Boost utilization and successful outcomes through integration

The key to the success of programs like Employee Assistance Programs lies in ensuring high levels of utilization and successful outcomes between users and the services. While our systemic implementation process and customized promotion have helped our clients average a utilization rate of 9% or higher, one key area that needs to be considered as well is integration. By integrating the Employee Assistance Program with other benefits, systems, and initiatives of an organization, you will see two primary benefits:

1. Enhanced awareness and utilization of the EAP services – When all benefit providers and wellness programs are integrated with one another, information can be shared from multiple sources ensuring all members and employees are aware of the services available to them. Additionally, when an employee or member learns about another benefit, such as the EAP, from their primary care doctor or through an onsite clinic at work, they are better able to connect the dots between the service and the issues they may be tackling in their everyday lives making it much more likely they will proactively reach out and access services.
2. Creation of a holistic care system – By creating a holistic benefit suite that successfully integrates employee benefits and an organization’s other health and wellness initiatives, cross-referral between providers is made possible which helps to ensure employees and members are receiving all possible services available to them that may be relevant to issues they are dealing with and co-morbid conditions that necessitate more than one area of care. Increased coordination between providers can also expedite the rate that care is accessed allowing employees and members to resolve wellness and health issues faster and more efficiently.

Integration opportunities

While integration opportunities will vary from one group to the next, the following represents some common and key integration areas to consider. The MINES Team is always happy to discuss and collaborate around these areas or any others that your organization would like to explore with us.

• Health Plan
  • MINES collects other accepted insurance information from our EAP providers. When requested by a caller, and/or deemed necessary through the assessment, we will send referrals for providers who are in both networks. This allows for a seamless transition from EAP to the behavioral health component of their medical plan should their concern not be resolved within their allotted EAP sessions.
• Short and Long-Term Disability
  • MINES could proactively outreach and effectively counsel employees who have been placed on leave such as FMLA, workers compensation, ADA, STD, or LTD, to assist with the primary concern, life adjustment, and associated loss. The purpose of the outreach would be to ensure that the client on leave is aware of all of the benefits available to them including and not limited to :
    • Counseling: Being on leave can be stressful for the individual and family. There also may be mental health impacts related to identity, PTSD, etc. depending on the leave.
    • Financial coaching (often those on leave are receiving fewer wages and might need support with budgeting).
    • Wellness coaching to help get the member on leave back on track and help with healthy coping strategies.
    • Parent and lactation coaching
    • Work-life: There may be services that the EAP can support such as someone to assist with errands if the impacted member is unable to.
    • Legal referrals: Some on leave may need support legally (for non-work-related issues). An example would be a car accident or a fall in a public place.

Such an intervention, which may or may not include the family, could result in quicker recovery, and minimize likelihood of secondary injury development. MINES could further be involved in the recommendation and/or release to duty from disability.

• Disease and Case Management
  • MINES could partner with the disease and case management teams of an organization’s health plan carrier(s). When the carrier identifies a chronically ill member with a behavioral health concern comorbidity, they can bring MINES in to help. MINES has found that many cases under the disease/case management that may look like physical conditions (such as diabetes, heart disease, etc.) often have a comorbid behavioral health diagnosis or condition. When the behavioral health and physical health conditions are treated together, positive outcome rates increase significantly.
• Organizational Health and Wellness Initiatives
  • MINES can partner with an organizations’ internal health and wellbeing intiatives. We want to collaborate and connect to internal solutions. An example of a collaboration effort would be if an organization has a healthy eating initaitive, MINES could connect our board-certified wellness coaches into support those who want to learn more about healthy eating. The organization could also utilize their training hours to provide education around the desired iniative such as “Nutrition and Aging- Eating for a Longer Life.” The work-life services could also help them find fitness classes, gyms, and restaurants that fit their dietary goals.
• Organizational Policy
  • MINES assists with policy and human resource consultation. Working with MINES provides a consultant with HR and/or organizational psychology expertise at your fingertips.
• On-site or Near-Site Clinics
  • MINES can both make and receive referrals from on-site medical clinics as clinically indicated. MINES recommends working collaboratively with the on-site clinic partner to include ways to trigger providers to refer to the EAP or on-site counselor such as though assessments or other testing results. In addition to the counseling services, MINES recommends that the clinics also have awareness of the services that can be useful to the providers and clients as well. MINES can also staff an onsite or near-site clinic with a clinician, either in person or virtually. This arrangement tends to be in addition to the EAP and allows increased access to all members of the organization.

How could MINES integrate with your organization? Call us today, we would love to talk about!

To your (and your organization’s) wellbeing,

-The MINES Team

The post A Word on EAP Integration appeared first on MINES and Associates.

Globus Family of Brands is a local client of ours. Each year, during the holiday season as a part of their “Community Commitment,” they select an organization in the Denver Metro area and adopt several families for the holidays. The generosity shown to these adopted families by Globus Family of Brands is overwhelming. The company pulls together to ensure that every item on these families’ wish lists is granted. This year, their Human Resources department came to us with an intriguing question as a part of this program, “Do we have employees that we work with every day that could benefit from the same support and how could we help them?”

They contacted us. Knowing how their employees felt about the confidentiality and support that we’ve provided to their employees over the years, they knew that their employees would feel comfortable working through the EAP to self-identify as being in need of such support. We were happy to oblige. We sent out a survey that came back to MINES requesting details around need, anonymized the list of those that fit the criteria, and sent a list of needs to Globus Family of Brands. Their response was overwhelming! We received all of the gifts at MINES’ corporate headquarters and contacted the identified Group Voyager families to let them know they could pick up these gifts for their families.

There are EAPs and then there are EAPs that really want to partner with your organization to make major impacts in the lives of the members you cover. MINES has long-struggled with the issue of explaining exactly what separates us from many other EAP programs. We’ve never been a “cheap” EAP. There are many reasons for this: we have a really high average utilization rate; we have our own organizational psychology division that can consult with management on a large range of issues; and we recruit and hire the best talent to make sure we can always execute on our promises. But there is another piece that we rarely talk about that we think really sets us apart from our competition: we really do want to do everything we can to help our clients help their employees, in whatever capacity that we can.

It is amazing and touching to us here at MINES that our clients are so concerned, so giving, with their employees that they would devise such a cool program and that they felt comfortable coming to us to help them make it happen. We applaud Globus Family of Brands for their excellent and generous outpouring of support for their co-workers! We hope that this story inspires the same generosity of spirit during the hectic holiday season. Regardless of beliefs, the season can be very inspiring!

Season’s Greetings!
The MINES Team

The post Employee Assistance Programs can be MORE than just Counseling appeared first on MINES and Associates.