© Copyright 2000 Rogers Media. The following article first appeared in the April 2001 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine.

It's not your fault

You are not to blame for what's wrong with benefits plans in Canada. Neither is your boss.

More often than not, our leaders do the best job possible given the restraints under which they function. The evolution of workplace wellness is a good example. At a critical time in its development, most chief executive officers are far more focused on cost than they are on health.

These CEOs are looking at three or more consecutive years of 20%-plus annual increases in drug plan costs and they're seeing red. They are unable--or unwilling--to recognize that increases within that silo have to be understood in the context of productivity gains (including reduced absenteeism rates and disability costs) that can be realized with a progressive benefits plan strategy.

We've prepared a two-feature package on drug plan management this month. Andrea Davis, our associate editor, explains why this focus on silos represents such a threat to organizations over the long term (see "Re-examining healthcare costs," page 83).

This is a tremendous source of frustration for health advocates. Winning CEO buy-in, the mantra of forward-looking corporate thinkers everywhere, has become a staple of wellness conference agendas in this country.

I've spent the last couple of weeks talking to leaders in the Canadian benefits field about genomics (see "Healthcare by design," page 73). The mapping of the human genome represents an unprecedented step forward in medicine. Before this decade is over, we'll see advances in pharmaceutical research and development that will forever change disease management.

As this new century progresses, Canadians could become healthier than they've ever been. That won't come cheaply though. It is likely (though not certain) that drug plan costs will continue to rise as these new superdrugs come to market.

Despite its price tag though, genomics has the potential to make employees more productive and the organizations they work for more profitable.

Simple enough? So then why are so few CEOs able to see beyond the short-term costs? Why don't more of our leaders appreciate that a financial commitment to progressive benefits plan design now can mean significant productivity and profitability gains in the long term?

CEOs are bound by convention. They work in a system that provides incentives to maintain--on a quarter-by-quarter basis--a healthy bottom line. Should their focus shift too heavily on the long view, at the expense of the short, they face paying a heavy price.

Certainly the market will reward any organization that tackles long-term productivity issues. But it will continue to make demands on the short-term management of drug plan costs. It is awfully difficult, in that environment, to see past the silos.

Perhaps your CEO answers to shareholders, maybe to a board of directors. At the very least he or she deals with the competitive demands of a marketplace sharply focused on the bottom line. The need to be fiscally prudent in the here and now is a fact of life for all senior executives.

Your CEO is handcuffed by a systemic inefficiency. That reality tempers any optimism we would like to feel about the future of workplace wellness.

--Kevin Press

kpress@rmpublishing.com

The Romanow Commission has released its final report on the future of healthcare in Canada.

For Commissioner Romanow's recommendations, click here.

Click here for Senator Michael Kirby's report, "The Health of Canadians – The Federal Role: Recommendations for Reform."