Historical Perspective

Managed care, especially in the form of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), gained popularity in the 1980's in response to the abuse of unregulated and inappropriate treatment. In the area of mental healthcare, the results of this mismanagement included fixed inpatient stays, unnecessary or over-treatment, high recidivism, and spiraling healthcare costs. To counter this abuse and waste, HMOs offered employers certain benefits:

n                 Assumed the risk for treatment through capitated contracts.

n                 Contained employers' rising healthcare costs at fixed levels.

n                 Reduced the incidence and impact of inpatient admissions.

n                 Developed admission, utilization review, and discharge criteria to hold treatment providers accountable and monitor treatment.

n                 Compiled outcome data for the cost analyses of employers' investments in treatment.

Although managed care, administered through HMOs, was often successful in controlling some of the abuses of unregulated providers and in containing employers' healthcare costs, there are certain disadvantages inherent in this managed care model:

1. Capitated contracts provide financial incentives for HMOs to deny or ration treatment. The less care they provide, the greater their profit margin.
2. The HMO form of utilization review assures compliance with the managed care contract, not the successful outcome of treatment.
3. HMOs seek low-priced, low-cost providers to join their networks to achieve maximum profits. Some of the best, most effective providers have no financial need to join these networks and are not interested in discounting their fees.
4. There are no incentives in this managed care system for providing anything but minimal care.
5. This traditional form of managed care is a virtually non-regulated industry, immune, protected, and insulated from liability.
6. Perhaps the greatest disadvantage is that employers must assume the risk for the consequences of untreated or inadequately treated employees who are denied access to the treatment they need to return to full productivity.

The Reach Response

As a response to the shortcomings of the traditional HMO managed care behavioral health model, Reach EAP and Workplace Solutions (Reach) offers employers the opportunity to retain its behavioral health insurance coverage while continuing to reap the benefits of cost savings. This can be accomplished by utilizing an EAP like Reach that is attuned to the special needs of the workplace, one that can serve as a single, integrated system of employee assistance and behavioral health benefits. The pendulum is now swinging back from the shortsighted, up-front savings from utilizing the lowest cost available EAP and behavioral health providers to those who offer more comprehensive workplace services at affordable prices.

Discriminating employers want more than a resource for employee counseling. They are increasingly looking for more comprehensive workplace programs that they know and trust, with the long-term benefits of maintaining their employees at 100% performance levels and positively impacting the effectiveness of the entire organization in leading and managing its workforce.

The answer is Reach EAP and Workplace Solutions with a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program as its core that serves as a business partner for a myriad of workplace needs and challenges.  Through the delivery of comprehensive workplace services, Reach takes a leadership role by providing a way for employers to preserve their workforce while containing their healthcare costs.

Our comprehensive state-of-the-art Workplace Solutions Program offers many advantages that make the traditional managed care model perhaps the most outdated form of behavioral health cost containment. A comprehensive Workplace Solutions Program, with our Employee Assistance Program as its core program:

n                 Resolves most problems (70-80%) within the scope of the EAP short-term problem resolution services, eliminating the need for most clients to access their insurance plan benefits.

n                 Integrates the medical needs of employees with job performance-related behavioral needs, given our expertise in organizational development, disability management, leadership and management theory, and the dynamics of human behavior.

n                 Provides client assessments and develops treatment plans based on face-to-face client assessments.

n                 Utilizes EAP short-term problem resolution, job coaching, and follow-up care management skills to facilitate the early return to work of disabled employees.

n                 Makes more appropriate referrals based on a better knowledge of community resources and working relationships with community behavioral health providers.

n                 Professionally guides clients to the most effective and efficient treatment while preserving their right to choose among available treatment providers.

n                 Focuses more attention on job performance by blending preventive employee education, early intervention, and cost-effective treatment, all of which improves the chances for employees' early return to full productivity.

n                 Enhances the confidence and leadership skills of your supervisors to be more effective managers of your workforce.

In summary, here is what distinguishes Reach from other workplace employee service programs:

n                 Effective and efficient problem resolution

n                 Most appropriate treatment decisions with both the employee's and the employer's interests in mind

n                 Improved employee performance

n                 Greater cost benefit from employee service investments

n                 Increased satisfaction with the services employees receive

Reach EAP and Workplace Solutions offers employers performance-based services that provide no financial incentives to deny or ration behavioral health services. Our service agreements are based on stated financial and job performance outcomes that meet your organization's goals and objectives. Our incentive is to keep your business by delivering quality workplace services and containing your behavioral health costs.

Expected Results

n                 70-80% of employees’ behavioral health and job performance problems will be resolved through the client services provided by Reach EAP.

n                 90% of your employees who utilize our services will be performing satisfactorily on the job following the delivery of Reach services.

n                 10-20% savings in behavioral health costs the first year after implementing our comprehensive EAP program.

n                 30% savings in Worker’s Compensation benefit expenses.

n                 Recovery of your investment in EAP services from the savings realized from reduced health benefits expenditures, lower employee turn-over rates, increased attendance

We recognize that purchasing Employee Assistance and Work/Life services represents a major investment in your employees, a valuable support system for your managers and supervisors, and a significant contribution to the overall productivity of your organization.

Our commitment is to deliver the highest quality, most responsive services possible, and to immediately address and resolve to your satisfaction any problems that may arise. Our confidence in your satisfaction with our services is supported by our money-back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the services of Reach during the first six months of our initial contract agreement and choose to cancel your contract, we will fully refund all fees.

Our aim is to earn and maintain your trust and confidence in the Reach program by providing superior EAP and Work/Life services to your supervisors, employees, and their family members.