SCANA Corporation, USC in partnership to work on
 employee health concerns

Posted 03/12/2007

Columbia-based SCANA Corporation and the University of South Carolina are part of an innovative effort to enhance the well-being of SCANA’s 5,600 employees and their dependents while continuing to manage rising health care costs.

The $9.8 billion utility-based holding company has established working relationships with both the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Arnold School of Public Health and the USC School of Pharmacy.

 SCANA is fighting the national trend. Nationally, the battle to control health care costs is expected to continue. A survey of 573 large employers conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health reveals that annual median increases for health care costs will remain at eight percent in 2007.

What’s more, employers expect cost increases to stay at eight percent through 2008. While costs remain high, they have become more predictable in recent years. Eighty-two percent of employers also said their health care costs came in at or below budget in 2006, as did 84 percent in 2005, the survey reported.

 SCANA’s proactive approach to managing health care costs includes introducing a wellness initiative called LiveWell. Life Counts.SM This initiative actively involves employees and their families in health and wellness decisions through communications and resources.

SCANA operates its own health and wellness resource center which includes an in-house full-service pharmacy, two full-time health coaches, counseling and education programs on wellness issues such as exercise and diet, smoking cessation, stress and blood pressure reduction and depression prevention, as well as a formal disease management program and an employee assistance program.

The pharmacy offers a selection of free generic and reduced-cost medications for certain chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes to some 15,000 active and retired employees and their dependents who are enrolled in a company sponsored medical plan in the Carolinas and Georgia. In support of this service, SCANA employs three USC pharmacy students each year in the pharmacy. SCANA’s pharmacist, Daniel Bundrick, works with each student to help them gain valuable working experience.

SCANA’s pharmacy program mirrors similar efforts at other larger employers such as Pitney Bowes, Mohawk Carpets, Marriott International and the state of Maine which also offer free/reduced-cost drugs to manage chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Managing chronic diseases has particular meaning at SCANA where the employee turnover rate is only five percent and long-term employment is the norm.

“This is an example of making investments in people for the long run,” said SCANA’s director of compensation and benefits, Chris McSwain.

At the Arnold School, epidemiologists are analyzing data from company’s medical and pharmacy claims, voluntary employee health risk assessments and other information from SCANA’s human resource information system.

All data is confidential and meets HIPAA and privacy standards. The data is aggregated so that the identity of an individual remains anonymous.

USC epidemiologist, Dr. Robert McKeown, said after studying the data that Arnold School experts can advise the company on ways it can reduce disability claims, disease, illness and injuries while increasing health and wellbeing. SCANA and USC signed a memorandum of understanding on the project. “The contract is written in such a way that we jointly can apply for grant funding and test interventions in the workplace,” said McKeown.

SCANA’s health care costs increased by 201 percent between 2001 and the end of 2003, but the LiveWell. Life CountsSM initiative helped reverse the trend and the company ended 2005 with costs down three percent from the year before. This initiative has helped stabilize health premiums for the company over the past three years.

McSwain hopes the USC-SCANA partnership will be as successful as the SCANA pharmacy and LiveWell Resource Center.

“We’re still in the beginning of this partnership,” said McSwain, “but, in the end, I’m certain we’ll all have gained value. Managing health care costs is a critical issue for all businesses. Analyzing the data and being able to use that information to educate our employees on topics that directly impact their own health and well being is essential to addressing costs.”