Archived Content

Driving Innovation In the Health Care Marketplace:

A CEO Report

Bayer AG

At Bayer, our mission of “Science for a Better Life” guides us as we seek to improve the lives of patients, employees and our customers. Through B Well, our integrated employee wellness program, we encourage our employees and their families to take an active role in maintaining their health.

B Well fosters employee health and safety by identifying high-risk health behaviors, implementing site-specific safety and health programs for employees, and offering personal health strategies.

B Well strives to create measurable improvement in the health of Bayer employees by establishing a culture and atmosphere that supports and enables healthy and safe behavior. Through good health management, our employees can strive toward an improved quality of life and can be more productive at work and home. In turn, Bayer is beginning to see greater gains in overall productivity, reduced absenteeism and health care cost savings. Through our experience, healthy and safe worksites generate positive returns for the business and help Bayer attract, retain and engage the best talent. Ultimately, employees and their families will recognize Bayer as an employer that cares about their health and well-being.

From the start, Bayer has taken an integrated approach to wellness. A cross-functional team that includes representatives of almost all functional areas worked collaboratively to guide B Well strategy, program design metrics and communication. In 2013, Bayer took action to more strongly align B Well with Safety by moving the employee health promotion function out of Human Resources and into Health, Environment and Safety. For Bayer, this organization includes Environmental, Safety, Sustainability, Compliance, Medical and, now, Wellness. This move enables us to leverage natural synergies between these functions. For example, occupational safety initiatives have been integrated with wellness to address musculoskeletal disorders, work-related stress and fitness for duty.

Bayer’s employee health promotion strategy integrates locally sponsored programs, which can vary by site, with benefits offered to all Bayer employees regardless of location. Site-specific programming can include lunch-and-learns, healthy cafeteria options and preshift stretching routines. Programs available to all employees include health screenings, health coaching to develop personalized improvement plans, and company-wide campaigns to address specific employee health risks such as stress, physical activity and weight management. Bayer has reduced population health risks since first capturing this data in 2011, with significant reductions in key areas targeted by B Well activities, including nutrition and physical activity.

B Well is Bayer’s “Science for a Better Life” mission in action.

Companies

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BRT companies provide health coverage to more than 40 million Americans. We help American workers and their families remain healthy, receive quality treatment when necessary and achieve better health outcomes. The private-sector innovations in the insurance marketplace that enable us to provide these services to our employees and their families serve as models for public programs — but additional reforms are necessary.

This report highlights the innovations we have made and the public policy changes we believe would drive value by promoting health and improving outcomes.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/brt.org/archive/0_healthcare/BRT-Health-Care.pdf

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