Employee Health Screening

In many segments of society, we  hear about ethnic and racial profiling in negative ways. But what about when it comes to wellness programs?

When used for the specific purpose of beginning â.” or evaluating  â.” a wellness or disease management program, profiling isn’t just legal. It’s also encouraged.

Affects health risks

Different ethnic and racial groups tend to be more at risk â.” for genetic and/or cultural reasons â.” of certain health problems. Examples -

o  African-American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders are  at higher risk of diabetes than Caucasian employees

o  Chinese women are statistically twice as likely to get cervical cancer

o  Caucasians have disproportionately high rates of obesity and high blood pressure, and

o  Latinos have higher rates of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary illness than other groups.  The HIV/AIDS population is also disproportionately Hispanic.

Bottom line –  By investigating  the ethnic breakdown of your staff member population, you are able to set disease management (DM) program priorities with greater confidence and accuracy.

Healthcare quality an issue

A few studies also show there’s an unfortunate relationship between ethnicity and quality of healthcare. Many times, minority staff members receive inferior treatment and health education at the same facilities where others receive top-notch care.

This typically happens for innocent reasons. A common scenario –  a lack  of Spanish-speaking physicians in the network for your Latino staff. But the result is typically higher healthcare costs for you and, often,  greater reluctance among minority staff to seek needed treatments.

By profiling staff against the physicians in the network, you ultimately help staff get the care they need and the corporation to better control long-term costs.