The integration of information systems with these processes aimed at supporting holistic health (Kelley, Attridge, 31, 33) is the most rapidly expanding area of capital investment by organizations looking to transform their health benefit strategies. It is essential for information systems to support these underlying processes if individualized health benefit programs are to be created and tracked over time. The integration of processes, systems and the roles of benefit planners and administrators is crucial if measurability is going to be possible with any health benefit program. Bringing informatics to the individualized tracking of health programs for employees is an evolving best practice that serves as a knowledge foundation (Bath, 501) for fine-tuning programs even further. Putting the employee, not the process, at the center of the analytics and measurement of health care strategy performance is crucial if results are to be consistently achieved. The challenge is that in many organizational cultures, the tendency is to focus first on measuring processes or mitigating loss from healthcare costs (White, 22, 23) versus the measurement of gain from greater health being achieved by employees (Lump, 34). Individualized metrics or measures of improvement in specific health conditions are also being tailored to the specific needs of employees, often with significant results in their improvement of potentially debilitating diseases and conditions. Cultures of organizations that are based on measurable results have the greatest potential for achieve lasting change (Alavi, Yasin, 140, 141). At the individualized level, the use of informatics gives positive feedback to employees as to their progress towards health related objectives. At the division and organizational level, these same Telematics and metrics of performance give organizations feedback as to how effective their strategic plans for health benefits are performing. This approach to measuring and modifying strategies based on results is emerging as the catalyst of change in 21st century health benefits strategies and will serve as the catalyst for organizations to more rapidly change their cultures. Summary

There is a fundamental shift occurring...

Away from inflexible and often costly healthcare providers to more flexible, scalable programs that allow for individualized self-care, preventative and life-style-based health benefits programs, organizations are achieving significant cost reductions in their healthcare programs. The catalyst of these cost reductions is the ownership employees are taking for their health care. Relying on informatics to provide employees with feedback on their progress towards health goals they set on their own is the essence of how organizations change their cultures from reacting to healthcare costs and contingences to planning for them, increasing service to employees while cutting costs at the same time. The 21st century will be marked by greater levels of accountability and immediacy of results for preventative healthcare programs, treating employees from a holistic standpoint. Gone are the days of triage and cost reduction through a one-size-fits-all mentality; now health benefits are going to be tailored to individual needs and preferences, resulting in more effective preventative programs overall.
References

Jafar Alavi, Mahmoud M. Yasin. "The role of quality improvement initiatives in healthcare operational environments: Changes, challenges and responses. "

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance 21.2 (2008): 133-145. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. 21 Sep. 2008

Peter a Bath. "Health informatics: current issues and challenges. " Journal of Information Science 34.4 (2008): 501. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest 21 Sep. 2008

Bruce Kelley, Mark Attridge. "Information Access: Will Make or Break Consumer-Driven Health Plans. " Benefits Quarterly 22.2 (2006): 28-31,33-35. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest 20 Sep. 2008

Jane Lump. "What employees say about their role in addressing the rising cost of health care " Employment Relations Today 32.4 (2006): 33-39. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest 19 Sep. 2008

McLean Robbins. "Companies combat high HMO premiums with aggressive strategies " Employee Benefit News 15 Sep. 2008: ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. ProQuest…