Introduction
The United States spends more on health care per capita than any other nation in the world, and yet its citizens are not the world’s healthiest. The vast majority of U.S. health care spending—an estimated 84 percent—is associated with chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.1
The human costs of an unhealthy population are significant, and so is the economic impact. Some experts estimate that an unhealthy workforce costs U.S. employers $576 billion annually due to lost productivity, health care costs, and wage replacement.2 This threatens the nation’s ability to compete with strength in the global marketplace. Employers have increasingly recognized this fact, as well as the potential they hold to influence the health of the nation.
Employers can have a powerful impact on helping individuals and communities develop and/or maintain healthy habits that can improve health or better manage chronic conditions. The organizations represented on the CEO Council are leading the way toward a new understanding of health and health care, and a new vision of a health care system in which everyone plays an important role. Together they represent nearly one million members of the U.S. workforce and 104 million “covered lives” (e.g., employees, their families, and retirees covered by health insurance). Their impact is broader than this, however, through programs that promote health and wellness in the communities they serve.
These organizations are successful in the marketplace because they recognize and pursue the power of innovation in developing and delivering products and services, managing their organizations, and meeting the needs of their customers. They bring this same innovative approach to improving and supporting the health and wellness of their workforces, developing creative strategies, and employing best practices. Through this Council, these companies are sharing their health strategies and best practices in order to highlight and spread successful initiatives to other organizations.
Letter from the Members of the CEO Council
Goals of the CEO Council
The goals of the CEO Council on Health and Innovation are to:
● Share innovative strategies and best practices that Council members are using to promote health and wellness and improve the quality, cost-effectiveness, and patient experience of care;
● Encourage other employers to implement strategies that will improve health and health care in the United States; and
● Promote learning and improvement by tracking and sharing outcomes and best practices.
CEO Council members are focused on advancing innovative strategies that fall into three pillars:
1. Those that improve the health and wellness of individuals (e.g., employees, their families, and retirees);
2. Those that improve the health of the communities; and
3. Those that improve the health care system.
A Health Care Advisory Board, made up of chief executives of organizations representing clinicians, consumers, and hospitals, is providing expert guidance in this collaborative effort. In addition, former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders and Co-chairs of BPC’s Health Project Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Bill Frist (R-TN) are advising the Council, along with Janet Marchibroda, BPC’s director of Health Innovation, who serves as the Council’s executive director.
Advisors and BPC Staff
Senator Tom Daschle, Former Senate Majority Leader; Co-Chair, Bipartisan Policy Center Health Project; Advisor, CEO Council on Health and Innovation
Senator Bill Frist, MD, Former Senate Majority Leader; Co-Chair, Bipartisan Policy Center Health Project; Advisor, CEO Council on Health and Innovation
Janet M. Marchibroda, Executive Director, CEO Council on Health and Innovation and Director, Health Innovation Initiative, Bipartisan Policy Center
John Michael De Carlo, Policy Analyst, Health Innovation Initiative, Bipartisan Policy Center
Acknowledgements
BPC would like to thank and acknowledge the many individuals from CEO Council member companies who contributed their guidance, time, and expertise to the project.
1“Chronic Care: Making the Case for Ongoing Care,” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010. http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2010/rwjf54583
2“Poor Health Costs U.S. Economy $576 Billion,” Integrated Benefits Institute, September 2012. Graphic. http://ibiweb.org/research-resources/detail/poor-health-costs-u.s.-economy-576-billion-infographic