Large corporations have a wealth of new analytic tools and health care data to use. There are even firms and groups like Maine Health Information Center (P.O. Box 360, 16 Association Drive, Manchester, Me. 04351 Tel: (207)623-2555) which provide this type of service.  Generally the services for an employer fall into four major areas:

1. Highlights of their health insurance claims for a previous year;
2. Trends in terms of a rise or fall in claims in a certain area i.e. Mental health, or cardiology;
3. Comparison of the employer to "bench mark" data for their industry, i.e. do we have 'more' or 'fewer' of a certain type of claim; and,
4. Special sub-studies, i.e. comparing workman's compensation claims with health insurance, analysis of 'sick' days with claims data, and 'action' plans based on 'best practice' for a specific employer to improve their employee health AND lower cost.

Any employer familiar with spread sheets can use the sheets I have developed with their year end summaries and run these studies. I have also linked in a number of reference points which address workplace health.