inc. today announced the addition of 52 new clients in 2005, bringing comprehensive population health management services to employees of its client companies nationwide. The new business includes two state health plans and fully-insured and self-insured employers ranging up to 100,000 eligible lives. This represents 75 percent growth in revenues in 2005.

Gordian, based in Nashville, Tenn., is a nationally-recognized leader in population health management, with a full line of tools to analyze health status, health management programs and services, and unparalleled results reporting and tracking capabilities.

ìMore and more employers and insurers recognize the potential cost savings and health benefits of population health management,î said Gregg Lehman, PhD, president and CEO of Gordian. ìBy keeping their workforce healthy and offering health coaching expertise to those that have been diagnosed with a chronic condition, employers are offering the best employee benefit of allóbetter health.î

The Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan (MCHCP), that stateís employee health insurance program, began implementation of its program in October. In his announcement of the Gordian program Sept. 22, Missouriís Gov. Matt Blunt said the new program will help employees ìidentify their personal health risks and then help them address those risks so they will be healthier and less likely to need expensive medical care.î

ìEmployers have been experiencing double digit health care cost increases since 2001, and our growth has occurred in parallel with those annual cost increases,î said Roger Reed, executive vice president and chief health officer at Gordian. ìAnnual health care costs of this magnitude erode profit margins and hamper employersí efforts to provide better benefits, increase wages and still remain competitive. Employers find the Gordian solution attractive because Gordian delivers documented short- and long-term hard savings while other cost containment solutions seemed to be faltering.î

According to survey results released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sept. 14, companies of all sizes expect health care costs to jump an additional 12 percent over the next year. Business owners surveyed say they will ask their employees to pay an average of 21 percent of the increaseóalthough four out of five say they are concerned about their employeesí ability to pay the projected increases

More evidence is emerging that employers who expand their health benefit offerings to include population health and disease management are reaping measurable rewards. A recent scholarly review of return on investment for disease management programs concluded that positive return was found for programs addressing several chronic disease diagnoses when considering medical costs savings alone. The authors concluded that even more savings may be found, when considering productivity outcomes within the working population.

îCustomers purchase Gordian products fully expecting to achieve a positive return on investment, typically within the first year,î Reed said. ìDo these employers care about the health of their employees? Yes, without a doubt, because they know that better health leads to reduced health care utilization and reduced health care costs overall. These are the key ingredients of the successful programs Gordian offers.î

Gordian is unique in its ability to tie individual employee participation in health behavioral change programs to discounts in their health insurance premiums. The companyís sophisticated IT platform allows clients to lower the amount employees pay for health insurance as a program incentive for participation in any number of Gordianís lifestyle, health management and disease management programs.

ìOur clients find that the right incentives greatly increase employee participation,î Lehman said. ìAnd tying incentives directly to health insurance premiums helps employers keep the employee portion of rising premium costs in check.î

Gordianís ability to customize employee communications that reflect each clientís plan design, specific program offerings and incentives to participate is another key success factor.

ìOur clients like the idea that they can use their own branding to introduce and implement our programs, or that we can design a complete turnkey communications package to reflect their corporate culture,î Reed said.

Gordian clients select from a menu of programs, including Weigh To Be Healthy DM, its newest obesity management program. Other popular programs tackle cholesterol management, blood pressure management, stress management, and disease management for diabetes and heart disease.

Distributed by HR Marketer.com