How Employers Measure Disease Management

Chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease are eating up a growing share of US health expenditures. As a result, employers are boosting their investments in structured disease management (DM) programs to help employees with these conditions adhere to evidence-based medicine guidelines, make lifestyle changes, and navigate the maze of insurance rules and obligations. But even though employers believe that DM investments are an important means of keeping overall health expenditures in check, many don't currently measure the actual results of these programs. With ever-increasing pressure to capture and improve the cost-effectiveness of care and benefits approaches, health plan and disease management product managers must improve their measurement and reporting capabilities.