Preventive Care and Employees

Preventive care is medical care that focuses on disease prevention and health maintenance.  Preventive services result in earlier detection of diseases.  Having your preventive checkups completed also may lead to earlier discovery and identification of risks that could lead to further health problems down the road.  Common examples of preventive care services are screening tests, health education, and immunization programs.

There is more and more research being published connecting preventive care visits to overall health and well-being of employees.  Employers that offer and promote their preventive care benefits are seeing healthier and happier employees.  Employers are also seeing that employees are missing less days due to illness.  These employees that are taking advantage of their preventive services are more productive when they’re at work, they miss less days, and they are more loyal to their employers.

Preventive care is a vital part to having a healthy workforce.  When preventive care is being used, it catches illnesses and diseases in their earliest stages.  In 2004 there was a study completed that reported 7,600 cases of late-stage breast cancer, 20,000 cases of late-stage colorectal cancer, and 21,000 cases of bone disaese fractures.  All of these diesesases could’ve been treated or prevented with earlier detection, preventing the $485.2 million in excess medical claims.

Here is a link to Humana’s Preventive Services Guide.  This is just to give a general overview of what type of services are preventive.  You should check with your specific plan to know what is covered under your plan.  This should just be used as a guid.

Humana Preventive Services Guide