When you make your health a priority, you and
your family benefit.

So do your employer and your community.

If you have diabetes or some other chronic disease, your health plan probably has a program to help you control it. If you participate in that chronic disease program, you’re likely to take better care of yourself and that, in turn, benefits us all. You’re also likely to make better lifestyle choices, be healthier and use medical services more appropriately.

“If we help our chronic disease patients to become healthier, we cut down on costs to them, to the employer group and to the community,” says Sandra Morris, R.N., director of Health Services for FirstCarolinaCare, the insurance subsidiary of FirstHealth of the Carolinas.

FirstCarolinaCare offers a Chronic Care Program for its plan members who have diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Often, people with one of these conditions also have one or both of the others, so the education and support they receive is tailored to all of their needs.

Chronic conditions account for a large portion of the expenditures of most health insurance plans, says George Bussey, M.D., chief medical officer for FirstHealth of the Carolinas.

“If a person has a particular chronic disease, we can expect them to be needing various services going forward,” Dr. Bussey says. “We also know that these conditions can be made worse by lifestyle choices or a lack of understanding about the nature of the condition. So health plans have discovered that chronic care programs can help make sure patients access appropriate treatment and are compliant with medication management, diet, exercise and whatever else can improve their condition.

“The result is that patients end up needing fewer medical services, and they live healthier lives, and that allows the health plan to save on health care costs.”

Health fair information
Employees of companies that are insured by FirstCarolinaCare Inc. typically learn about the Chronic Care Program during a health fair at their workplace. FirstCarolinaCare nurses offer blood pressure checks and cholesterol, triglyceride and blood screenings for men and women, and bone density testing for women over 40.

Sometimes, people don’t even know they have a chronic disease—diabetes, for example—until a blood test shows there is a problem. “Awhile back, we had a health fair at a company, and an employee told one of our chronic care managers that he had been losing weight and not feeling quite like himself lately,” Morris says. “The FirstCarolinaCare nurse did the finger stick and found that his blood sugar was about five times higher than it should have been. He had no idea he had diabetes.” The employee immediately made an appointment with his doctor and now takes medication to manage his condition.

Gale Baker, R.N., a nurse who works with FirstCarolinaCare’s Chronic Care Program, talks to Moore County attorney James Van Camp about the results of a blood screening during a workplace health fair at his office.

“His doctor told him to check his blood sugar several times a day, so we took him a free monitor, talked to him about helping to manage his diabetes with diet and exercise and gave him educational information,” Morris says. “When we go back to that company in a few months, we will call and let him know we will be there so he can come and talk to us if he has any questions or problems.”

The work site health fairs are strictly voluntary. Employers don’t have to offer them, and employees don’t have to participate. But most of FirstCarolinaCare’s insured companies are enthusiastic about the fairs and the members are very receptive.

“They share our philosophy and want their employees to be healthy,” Morris says.

All of FirstCarolinaCare’s chronic care managers are registered nurses. They offer weight-management programs at work sites, and they encourage smokers to participate in FirstHealth’s FirstQuit program. They often refer people with diabetes to other sources of information and support such as the FirstHealth Diabetes Self-Management Program.

Chronic care managers also encourage people with diabetes to have eye and foot exams because, if diabetes isn’t well controlled, it can lead to blindness and serious foot infections. It can also lead to kidney failure, heart disease and other catastrophic complications.

FirstCarolinaCare offers health insurance to employers in six counties—Moore, Montgomery, Richmond, Hoke, Scotland and Lee. Because it covers a relatively small, concentrated area, it can provide in-person, one-on-one assistance for people with diabetes and other chronic conditions—unlike some larger insurance companies, which can’t offer the same kind of attention.

“It means a lot to people when you can talk with them face to face, and it really enhances communication,” Morris says. “They are more likely to ask questions, and we can take the time to really address their problems.”

That personal service helps improve the health of the individual and, at the same time, allows the health plan to slow the increase of premiums.

“Keeping costs down is especially important for small employers because it is hard for them to afford big premium increases,” Morris says. “As for small companies that have never offered insurance to their employees, they may be encouraged to offer a plan to their employees if the premiums are in a range they can afford.”