The Healthcare Performance Management Institute released a new report today that explains why wellness programs and other proactive health-improvement initiatives are the most effective way for companies to rein in their spiraling health benefits costs.

 See the link to the white paper below to also read how companies’ human resources departments are changing and how they can be new allies for executives looking to shore up the bottom line:

 Here is the synopsis of the report: 

 BETHESDA, MD (February 15) — With U.S. healthcare spending set to grow 5 percent — or more than $100 billion — each year through 2013, businesses are scrambling for ways to save money on their health benefits. To do so, they’ll have to invest proactively in their employees’ health — and not just shop around for a good insurance deal, according to a new report from the Healthcare Performance Management (HPM) Institute.

 ”Some executives think that the only way to cut health expenditures is to trim benefit packages or force employees to pay for a greater share of their insurance plans,” said George Pantos, Executive Director of the HPM Institute. “That’s a mistake. Workers in poor health don’t just saddle companies with higher medical costs — they also undermine firms’ overall performance.”

 The report calls on companies to incorporate workforce health into their overall strategy for protecting and developing their human capital resources.

 ”Historically, executives have viewed their human resources departments as cost sinks,” Pantos said. “But with the help of innovative healthcare performance management technology that allows employers to measure and manage their benefits programs, business leaders can instead look to their HR teams for savings.”

 The report also explains how HR teams are deploying healthcare performance management (HPM) technology to improve employee health and productivity.

 ”Using HPM tools, we’re able to alter behavior by introducing opportunities for employees to live healthier lifestyles, and also to use their insurance in more preventative ways,” said Michael Bekiarian, general manager of Sapien, a human resource management systems provider. “Outside the HR department, executives are seeing how a measurable decrease in absenteeism, for instance, results in greater productivity.”

 Steve Barger, past president of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, underscores why employers must take a more comprehensive approach to workforce health. “If you’ve got a healthy, happy population, you’re going to do better as a business.”

 To download a copy of “The Last Mile: The Role of HPM in Rounding Out the Enterprise Human Resource Management Mission,” please visit www.hpminstitute.org.

 Pantos will also discuss the white paper with HPM Institute Advisory Board Member Henry Cha, President of Healthcare Interactive, in a podcast available on the HPM Institute website in early March. Visit the website (www.hpminstitute.org) to download the podcast.

About the HPM Institute

The Healthcare Performance Management Institute (HPM Institute) is a research and education organization dedicated to promoting the use of business technology and management principles that deliver better and more cost-effective healthcare benefits for employers who cover their employees. The Institute’s mission is to introduce and develop a new corporate discipline called healthcare performance management (HPM) — a technology-enabled business strategy that tackles the challenge of controlling healthcare cost and quality in much the same way that enterprises have optimized customer relations, supply chain management and enterprise resource management. HPM provides C-level executives with visibility and control over company healthcare benefits spending trends and risk management postures, while protecting individual employee privacy.