Pitney Bowes
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| Date of Entry: |
8/1/2006 |
| Major Locations: |
US- Northeast
Stamford, CT (HQ) |
Industry:
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Manufacturing
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| Employer Description: |
Products and services for document and mail distribution worldwide.
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| Total Number of Employees: |
34,000
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Contact:
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J. Brent Pawlecki, MD, MMM, Corporate Medical Director - 203-351-6434, brent.pawlecki@pb.com
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| Problem Statement: |
The company’s disability management program began in 1993. Pitney Bowes now has a database that integrates healthcare claims (medical, behavioral health, and pharmaceutical) Workers’ Compensation, EAP services, disability, human resource demographic and salary information, clinic utilization, and information from disease management vendors. Having these data elements in one integrated system allows the Disability Management Program to identify issues that then drive wellness and disease/condition management intervention strategies designed to improve employee health and manage disability. |
ROI:
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Reductions in the number of disability cases and lost workdays and the duration of disabilities resulted in significant savings in 2003.
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Examples of Mental Health Innovation: |
Disability/Case Management
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- Build a healthy, engaged, and productive workforce by integrating behavioral and physical health, wellness and disability
- Detailed Description
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Evaluation/Metrics
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- Lost workdays were reduced by 19% — approximately 1,000 lost workdays were avoided due to behavioral health reasons alone.
- Detailed Description
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Health Plans
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- Pitney Bowes implemented parity of mental health benefits in the early 1990s — well before the limited, but historic, 1996 parity law.
- Detailed Description
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Integration
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- Database that integrates healthcare claims, Workers’ Compensation, EAP services, disability, human resource demographic and salary information, clinic utilization, and information from disease management vendors
- Detailed Description
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Wellness
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- Emphasize the importance of personal responsibility in health.
- Financial incentives are given to employees for taking care of their health.
- Detailed Description
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Click here for additional links and references about Pitney Bowes programs.
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Disability/Case Management
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The goal of the company’s Disability Management Program is to build a healthy, engaged, and productive workforce by integrating behavioral and physical health, wellness and disability. Pitney Bowes recognizes the often-complex nature of mental disorders and their growing role in short- and long-term disability and Family Medical Leave Act absences. The company’s behavioral health disability management program engages mental health professionals who are return-to-work oriented and who agree to collaborate with the health plan’s case manager. The managed behavioral health carve-out company performs case management, exercises delegated design flexibility, and handles first-level appeals and return-to-work monitoring. Final disposition of a case, however, remains internal under the control of Pitney Bowes rather than being at the discretion of the external vendors.
The process by which the behavioral health disability cases are handled includes the following features:
• Initial evaluation within 48 hours of claim receipt by a network of specially trained and credentialed assessors (M.D.s and Ph.D.s).
• A focus on functional limitations and treatment needs rather than strictly diagnosis.
• Authorization, where appropriate, for out-of plan treatment for recovery and return-to-work.
The program complies with the full range of confidentiality requirements.
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Evaluation/Metrics
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Part of Pitney Bowes’ success is based on its ability to quantify cost savings and reduce workdays to real numbers. Results to date for the behavioral health disability management program include the following:
• Approved disability cases were reduced by 25%. (The employee continues to receive treatment through the EAP or the behavioral health plan as appropriate.)
• The duration of disability cases decreased by 66%.
• Lost workdays were reduced by 19% — approximately 1,000 lost workdays were avoided due to behavioral health reasons alone.
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Health Plans
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Pitney Bowes implemented parity of mental health benefits in the early 1990s — well before the limited, but historic, 1996 parity law. When asked why parity of benefits was instituted, Dr. John Mahoney, M.D., Corporate Medical Director said, “It just made sense. We recognize that mental disorders are legitimate, valid illnesses that have to be treated appropriately.” He also said that Pitney Bowes encourages employees to use their mental health benefits and develops programs that work for their employee population.
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Integration
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Pitney Bowes has a database that integrates healthcare claims (medical, behavioral health, and pharmaceutical), Workers’ Compensation, EAP services, disability, human resource demographic and salary information, clinic utilization, and information from disease management vendors. Having these data elements in one integrated system allows the Disability Management Program to identify issues that then drive wellness and disease/condition management intervention strategies designed to improve employee health and manage disability. The company also integrated data from services delivered through the on-site medical clinics, EAPs, wellness program, e-health initiative, chronic disease case management, in-house Disability Assistance Unit, and Environmental Health and Safety Department.
Other enhancements include onsite medical facilities, a corporate culture that places employees and services at its center, and management practices such as flex-time and part-time work. Other employee resources such as EAP, Work/ Life, safety, and an ombudsman also support employee health.
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Wellness
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The wellness, prevention, and disease management programs at Pitney Bowes emphasize the importance of personal responsibility in health. Financial incentives are given to employees for taking care of their health. The company provides onsite fitness centers, ergonomic workspaces, nonsmoking work sites, healthy food options in the cafeteria, lactation rooms, and stretch breaks in factories and offices.
Special Awards & Recognition – Pitney Bowes was one of five employers recognized in 2007 by the National Business Group on Health with a Behavioral Health awards. Their award category was Disability Management for Behavioral Health. Read a full description at http://www.businessgrouphealth.org/pdfs/issuebrief_awardsoct2007.pdf
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