Cost Control Series: Guidelines for Effectively Managing Mental Health Care Costs

"As I read the material [in this report] I had three reactions:

1) It's great that someone is talking about this openly because we all deal with mental illness in our role in Human Resources;
2) All Human Resources staff and all managers need the information in the Executive and/or Manager Presentations if you expect them to positively impact productivity and effectively manage; and
3) If your company isn't looking at the financial implications both to the employee (in nominal lifetime maximums) and to the company (in lost productivity), both you and your company are not being as financially responsible as you could be.

The Mental Health Care Report is much more than data. It provides information that is very useful when you are planning and negotiating your future years benefits and it provides outstanding presentations that are ready to use with Executives, Human Resources, Managers and Supervisors and Employees.

Unlike a white paper that details the issue and lets the reader figure out what to do next, this report provides three useable presentations. The Manager/Supervisor training can easily be used as a stand-alone training or incorporated as a module into an established training program. The Executive presentation presents the business case. The employee presentation could be used as a stand alone or in conjunction with other EAP presentation offerings.

Bottom line, if you are looking for a useable tool, this work is outstanding. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't end up in most major Manager/Supervisor training curriculums."

Maureen D. Fetterolf
Vice President, Human Resources
Transportation and Industrial Solutions
SPX Corporation

Why You Should Buy This Report

Mental health issues create considerable direct (insurance) and indirect (productivity) costs to organizations. The area remains taboo, which means that insufficient management attention has been paid to this topic. HR can save significant amounts of money by better managing mental health care.

What Is In The Report

The report contains three sections:

1. What Are The Issues?
   • a historical perspective (how we got where we are)
   • technological advances (which are significant and "change the game")
   • legal issues (always a concern for HR)
2. Current Mental Health Care Costs and Practices
   • a review of costs
   • best practices
3. What To Do
   • disease management programs
   • employee lifestyle choices
   • healthy work environment
   • mental health parity
   • stigma
   • recommendations & resources