The Institute for Health and Productivity Management (IHPM) held its first Behavioral Health Workplace Center Advisory Board meeting September 17-18 in Denver, Colorado. The Workplace Center will serve as the leading source of credible, usable information for employers on a full range of behavioral health issues, including identifying conditions and their co-morbidities, engaging employees in screening and treatment, and measuring both health care and workplace productivity costs and outcomes.
A major focus of the meeting was identifying ways to educate employers and the industry on prevalence of behavioral health issues in their populations and the relationship between these issues and workplace productivity. Employers that are more informed about the impact of behavioral health on productivity are also more motivated to address it in their populations.
There was also a consensus among advisory board members that the focus needs to be on individual self-management rather than on the providers. “While changing the behavior of providers is a laudable goal, it is more effective to promote patient self-management and provide individuals with strategies and tools to manage their conditions and cope with life problems,” said Richard Bedrosian, Ph.D., Director of Behavioral Health at HealthMedia.
The Workplace Center will hold the industry’s first behavioral health conference in April, 2009, in conjunction with IHPM’s annual spring conference. Additional details will be published in the next issue of the Behavioral Health Brief.
The Workplace Center Advisory Board consists of leading employers, health care experts, and behavioral health solutions providers committed to participating in workplace research and initiatives. In addition to founding sponsor HealthMedia, these companies include the Behavioral Health division of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, LifeSynch, Highmark, and Lockheed Martin.