My Health Care Manager says more than 44 million Americans, or an estimated 21 percent of U.S. households, provide care for an adult family member or friend age 18 or older.

Press Release

INDIANAPOLIS – My Health Care Manager, an Indianapolis-based company that specializes in helping families care for aging relatives, has begun an initiative to educate both employers and employees about the need for a voluntary benefit to address eldercare and its impact on the workplace.

More caregivers than ever are in the workplace — about 8,000 people turn 60 each day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — and with the huge number of baby boomers who have years to go before retiring, the number of employed Americans having to care for their aging parents is greater than ever.

In a 2004 study, the National Alliance for Caregiving together with AARP investigated the impact that full-time employed U.S. caregivers have on their employers. That study, titled "Caregiving in the United States," revealed that more than 44 million Americans, or an estimated 21 percent of U.S. households, provide care for an adult family member or friend age 18 or older.

A 2006 caregiving cost study conducted by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, a think tank of gerontologists who research issues surrounding aging and retirement, estimated that full-time employed caregivers cost the employers in the United States a staggering $33.6 billion each year in lost productivity.

"Clearly, based on these very high numbers — which will only continue to increase — the need for a comprehensive and effective plan to ensure the health, safety and well-being of one's aging parents continues to remain important," said Alan Stanford, CEO of My Health Care Manager. "Seniors can easily find themselves facing complex situations and the last thing their adult children need is to choose between sufficiently assisting their parents and endangering their own employment or income."

Employees who must make workplace accommodations for caregiving responsibilities cost employers in seven distinct areas, according to the MetLife study, which include:

- Leaving a job
- Absenteeism
- Workday interruptions
- Crisis in care
- Supervision
- Unpaid leave
- Reduced hours from full-time to part-time

"Employers across many industries have responded to these very significant challenges by offering workplace eldercare programs like ours," Stanford said. "And an increasing number of employees are taking advantage of them." The solution, Stanford said, is rooted in the traditions of Employee Assistance Programs, but extends far beyond the assistance provided by EAPs, which lack the depth to stay with and resolve such specific problems.

"Forty percent of all employers offer an EAP in addition to their insurance plans," he said. "This one-phone-number resource center generally serves as an information and referral source. An EAP has to be able to answer a question about anything from a child's attention deficit disorder to a spouse's drinking problem. They're usually paid for by employers as their cost is low because the services are broad but limited in depth." The Internet, Stanford said, has impacted usage because people can now conduct research on their own.

"That's where a voluntary employer benefit for a service such as My Health Care Manager comes into play," he said. "It's personalized. You're assigned a nurse, a health care manager who sticks with the family and goes as deep and as long as he or she needs to — or is permitted to — in order to identify and implement the best care solutions possible." In the current voluntary benefit environment, employees have many real needs, according to Stanford — day care, legal services and counseling for family problems, just to name a few.

"With all of the complexities of life, employers just can't afford to pay in full for these benefits," he said. "That's where it becomes important to vet or procure optional benefits that employees pay for themselves." The value to the employee is a negotiated rate and newfound awareness about assistance options such as geriatric care managers that their employer has already vetted. In this vetting process, Stanford said, the good ideas get separated from the bad, and the good providers get separated from the bad, which in the long run, benefits employers as well.

"This is a megatrend," Stanford said. "Employers want to provide their workers with a lot of employee services. However, their budgets constrain the amount they can contribute." From an employer standpoint, he argues, it would be nearly impossible to show how offering a voluntary eldercare benefit such as My Health Care Manager wouldn't be cost-effective.

"If someone can't get their mother to move where they are, many then have to move to where Mom and Dad are," Stanford said. "According to MetLife, decisions like these cost employers nearly $34 billion a year — which they basically absorb."

My Health Care Manager, LLC is an objective source of assistance for older adults and their families on the complex issues and options of aging. Based in Indianapolis, the company provides services through area, national and employer programs. My Health Care Manager helps older adults achieve better management and control of their total health care, longer independence and greater peace of mind for themselves and their loved ones. My Health Care Manager is a professional, private-pay service and does not provide direct health care. The company practices a holistic approach to aging and older adult care by helping families understand and manage multiple physicians, medications, treatment plans, living options, insurance, legal matters and more. For more, visit My Health Care Manager online or call (800) 499-8020.

Source: My Health Care Manager, LLC