Diabetes health plan gains converts among employers

MINNEAPOLIS —The increasingly urgent quest among employers to curb rising health costs for the employees enrolled in their company-sponsored health plans has spawned a new and innovative pilot program in diabetes treatment and prevention.

To tackle the escalating crisis in out-of-control health costs, health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare has partnered with three major employers to develop and test a new approach to preventive care for those at risk or suffering from diabetes. UnitedHealthcare’s Diabetes Health Plan is designed to help employer-sponsored health plans control the rising costs of insuring diabetic and prediabetic employees and their families, while improving their health.

To that end, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Affinia Group now are working with UnitedHealthcare on a Diabetes Health Plan pilot project, and all three have either renewed or expanded their participation in the program for 2010, according to the insurer.

Other employers, including the city of New Orleans and the American Postal Workers Union Health Plan, will begin offering the plan to diabetic and prediabetic employees at the beginning of 2010, UnitedHealthcare announced in November.

The Diabetes Health Plan goes further than traditional diabetes wellness programs, the company asserted, “by providing patients with financial rewards for adhering to certain routine preventive care compliance requirements.” Among those requirements are regular blood sugar checks, routine exams and preventive screenings. All those steps “can result in better self-management” of the disease, UnitedHealthcare stated.