Recently, a new industry has emerged that many people are unaware even exists. It’s called disease management and it’s another effort at health care cost containment. These programs are funded by employers (and or their insurance companies) with the intention of reducing the high costs incurred by a small percentage of people. According to The Wall Street Journal, 10 – 15% of workers eat up 70-80% of an employer’s health care dollars: the chronically ill.
Disease Management programs are designed to help people manage their illness more effectively so they have healthier outcomes. Great concept and much needed.
But, this is only a slice of a much bigger picture.  Living successfully with chronic illness means looking at your job and being able to evaluate, is this job the best fit for my health needs? It means developing communication skills to get the flexible scheduling you need. And it inevitably means telling colleagues why you can’t meet the deadline but you’ll get it done as soon as (e.g., your pain, fatigue, spasm) is under control.
Workers at all levels, from the CEO on down to the front line staff, struggle with this because it’s tough. And succeeding with this can make or break a person’s (male or female) ability to keep working. Disease management includes managing your job.
Sure, we need to be compliant with taking meds, stick to an exercise routine, and go to the doctor done in a timely way.
But, that’s just a piece of much bigger picture that allows a person to thrive. We need lots of coaching on living in this crazy, outcome oriented, production hungry, 24/7 work world — with a crazy-making disease.
Rosalind
[…] Zac Efron Contact the Webmaster Link to Article t-pain Disease Management: A place for career coaching » Posted at Keep Working Girlfriend: Women, Work and Chronic Illness on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 This article contains copywritten material. Please click on the "View Original Article" link below to view the article on the author’s site. View Original Article » […]