NEEBC names Amica Mutual Insurance as recipient of 2009 'Best Benefits Practice' award

The New England Employee Benefits Council (NEEBC) named Amica Mutual Insurance as a recipient of the 2009 "Best Benefits Practice" award, presented annually to the companies best exhibiting innovation and creativity in the planning and delivery of their employee benefit programs.

The awards will be presented at NEEBC's December 9 "Best Benefits Practices" Conference, during which the winners will share details of the prize-winning programs with conference attendees.

Amica’s health behavior change program decreased medical costs and hospitalizations in its first year when incentives such as free medications were used to encourage proper chronic condition management. Amica saved an average of almost $4,000 per year on medical claims for each diabetic health plan member who completed the incentive-based health management program. Members with diabetes demonstrated a 50 percent participation rate as a result of the incentive program.

Amica works with Abacus Employer Health Solutions (Abacus), the consulting company which designs the programs, communicates with employees, tracks program compliance and handles incentive administration.

“Chronic conditions drive the majority of health plan costs for most employers and Amica is no different. Amica’s costs for their members with diabetes were running four times higher on average than their costs for their non-diabetic plan members and were increasing at over 23 percent per year prior to the program launch,” said Ed Aberger, Ph.D., executive vice president of Abacus. “We have clear data which shows that adding incentives, such as eliminating the co-pay for targeted prescription medications, motivates employees to follow health regimens and saves the company money right away.”

This program not only reduces health plan costs to the employer, but it also reduces out-of-pocket costs to the employee who is proactive in self-care. Only members who maintain compliance with program criteria earn the incentives. Other benefits of the program include a dramatic reduction in hospital admissions and length of stays for participating employees and a striking increase in the utilization of the available health coaches.

Source: New England Employee Benefits Council