Texas Instruments                            Critique

This program has goals of shaping a work environment and culture that supports and enhances personal accountability for health, creates a differentiated benefit plan that attracts and obtains the brightest and best employees, and includes a fully integrated personal health management model.  Through the Healthwise self-care handbook the program has reached 67% of the total population.  Projected savings for doctor and emergency room visits total two million dollars yearly.  The nurse-counseling service (Informed Choice) has demonstrated an ROI of 3.25 to 1 for 1997. 

SPECIFIC COMMENTS INCLUDED:

The program includes retirees and dependents and targets high-risk individuals.  Needs and support across the health continuum are addressed.  A self-care book and a nurse line are used.  ROI appears to be 3-4:1, with cost reduction using outside controls quite well documented.  The program is provided to 19,000 employees with encouraging results, partly due to a specific focus on self-care.   The EAP program had significant improvements in treatment outcome measures.  Worksite flu immunization achieved 36% penetration.  A premium for tobacco users is an unusual feature.  More appropriate measures of medical care use appear to occurring among TI members.  

RESERVATIONS INCLUDED:

Survey outcomes were not perfectly validated and the call center survey technique overestimates the effect.   The reduction of the employee population from 35,000 to 19,000 may have had effects on some of the data.   Savings cannot be linked to any particular part of the intervention and secular effects seem probable.  Some results are projected.