The Role of Health Insurance Companies in Disease Management

Abstract This paper will analyze the increase in healthcare costs that has attributed to a trend in health insurance plans’ and employer groups focus on disease management through emphasis on wellness programs (Ex; health club credits), and disease management with the hopes of preventing and decreasing the number of insured’s with chronic illnesses. Disease management is defined as a systematic approach to coordinated health care that seeks to identify individuals and populations who are at risk of developing certain chronic medical conditions. In the past couple of years, health insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna and United HealthCare have implemented various extensive disease management programs with a goal of prevention rather than cure.

The Role of Health Insurance Companies in Disease Management
The main goal of chronic disease management is to help patients self-identify any irregularity before the condition progresses to a life threatening. More than 133 million Americans, or 45 percent of the population, have at least one chronic condition. These conditions include but not limited to; arthritis, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular (heart) disease, and diabetes, though these are only a few of many chronic illnesses that negatively impact the lives of Americans (Centers for Disease control, 2013).
According to a survey conducted by Hewitt Associates (2001), 76 percent of employers availed disease management programs to their employees as part of their healthcare coverage benefit through a private health insurance company. In addition, 20 percent of employers were debating on adding disease management programs in order to control health care costs.

References
Duncan, I. (2004). It's Time for the Industry to Move on From ROI (7 ed.).