The Northeast Business Group on Health has updated its “Digital Tools and Solutions for Diabetes: An Employer’s Guide,” to include both enhanced and new solutions—and promising future innovations—to help employers help their workers better manage their diabetes, lower costs and ultimately save more lives.
The pharma company worked with the Northeast Business Group on Health in the initial development of the cancer care huddle program.
The Northeast Business Group on Health recently released a new guide, the first of its kind. “Genomic Medicine and Employers: Separating the Hope and the Hype” seeks to educate employers on what’s occurring in this field, and it’s the result of a roundtable of many stakeholders including employers, clinical experts, benefits consultants and genomic vendors.
Using employees' genetic information for diagnostic or therapeutic decision-making—known as genomic medicine—has the potential to lower health care costs through early diagnoses and treatments, but that promise comes with many caveats.
Earlier this year, the nonprofit Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH), an employer-led coalition, convened a roundtable with employers, clinical experts, benefits consultants and vendors to explore the relevance of genomic medicine to employers. The key takeaways are presented in a 24-page guide that NEBGH released Nov. 20, Genomic Medicine and Employers: Separating the Hope from the Hype.
"Employers are beginning to take a heightened interest in genomic medicine," said Candice Sherman, CEO of NEBGH. "They clearly want to better understand genomic medicine and know what guidelines they should follow in making relevant benefit decisions."
The world of genomic medicine and genetic testing is rapidly growing, leaving many employers to scramble what they’ll cover for their workers, according to “Genomic Medicine and Employers: Separating the Hope from Hype,” a report by the Northeast Business Group on Health.
The Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH) has announced the launch of a free guide to help employers better understand and make decisions about genomic medicine and genetic testing. The guide explains basic concepts, including the ways in which genomic medicine is being used for diagnostics and treatment.
As genetic testing and genomic medicine continue to gain steam in oncology and cardiology as well as maternal and mental health, the Northeast Business Group on Health has developed a new guide to help employers better understand the fields and make coverage decisions.
Studying genes can help determine an individual's chance of developing certain disorders and diseases and help diagnose conditions and personalize treatment plans. While the genetic testing and genomics show significant potential, they can be difficult to understand and costly for employers to cover for their employees.
"It is hard for employers to track the science and what is good and what is not," said Dr. Mark Cunningham-Hill, medical director at NEBGH. The guide can help employers ask the right questions.
According to NEBGH, some examples of questions employers may want to ask company leadership and about their health plans: To what extent does the company want to reward specific behaviors, such as genetic screenings for cholesterol, that could lower costs? When it comes to cancer, how big a factor is cost in deciding what to cover? And, if the employer's health plan does not cover a specific test ordered by an employee's doctor, how does it want to handle that physician's request?
"The cost element is considerable," Cunningham-Hill said. For instance, certain cancer therapeutics under the umbrella of genomic medicine can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, he said. And employers also may need to weigh whether the potential benefits of a $2,000 to $5,000 genetic diagnostics test outweigh its costs.
NEBGH plans to update its new guide every one to two years, as the science behind genetic testing and genomic medicine continues to evolve, he said. —Jennifer Henderson
"Employers usually provide benefits coverage for standard forms of genetic testing -- screening for Down syndrome in high-risk mothers, for example -- but in general, benefits consultants don't recommend coverage of consumer genetic tests.... Employers should ask how testing will be integrated with health-care delivery and make sure doctors ordering the tests do not have financial relationships with genetic testing vendors."
There's a lot of promise—but also a lot of hype—around the still-emerging science of genetic testing for consumers.
Even so, there are plenty of national brands such as Levi Strauss, Instsacart and Visa that have begun offering insurance coverage for their employers for tests such as screening for hereditary risks for certain cancers and high cholesterol.
But how do employers figure out what's worth covering—and what might not be worth it? The Northeast Business Group on Health this week dipped a toe into those questions Tuesday, releasing a guide exploring some of the top questions employers should be asking of health plans about their coverage amid the proliferation of new genomic offerings.
Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH) launched “Improving the Cancer Patient Experience: Putting Employees at the Center of Your Cancer Benefits Strategy,” a guide designed to help HR and benefits leaders organize, coordinate and provide the best possible experience for employees and family members with cancer. It is free to employers and the public.