Wellness Programs and Ethnic Profiling.

In many segments of society, we  hear about racial and ethnic profiling in negative ways. But what about when it comes to wellness programs?  

When used for the specific purpose of  beginning – or analyzing  - a wellness or disease management (DM) program, profiling isn’t just legal. It’s also encouraged.

Affects health risks

Different ethnic and racial groups tend to be more at risk – for genetic and/or cultural reasons – of certain health problems. Examples –

• African-American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders are  at higher risk of diabetes than Caucasian employees

• Chinese women are statistically twice as likely to get cervical cancer

• Caucasians have disproportionately high rates of obesity and high blood pressure, and

• Latinos have higher rates of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than other groups. the HIV/AIDS population is also disproportionately Hispanic.

Bottom line –  By analyzing  the ethnic breakdown of your worker population, you can set disease management program priorities with greater confidence and accuracy.

Healthcare quality an issue

Several studies also show there’s an unfortunate relationship between ethnicity and quality of healthcare. Many times, minority employees receive inferior treatment and health education at the same facilities where others receive top-notch care.

This generally happens for innocent reasons. A common scenario –  a lack  of Spanish-speaking physicians in the network for your Latino workers. But the result is generally higher health care costs for you and, often,  greater reluctance among minority workers to seek needed treatments.

By profiling employees against the doctors in the network, you ultimately help employees get the care they need and the company to better control long-term costs.