Years ago, the American Institute for Preventive Medicine launched National Wise Health Care Consumer Month. Health care costs were rising, and we wanted to promote the cost-saving, health-enhancing potential of medical self-care and health care education programs as part of workplace wellness.
Years later, health care costs are still rising. Consumers are spending more time choosing cars and appliances than selecting a health plan and skimping on prescriptions to save money.
We’ve seen a wide range of trends take hold in workplace wellness — biometric screenings, on-site clinics, online health portals — and while we’re happy to see employers exploring new strategies and implementing new tools, we still believe in simple, cost-effective, time-tested solutions, and we still think medical self-care and wise health care consumerism should play a central role in the workplace.
We believe that wise health care consumers:
– Choose their care providers carefully and thoughtfully
– Communicate with their health care providers
– Are comfortable asking questions, sharing concerns and negotiating costs
– Analyze and evaluate sources of health information
– Practice preventive care
– Know when to treat themselves at home
– Understand their prescriptions and take them as directed
To kick off the month, we’re offering a free Wise Health Care Consumerism Toolkit. We hope it will help you get the gears turning, brainstorm health care consumerism programs and provide you with a few resources you can use in your efforts.
Throughout February, we’ll be sharing information and resources about wise health care right here on the blog (healthylife.com/blog) and on Twitter (twitter.com/workingwellblog) with the hashtag #whcc2012.
Do you promote wise health care consumerism in your workplace? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line here or leave a comment below.
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