Starting a New Trend: Leveraging Group Disability Experience to Impact Health Care Costs and Improve Employee Well-Being

What may be one of the most effective and underutilized tools for managing not only absences, but also health care costs, is a company's short-term disability (STD) program. Over half of an employer's medical benefits are incurred by the 10% of employees who are on STD leave in a given year. STD carriers are in a unique position to offer companies a "window" into the reasons this pool of employees require such a large percentage of health benefits at the exact time those dollars are being spent. It is critical for employers not to manage their health care and disability programs in a vacuum. Looking at both medical and STD plans and the claim patterns simultaneously may be a key to identifying ways to better manage costs and increase productivity.