Navigating Digital Health Solutions and Avoiding Digital Health Fatigue: Issue 61

I'm writing this today from San Diego where I'm attending the Employee Benefit News Benefits at Work conference. It's a great gathering of people across employers, consultants, vendors, and more finding ways to improve employer-sponsored benefits.

I spoke yesterday on how to navigate digital health benefits and how to build a framework to incorporate these into health plans. Point solution fatigue is very real and in many cases today, groups are juggling 10+ vendor relationships.

I spent time talking about how groups can make more informed, better decisions around which vendors to partner with. A key element of this framework is the iterative process below:

Data informs strategy, which identifies tools to implement, which must be evaluated, and data collected. This iterative process over time gives groups a rigorous way to make decisions that are right for them and right for right now.

We can expand on each topic as such:

Let's focus on Data, which is the starting point for all of these and so often a gap for employers.

Data engines, such as Springbuk or Artemis, are tools that collect clinical data and store it outside of your TPA. They allow benefits managers to perform detailed analysis of the care their employees receive. This data tells us what clinical needs employees need, and leads to the strategies and tools they'll engage with for their population.

Once you know where your claims are coming from and what conditions your employees are working through, we can get very intentional about what solutions you work with.

Once you've selected tools and resource to offer your employees, get very serious about how you communicate them. This isn't the Field of Dreams - if you offer it, people won't come. You have to lead people to these tools and constantly reinforce them.

Studies find that a below average plans communicated effectively are seen favorably by employees at a nearly 3X rate compared to an above-average plan that is ineffectively communicated.

The bottom-line here is that smarter benefits decisions start with data. If you don't think you have good enough access to your data, let's talk.

?? Employment and Compliance Updates

Workplace Drug/Alcohol Policies in a Legal Weed World: 10 Easy Steps Marijuana is still an illegal drug under federal law, although the Drug Enforcement Administration has issued proposed regulations that would ‘downgrade’ marijuana to a Schedule III drug (some legitimate uses). Employees in positions that are subject to federal drug laws should be handled in accordance with the applicable federal regulations. Read more

OSHA’s New Severe Injury Report Dashboard: More Public Shaming or a Tool to Help Prevent Injuries/Illnesses? OSHA requires employers to report a fatality or severe injury (“SIR”). Generally, a fatality must be reported within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss must be reported within 24 hours. Information about the SIR requirement can be found here. Read more

Whether Buyer or Seller: Heed This WARNing One often forgotten consideration in many mergers and acquisitions is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN Act). Whether you are a buyer or a seller, you should consider whether the WARN Act and/or a parallel state/local notice requirement is implicated by your deal. Read more

Should Directors Have Access to What Employees Say About Corporate Culture? When it comes to managing human capital, many companies not only will hire an independent third party to conduct a “corporate culture” survey about how employees feel about their jobs, but also will give directors unfiltered access to the anonymous responses. Read more

Politics in the Workplace and the Risks of Social Media In 2017, former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy noted in Packingham v. North Carolina1 that the most important place for the exchange of ideas is no longer the physical town square but cyberspace and, in particular, social media. Social media has only gained currency since then as the predominant forum for political discourse. Read more

Fourth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of FMLA Retaliation Suit Based on Credibility Concerns A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the summary judgment dismissal of a former worker’s FMLA retaliation and interference case in favor of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., parent company Exelon Corp., and several individual employees. The Court ruled that the gas company’s suspicions of dishonesty concerning the former mechanic’s request for medical leave based on hypoglycemia was a credible reason for his termination, thus justifying the dismissal of his unlawful termination suit. Read more

New York State Enacts Workplace Violence Prevention Law for Retailers New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Retail Worker Safety Act, a bill amending the New York Labor Law to impose certain workplace violence prevention requirements on covered retail employers. Read more

Authentication of Electronic Signatures – What Employers Need to Know In a recent decision in Isabel Garcia v. Stoneledge Furniture LLC, et al., a California Court of Appeal made a significant ruling concerning authentication of electronic signatures in arbitration agreements. This ruling has implications for California employers who seek to enforce arbitration agreements in the employment context. Read more

That's it for this week! Please reach out if you have any questions at [email protected]